The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1939. Party Politics in War Time

Southland Times, Issue 24004, 20 December 1939, Page 6

The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1939. Party Politics in War Time

PT a letter to the Prime Minister the Leader of the Opposition has asked that Parliament be summoned for an extra session after the return of Mr Fraser. This was a reasonable request which the Government should not hesitate to answer favourably. The National Party has not received the treatment to which.it is entitled in a time of emergency. In Britain the Labour and Liberal leaders are kept closely informed on all questions of national policy, and although they do not hesitate to exercise their rights of criticism they have co-operated freely and generously. It was largely because of pressure by the Opposition that the British Government agreed to the holding of a secret session in the House of Commons, where questions of supply apd general policy were certainly discussed with vigour and freedom. - This, it will be noticed, took place in London, which radicals never fire of describing as the stronghold of reactionary capitalism. ( Actually the Conservative British Government has been far more democratic since the beginning of the war than has the socialist executive of New Zealand. Here the Government wants to be authoritarian, and when its spokesmen ask for co-operation they are really asking for obedience. Internal Policy

The Prime. Minister and his colleagues have done nothing to allay widespread suspicions that the war is being used to quicken the tempo of socialism. They refused to give a statutory pledge ,to reconsider after the war the extreme powers taken under the Marketing Amendment Act; yet they now complain bitterly that the farmers are preoccupied with grievances instead of striving to increase production. After a tentative approach to the Opposition they returned quickly to the exclusiveness of party politics. The National Party had a clear duty to i criticize measures which seemed to be against the interests of the country; and if some of the criticism was based on insufficient information the Government had only itself to blame. When the Opposition knows what is being done it is in a better position to fulfil its necessary function of watching the people’s rights and at the same time to avoid the controversy which frequently arises from misunderstandings. There will always be uneasiness and suspicion while a Government which has already made an opportunist use of war-time conditions remains aloof* from advice and criticism. Instead of allowing the National Party to co-operate in the ways that have been made possible for the Opposition parties in Britain the Government preferred to link members of Parliament with unofficial critics—including communists—who have attacked its policy for a number of different reasons. Mr Savage speaks of criticism from the Right and criticism from the Left as if they were different phases of the same outlook and neglects to admit a fundamental difference. Supporters of the National Party claim that the Government is more concerned with implementing its socialist policy than with helping the British Commonwealth to win the war. But Leftwingers are attacking their Government for making any kind of war effort, and are therefore subversive in the true meaning of the word.

Time For Unity

These confused viewpoints are unsettling public opinion. It is high time the situation was discussed in the House of Representatives, especially now that Mr Fraser will shortly be returning with a valuable insight into the Empire’s requirements. If there are sound reasons why a session is impracticable at this stage—and it is difficult to think of any—the Government could at least relax its rigid attitude and invite the Opposition to take a more active part in the Dominion’s war effort. Everywhere throughout the country there is a feeling that the time has come to put aside party politics and to get on with a work of vital importance. In no other part of the Commonwealth has sectional controversy been able to survive, and to become intensified, while the Dominions are arming themselves against a common enemy. The Government can change all this by showing that it is willing to forget socialism and to remember democracy while the war continues. There would be no lack of cooperation if the people were encouraged to play their part, not as the supporters of political groups, but as the citizens of a united nation.