The Daily News FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1933. THE PARTING OF THE WAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 January 1933, Page 6

The Daily News

FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1933. THE PARTING OF THE WAYS.

OFFICES: NEW PLYMOUTH, Currie Street. STRATFORD, Broadway. HAWERA, High Street.

From any point of view the threatened. loss from the Cabinet of so able and far-seeing a Minister as Mr. Downie Stewart would be a matter for keen regret. His retirement at the present juncture will be a blow from which the Coalition Ministry will not easily recover. At the same time, the sympathy of the public will be with Mr. Stewart, for if the rumours which are current are near the truth the discussions in Cabinet of the past week or two have left no high-minded public man any option. Moreover, one of the most unsatisfactory features of the present crisis is the childish manner in which the public is being treated. So long as the discussions were confidential to Cabinet secrecy was desirable and correct. But. the Ministers concerned must have foreseen that so grave a matter was bound to reach the public and should have been prepared to give a full statement of the position and what are the intentions of the Government. Mr. Forbes and his other colleagues may be hopeful of 'retaining Mr. Stewart’s services as Minister of Finance. What they do not seem to appreciate to the full is that unless the policy for which Mr. Stewart is willing to risk his office is to be continued the majority of the public will agree that his resignation is justified, though it is a disaster as well. There is a limit beyond which no Minister can think his Cabinet’s policy a public danger and tolerate it. Only some overwhelming reason could justify such a stultification of principle for the sake of other portions of a national policy devised to meet a crisis of the first magnitude. It may be argued

that such a crisis has been reached and that Ministers should be prepared to sink individual opinions in the hope of a common policy proving, on the' whole, of service to the State. Unquestionably an economic crisis does exist, and a national policy is required to meet it. Mr. Stewart’s difference with his colleagues is on fundamentals. He has recently returned from a visit to London. He had there the opportunity of learning at first hand the economic problems affecting the Empire as a whole, and the efforts towards their solution being attempted by the. Imperial Government. In addition he discussed New Zealand’s outlook and commitments with representatives of those who have backed their faith in the Dominion with their money, and he has learnt from them how the policy which has been followed in New Zealand has been viewed and what would be most likely to retain their confidence and possibly bring about an arrangement less burdensome to the Dominion. Mr. Stewart finds on his return, if rumour is correct, that his counsels do not appeal to his colleagues so much as those of economists of all grades and qualifications, and that Cabinet is determined to take a course he thinks is dangerous in the extreme. His refusal to be a party to such a policy could have only one definite*expression, and Mr. Stewart has apparently been the first to recognise what it must be. Of course, the contention can be made that by its willingness to part with a colleague Cabinet is showing that it is convinced that its policy is the sounder. Time alone can give the verdict. If Mr. Stewart’s resignation is accepted it is to be hoped he will give the Government discriminating support whenever he can approve its policy. Parliament is suffering, to-day from the lack of a watchful Opposition concerned more with the dissection of the Government’s policy than with scoring party points, and it may be that Mr. Stewart as a private member may be better able to help in the production of a,' sound economic policy than he has apparently been able to do while in the Ministry. His criticism of measures would be known to be disinterested, his knowledge of affairs would give him a sense of responsibility, and he has never been a keen party man. Such an influence in Parliament at the present time is capable of much benefit to the Dominion.