COALITION DOOMED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25851, 23 May 1945, Page 5

COALITION DOOMED

PRIMARY PURPOSE ACHIEVED LONDON, May 21. Remarking that the present coalition is doomed, The Times, in an editorial, says: “ The continuance of the coalition until the Japanese war is ended would be justified only if the purposes of the coalition could both be renewed and extended without recourse to an electorate but the coalition has reached the limit of its policies. The British Government is hardly less in need of submission to the popular vote at this critical stage of world affairs than .the Governments of the liberated countries. The present coalition has achieved its primary purpose and has outrun its brief. Its war-time agreement to agree does not compass such critical issues as the control and the renaissance of coal mining. A Government is now needed with a new mandate to press on with these tasks and with the policy of maintaining employment, which is accepted so far only in terms of the broadest principle. The views of the new electorate are of unknown quantity, but it can be affirmed with reasonable certainty that prevailing op : nion would approve a new and reorganised coalition for a period of two or three years.” The Dailv Mail, in an editorial, says: “It is highly regrettable that the Labour Party rejected Mr Churfihill’s pronosals and has taken the responsibility of breaking un the National Government. We defeated Germany onlv because we atta ; ned a umtv of parties and people unprecedented in cur history. Tt is essential to maintain that unity for months to come. We are not out of the wood Vet. Serious issues, apart from the war in the Far East, confront us at home and abroad. whi n h only an undivided country can resolve, but once agai" ‘the tail has wagged the dog.’ Susp ; c : ons and jealousies among the rank and file of the Labour movement have overborne responsible members’ better counsels."