CLOSE OF THE SESSION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 13907, 7 November 1919, Page 7

CLOSE OF THE SESSION.

A GOOD RECORD. (Social to the Oamaru Mail.) WELLINGTON, November ,'>. On the whole the closing session uf the expiring Parliament was more useful and more decorous than was generally expected. For the first surprise the ruain credit must go to the Government, and for the second to the Opposition. Mr Massey and his colleagues had their measures surprisingly well forward, and though some of them obviously were intended rather to tickle tils ear-, of the electors than to bring thorn any material advantage, m,.tn> of them will make notable additions to the Statute Book. The gibe that- tho Reformers had collared many of the planks of their opponents' platform fell somewhat flat, which was only natural in view of the fact that in these days thinking men the whole world over are changing their minds and adjusting their political creeds to the altered conditions of society. THE OPPOSITION.

Perhaps the Opposition's part was >u> more difficult to play. The Government's hold upon office was. never seriously threatened, the "independent'' Reformers who during Mr Massey's absence from the Dominion had proclaimed their intention to do this, that and the other thing on his return falling into line very promptly when he actually appeared on the scene, but on one' or two occasions it easily might have been embarrassed had the Liberals cared to strain the rules of the game. Sir Joseph Ward, however, was not free from manifestations of "independence." on his own side of the House, and probably he felt that both as a matter of expediency and as a matter of tactics it was best to leave Mr 'Massey in undisturbed possession of the Treasury benches

OFFICIAL IiABOR. A feature of the session was the presence in the House for the first time of representatives of the extreme section of the Labor Party. Mr Holland, Mr Seinple, and Mr P. Fraser stood quite apart from Labor members previously returned to Parliament, not excepting Mr P. C. Webb, in that they would accept no compromise and think of no alliance with other progressive elements. They stood frankly for social democracy, as they interpreted the term for themselves, and directed their onslaught rather against the Liberals than against the Reformers. Towards the close of the session, however, Mr Semple and Mr Fraser had Imgiyi to recognise that Labor members like Mr Voitch and Mr Smith equally independent and equally progressive with themselves, were doing a great deal more towards tho realisation of Labor's aspirations than they were doing themselves. During the last few days it looked at times as if Mr Holland were about to become a party of one.

AND AFTER. Probably never before on the approach of a genera] election has the public known so little about the temper and disposition of the constituencies as it does at the present time. There is a feeling abroad that the new Parliament will contain many new faces, but where they will come from no one appears to know or even to be ready witli a plausible speculation on the subject. Five years have elapsed since the last general election, and in the interval the public has had weightier things on its mind than the merits and demerits of prospective candidates.. In the quarters that worn usually well-informed in the old days, however, it is expected that tlie two old parties will come back from the .polls again very evenly balanced, and that Independent Labor will be sufficiently well represented to turn the scale either way. In that event Parliament may find in another coalition the only escape from an otherwise, intolerable position.