THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Thursday, June 25, 1942. NATIONAL UNITY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24951, 25 June 1942, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Thursday, June 25, 1942. NATIONAL UNITY

The joint statement issued by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, announcing what is in effect a decision to form a National Government to hold office for the duration of the war and a period not exceeding a year thereafter, will be welcomed with very real satisfaction throughout the country. The world conflict, in which the security of New Zealand is closely threatened, has developed to a stage of grave crisis. In every theatre of war there are signs that the ultimate test of arms and endurance is about to be applied, and the imperative need, in this country not less than elsewhere within the British Commonwealth, is for maximum concentration on the urgent tasks arising out of a condition of unprecedented emergency. It can be said without hesitation that the Dominion's political leaders have correctly gauged the temper of the country in resolving against the perpetuation of an administrative atmosphere in which party bickerings might be fostered. Members of the Government party in particular have showji a wise understanding of the pressing needs of the times in abandoning the intransigent attitude that has maintained a purely Labour Ministry in office during two and a-half years of war. For long enough the predominant feeling throughout the country has been that national unity could best be expressed by the sharing of administrative responsibility between the parties represented in Parliament. , To that feeling adequate recognition is now being given, in the arrangement whereby the Government will be reformed on the basis of an equitable division, of responsibility. No details are yet available concerning the personnel of the contemplated War Administration, beyond the fact that the members of the existing War Fraser, Sullivan. Jones, Coates and Hamilton —will be included in it, that another of its members will be Mr Holland, by virtue of his office as Leader of the Opposition, and that appointments may be made to it of persons who are-not occupying seats in Parliament. The Prime Minister has indicated, for example, that one of the Government's seven representatives will be a prominent trade unionist. Presumably the Government has considered the constitutional difficulties that must arise if the procedure of appointing Ministers from outside the Legislature is to be followed, and does not consider these to be insurmountable. It has to be recognised, nevertheless, that the provision of seats for these external appointees may not be as simple a matter in New Zealand as in Great Britain, where, in its large Parliament, the Government of the day can usually find accommodation for any person deemed worthy of a place at the Cabinet table. These, however, are problems of constitutional practice which, if unique in our political experience, are at the same tim£ capable of satisfactory adjustment. In the main the people of the Dominion will be grateful for the solution of political difficulties which have long tended to produce disharmony and retard the progress of a war effort which has become a matter of vital concern to every citizen. The extension of the life of Parliament is a logical consequence of the decision to bring party administration temporarily to an end. As the Prime Minister has said, a general election in the present critical circumstances is unthinkable. No development could do more harm to the cause of national unity which all parties in Parliament, and all sections of the' community, must now be concerned to foster.