NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENT

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 457, 28 July 1915, Page 6

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENT

Joshua Little.—No space for abstruse observations regarding the works of Nature and the activities of "human beings variously endowed with mental gifts." - > '• ' I PARTY OR NATIONAL i GOVERNMENT. [ To the Editor of THE SUN. Sir, —Of late you have given this - subject great -attention in the col- ; umns of The Sun, and have taken a [ broad and patriotic view, even more : so than your morning contem- | poraries, although they, also, have . buried the political hatchet to a : great extent, and taken up a very patriotic attitude in discussing the ; question. I was particularly impressed by the leader in The Sun of the sth inst., which reviewed the political position in a splendid national spirit, and advocated in a bold K.anner the claims of a National Administration at the present time. The two great parties into which politicians are divided are so nearly bal-. anced that a combination seenis vto be the only rational course to adopt. Those Ministers who, from selfish or other motives, do not place their portfolios at the disposal of their chief, for the new Cabinet, will be strongly condemned, and suffer politically in the future. At the present time it is almost unthinkable that anyone can act otherwise than in a patriotic manner, and sink all party and private interests, in an endeavour to help the Empire in the great task it has in hand. The need of a National Government is very urgent. There is very great room for improvement in the carrying on of the affairs of the State, both the military preparations and ordinary civil affairs of the Dominion. I willingly admit that Mr Allen has worked hard, but he lfas been over-weighted, and quite unable to keep in sufficiently close touch with the actual working of his department. The terrible state of affairs at Trentham can hardly be said to be due to the faults of the Minister; it has been in the insufficient plans of the administrative staff that the fault lay. Although, for the situation of the site the Minister is responsible. A great fault of Mr Allen's is that his firmness borders on obstinacy. Yet, as a looker-on, keenly interested in the welfare of our young Army, I must admit that the Minister has shown energy and interest in his work of no common kind, and we must, also, not fail to note that the misfortunes at Trentham were, to a great extent, due to the accidental occurrence of measles, as a rule, and under ordinary conditions, a simple complaint, but under such adverse conditions of weather and exposure, such as occurred at Trentham, liable to result in grave complications, often terminating fatally. But bungling and mismanagement there has been at Trentham. J have not "too much faith in a Royal Commission whose proceedings are not fully reported bV the Press. The short notes published are surely only a very small fragment of the evidence. There is nothing like the full light of public criticism for cor--1 recting any administrative misdeeds. The whole work of the Dominion, as it concerns the Government, requires at the present time the strongest and ablest Cabinet available, one having the confidence of the country and of Parliament. Such a Cabinet is only to be obtained in the present position of political parties by a combination to form a National Administration; this has been repeatedly advocated in a very able manner in the leading articles of The Sun, which was, I believe, the first newspaper in Christchurch to advocate this course. We have the example of Great Britain and of our staunch and brilliant ally, France, for sinking all political parly feeling; there the Socialists and Conservatives work side by side for their country—why cannot we do likewise? —I am, etc., A. F. J. MEIKLE.