The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. “Luceo Non Uro.” WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1936. The Political Future

Southland Times, Issue 22813, 12 February 1936, Page 6

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. “Luceo Non Uro.” WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1936. The Political Future

Members of the■■ executive of the National Political Federation met in Wellington last week; and to judge by newspaper reports of the meeting—“routine business” was dealt with and a Dominion conference arranged—they are quite unaware of a number of urgent facts of which the Labour Party and most other political observers are acutely aware. The first of those facts is that there is no place for a coalition in opposition. The present Coalition was formed at a critical time in 1931 by the merging of the then government and opposition parties, United and Reform. At that time the two parties had almost equal representation in the House, and the Ministry was divided between them with the concession that the United Party retained the Prime Ministership. But at the General Election of 1931 the situation was completely changed. Although the two parties stood as a coalition the majority of members returned were Reform members, and the United element dwindled. No change was made in the balance of Cabinet, however, even when, after several by-electic.ns, the Reform members of the Coalition outnumbered the United members by two to one. The leaders of the two groups were loyal, and so were the rank and file; but it may be said that from that time onwards the combination of parties ceased to be really effective. This coalition was probably as happy as most coalitions in their later years; but it was not altogether happy. At one time it seemed that the two groups might arrange an amicable parting before the General Election of 1935. That would have been the best course, for although as individual parties they might not have done, any •better than they did in coalition, their separation would probably have kept the Democrat Party out of the field, and at the very least they would have been in a happier position than they are, together, at the present day. But in the absence of both leaders and in peculiar circumstances generally they decided to remain a co&lition; the National Political Federation sprang into being; and all sorts of pledges were affirmed and vows renewed. It is too much to attribute their defeat to this blunder of judgment; but most people, now that they can see the Coalition Government in retrospect, will agree that it was too badly balanced to last. The position to-day is that the Labour Party is in power with a sweeping majority. Yet there exists in the electorate a strong anti-Labour sentiment: the proportion of votes which were given to Labour is much less than the proportion of seats it holds in the House. There is every indication that within the next few months, as the Government unfolds its plans, this anti-Labour sentiment will grow. Who is going to organize it into a powerful antiLabour party? Will the Reform or the United Party emerge from the coalition and take the lead, or will it be left to an entirely new party recruited by a new leader? These are momentous questions affecting the whole political future of New Zealand; and the executives of the two parties would do themselves and the country a better service by discussing them openly and immediately than they will by their aimless efforts to revive a coalition that has long since fulfilled its purpose.