COALITION SCHEME.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 July 1915, Page 5

COALITION SCHEME.

NO STATEMENT BY PREMIER, i (By Wire—Own Correspondent.)' Wellington, Last Nigfit. ■ 1 o-day's sitting of tho House Representatives passed without aliy "H ferenca having been made to the touj of coalition. The omission of the Prill Minister to make a statement to tl House regarding the refusal of tie 0; position to accept the offer of seats in a Cabinet of nine was fatal preted in some quarters as an indieattai that the Government wag eoasiderfni the desirability of making a further olfa on lines bearing some relation to th strength of parties in the House,- bp the Prime Minister had no oommuniiji tion to make upon the subjecl » A paragraph in the local Govoninpjj newspaper this morning throws an esting sidelight *pan the attitude of tig fisform Ministers And their vpxnrtert

towards thy mlitto& propose u~runi as follows :'—»Tlre Übo» Party has stat ed thsft it will maintain its own identity, which should mean that It would net follow a coalesced Cabinet. It is altf fairly generally understood tliqt islf Joseph Ward could not in the CoaliCc.i Cabinet command the support-of the more Radical wing of his party. Jf hit party had agreed by a majority decision to accept the Government's offer it M extremely improbable that more thai twenty members would have followel him. As the Government Party is 41 strong the proportion of 6 to 3 is J mathematically correct one, and one thftf will generally be accepted as a fair one," In other words the Reformers believed that the acceptance of the coalition pro* posal would split the Liberal Party and theiy did not propose to constitute tv truly' National Cabinet. The scheme laid down in the paragraph quoted is simp!/ for the provision of the majority that' the Government lacks by detaching a section from the Opposition, • One galli. ers that this aspect of the matter 'lmi been discussed in Ministerial circles, and that some members of the Reform Party protested strongly ngaiflat the obvioja unfairness of the proposal. The Opposition caucus, as a matter of fact, hj"» accounted for 39 members op ea illoccasion. ' !