THE PARTY SYSTEM

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4561, 17 April 1942, Page 3

THE PARTY SYSTEM

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS “Parties exist for the preservation of political ideals and for the carrying into effect of political programmes or they exist for nothing at all. It is idle, therefore, to suppose that in a free country men with different viewpoints and different conceptions of governmeijt wjH ever find it possible in normal times to work together for any length of time. ‘The agreement to disagree’ on a. cardinal matter of policy, which was devised by Mr Ramsay MacDonald’s Cabinet in order to preserve the unity of the National Government of 1931, ended in failure, and it is fairly safe to prophesy that

any similar agreement would prove equally ineffective. Whether or not, when the time comes for a decision, their respective parties will agree to Mr Churchill’s and Mr Attlee’s suggestion to continue the present coali-

tion, is a matter which must largely depend upon whether the effect of the war will have been to increase the influence of the left wing section • of the Labour party.”—“The Economist,” London.