THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1929. THE SESSION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20870, 9 November 1929, Page 12

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1929. THE SESSION.

The session of Parliament, which will come to an end to-day, was like unto no other in the political history of the Dominion. The public has had its first experience of a session in which the Government, receiving the support of a minority only of the members of the House, existed purely ou sufferance. In this respect it has been provided with an illustration of the working of the three-party system. The Government remained in office simply because it represented to each section of the Opposition the’ smaller of two evils. There were three occasions during the session when the Government declared—and no doubt rightly declared—that a proposal that was submitted from the Opposition benches could be treated only as a motion of want of confidence in it. ;On one of these occasions the principles of the Labour Party enabled its members to associate themselves con amove . with the United Party in rejecting the proposal. On another occasion the Labour Party would have been obliged, if it. were loyal to its professions, to vote ' with' the Reform Party and thus to have brought about the defeat of the Government. Upon the specious and insincere plea, however, that it was not prepared to restore the Reform Party to office, the Labour Party, recreant to its principles, again supported the Government. The third occasion was one iu which the Labour Party itself assumed the offensive. If the f Reform Party had chosen then to be as insincere as the Labour Party had been on the previous occasion and to support the Labour Party ■ because the motion was one of no-confidence, the Government would have been ousted from office. But none could tell precisely what the issue of a decision against the Government on a crucial division might have been. It might have been that, through the inability of any onp of the three political parties to claim the support of . a majority of the members, there would be a dissolution; and there - is no party that desires a dissolution and there are a great many members of the House who would dislike, more than anything else, the need to seek re-election before the Parliament has run. its normal course of three years. Therein consists - the explanation of the fact that a minority Government, supported by only a . minority of the members, has safely negotiated the session. Those of the electors, however, who were attracted by the programme ■ that was presented to the country, by the United Party at the general, election, will have been disappointed with the results of the eleven months-of office which the party has now enjoyed. In part the failure of the party to fulfil its pledges has been due to economic causes over which' it has no control, but its comparative inaction in a legislative was due to the conditions under which it existed. The fact that the legislative record of the session was exceptionally small is not one that necessarily furnishes cause for since it is probable tjjat the feeling is entertained more widely than is generally supposed that the country would not suffer from a legislative holiday. The fact, however, that the Government had to rely on the support of the Labour Party to secure the passage of its more important measurps exposed one of the weaknesses of the political system which obtains in New Zealand at the present time. The dependence of the Government dn the Labour Party for support was indeed the most lasting impression which the proceedings of the session created. Very noticeable also was the disinclination of the Government to arrive at any decision in the absence, during the last five weeks of the session, of the Prime Minister without a prior reference to him. Plainly the subordinate Ministers were not prepared to accept full responsibility for the performance of their respective duties. The public cannot regard with much satisfaction the presence in office of a Government that is without the power to make effective use of its position, but, unless differences develop within the ranks of the United Party, it would be rash to suppose that any material change will occur in the political situation during the currency of the present Parliament,