“POLITICAL HUMBUG”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 117, 21 May 1942, Page 3

“POLITICAL HUMBUG”

ALL-IN GOVERNMENT SCHEME “ALMONDS FOR TOOTHLESS” “It would be difficult to conceive anything more futile and fantastic than the substitute scheme for an allin Government which has been announced with the Prime Minister’s blessing.” said Mr. F. W. Doidge. M.P. for Tauranga, at a meeting of the National Party representatives at Te Kuiti on Monday. Mr. S. Walters, president of the Waitomo branch of the party, presided over about 150 delegates. "If he is serious, why does not Mr. Fraser follow the example of. Mr. Winston Churchill?" Mr. Doidge asked. “In the House of Commons, with 615 members, the Labour Party has a representation of 150. As an Opposition it is proportionately much weaker than the Opposition in the New Zealand Parliament, yet in Britain's National Government 12 portfolios, as well as the leadership of the Commons, are held by the Labour Partv. “Mr. Fraser, pledged to the people in favour of a National Government, but prohibited bv the Labour Party, from fulfilling that pledge, hails with delight the loophole provided by the overtures of the Returned Services’ Association. He seeks to solve the problem by setting»up an enlarged War Cabinet, the members of which would be without executive power. At the same time all the present, members of the Labour Administration remain in office and retain their portfolios, which means that all the executive power is theirs. “We already possess a War Cabinet which is impotent. Just how impotent was indicated a few days ago when Parliament was presented with a War Budget of £133,000,000 which the War Cabinet had never seen. What possible purpose does the Prime Minister hope to achieve by enlarging a War Cabinet whose members are to be without executive power? One is reminded of the old Chinese proverb, ‘To those without teeth, the gods bring almoncis.’ “For over a year the country has been clamouring for a National Government,” Mr. Doidge concluded. “For more than a year the Prime Minister has led the people to believe they would get what they wanted. The offer now made will be rated as sheer political humbug. If a National Government is not forthcoming, a general election is the only alternative.” DANGERS SEEN “WIRE-PULLING AND LOGROLLING.” (P.A.) Dunedin, May 20. The former New Zealand Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Downie Stewart, in an interview, said there was plenty of precedent for bringing outsiders into the Cabinet if it were considered necessary, but when the Prime Minister further stated he would grant sectional representation in the War Cabinet to such groups as manufacturers, farmers, returned soldiers and trade unionists, then he would certainly imperil or destroy such national unity as the Dominion possessed, which was probably greater than the Prime Minister realised. “In my view men are not elected to Parliament or to Cabinet to represent sectional or vested interests,’ stated Mr. Stewart. "They are elected to represent the nation. If the Prime Minister creates a Cabinet of special interests the danger will be that we will have sectional wirepulling and log-rolling on the home front as well as a war on the battlefront. I hope the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser will think twice before trying to placate powerful groups by giving them special representation on the War