The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1941 The Political Future

Timaru Herald, Volume CL, Issue 22064, 10 September 1941, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1941 The Political Future

WHEN the Prime Minister returns to New Zealand at the end of the week one of his earliest tasks will be to give the Government his view on the desirability or otherwise of holding the General Election. Before he left on his visit to the Middle East and Britain Mr Fraser asked the Leader of the Opposition to leave the formation of a National Government and related questions for discussion until he returned. In the months of Mr Fraser's absence there has been something fairly close to a political truce in the country, but this state of affairs cailnot continue much longer.

The greatest present danger is that the Dominion will be forced into an election which the people do not want. The Government itself knows that the distraction of an election is undesirable, but there are elements within the Labour Party which are anxious for an election at any price. Their attitude is that the elections cannot be postponed without some working arrangement being made with the Opposition and they are not ready to countenance the slightest surrender of authority to their political opponents. This, of course; is an extremely narrow view. All that is wanted now is such a suspension of political activity that the country will be free to concentrate exclusively upon war problems. It is universally believed that the war will ultimately be won and when peace comes there will be time to indulge in the old democratic luxury of party strife.

The Government, admittedly, is in an awkward position, but it is not as difficult as it seems. All that is asked is that a decision should be made one way or another. In the past year or so, of course, the Government has shown extraordinarly unwillingness to make decisions on important points. It has chosen rather to drift with the tide hoping that in time various problems would resolve themselves. In this matter of the Dominion's political future, however, the Government must make the decision for itself. Failing that, it might decide to find some way of testing public opinion, and having found a means of approaching the people, it would then be relieved of its present burden. Whether this is a practicable solution of the problem has yet to be seen, but it does appear to offer an escape. There is ample evidence that only the politicially zealous are in an election mood.