The Star. SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 1923. THE SHORT SESSION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16939, 13 January 1923, Page 8

The Star. SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 1923. THE SHORT SESSION.

It is possible that the short session of Parliament which is to decide the immediate fate of the Government will be delayed until the results of three election petitions have been announced. Three Reformers are concerned, the return of two of them—the Hon C. J. Parr and Sir Maui Pom are—being; petitioned against, while Mr E. P. Lee is endeavouring to recover the Oamaru seat from tho successful Libera] candidate. Mr J. A. MacPherson. In view* of the state of parties, and the importance of the issues at stake, it is perhaps desirable that the session should lie delayed until final decisions biave been reached. However, it is pertinent to reflect that the fate of the petitions, assuming even that they are all! decided in favour of the Reformers, will not obliterate the fact that the Government is in a minority. The position as it stands to day gives the Reformers thirty-eight seats, and not even the most astute of Reform mathematicians can convert a minority of four into a working majority. The Reformers have been spending the weeks since December 7 searching for an avenue of escape from the penalty of defeat. 'They have discovered that there is no essential difference between Reform and Liberalism, and that there is no reason why Liberal members who aro opposed to Communism and Revolutionary Socialism should nob join the Reform ranks and support Mr Massey Ic is a strange argument coming from politicians aud newspapers whose hostility to Liberalism has been their principal stock-in-trade. If there is no essential difference between Re form a<jd Liberalism why have Mr Massey and his followers fought Liberalism tooth and nail during the past thirty years? Why did they oppose the Liberal legislation which fill's the brightest and. best pages in the Statute Book of New Zealand? Tho Liberals know that a Reform Government is constitutionally incapable of adopting a Liberal point of view. The history of Reform is a long record of opposition to Liberal legislation, and it would be astounding indeed if the Liberals recognised a close political affinity with their unrelenting opponents. Mr Massey and his friends have stated that they were not opposed to the Liberal policy, but that they opposed to Liberal administration of the country's affairs. The country was promised a new era in administrative work and in a sense that promise was redeemed. For reckless extravagance and culpable inefficiency the Reformers surpassed all previous records. One painful result has been an impoverished exchequer, and another the excessive taxation, which is still a drag on industrial and commercial enterprise in the Dominion. The appeal of the Reform caucus to the Liberals to join up with the Government against Communism should be heavily discounted. It is not the danger of Communism that is agitating the Reformers, but the more present fear that they will be dismissed from office. The Conservative press and politicians worked the Red menace for all it was worth during the election campaign, but the reply of the electors was to wipe out the Government’s majority and strengthen both the Liberal and Labour Oppositions. The Reformers are again talking of going to the country on the same issue—sane government versus Communism —incidentally inviting the electore to believe that the only sane Government possible is that which has just been rejected. As a matter of fact the Government realises that another general election just now would only emphasise the verdict which was given in December, and it is anxious bo stave off tl>e evil day. The time is coming, however, when it will have to face the music, and it will not find the ordeal a pleasant one. The feelers which are being thrown out Howards the Liberals are not likely to encounter a responsive sympathy. Liberalism has little in common with Reform, and the Liberal Party is not inclined to disappear from the political field merely to serve the interests t>f its inveterate opponents.