UNITED PARTY

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 61, 23 May 1928, Page 5

UNITED PARTY

BEING TAKEN SERIOUSLY. ''''■ ' '■■■■■ "' ?•*■*/; : ;\ ■'< ■ I , EAPID PROGRESS.. . It looks a* the,moment as if fhe ! ridicule of „the u ,Prime Minister and one or two. of',his' prominent colleagues tfiave : been .'heaping upon th* disunity ofijhe" United Political party during their preseisaional electioneering tour s had. proved as meat and drink to the youngest of the political organisation?, says the correspondent of the Aueklad Star. Only a few weeks ago the United party was' receiving, little attention; from anyone outside; its own little group of dreamers. It'Vast the butt of every merry jester in political. circles. I'o-day, however, many .observant people are beginning to take) it "seriously and the humour of Mir Coates and his colleagues is losing its point. The United party has in the field an array of candidates for Parliamentary honours which compares favourajbly,i man for man, with any group to he found in thei present House of Representatives. It is true that it still has a policy toi propound and a qualified leader to discover, but if it progresses as rapidly during the coming month as it ha s done during the .rejcoding month it will he in a position to provide itself with these essentials before the meeting of Parliament.

POLICIES.. •. ' ]■'■ As for the question, of policios, the United' 'Party,,, .by way of retort tot, the jeers l of .Ministers, very well might ask the Govern merit whore it haV its policy hidden away, and wheWi it will b© produced. Previous to the laist'general election, now nearly, three years . ago. the Prime Minister let it he known that until he obtained a direct mandate from the electors he would merely continue to admin-. fctister the policy of his great predein office- The electors'gave him an overwhelming mandate 1 at the polls—a majority nearly as big as. the largest Mr Seddon eiver'had 'enjoyed—and yet only the shreds and patehe s of a new policy havei been produced. It is true) that Mr. Coates has tried two or three expcKments with the 'administration of tjiei Railway Department, that thn Minis, ter of Finance has. reversed some of Mr Massey's methods at the Treasury, and that Regwrations and O'rd-ers-in-Council have been substituted for legislation. These proceedings, howtever. do not constitute a policy.. They are merely the whims of thej Ministers concerned.