THE WAIPUKURAU PRESS MONDAY, JULY 9, 1934. PARTY WARFARE CONDEMNED.

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXIX, Issue 154, 9 July 1934, Page 4

THE WAIPUKURAU PRESS MONDAY, JULY 9, 1934. PARTY WARFARE CONDEMNED.

Mr. R. A. Wright, M.P. (an Independent-Reform-Coali-»tionist) was responsible for some candid criticism of partypolitics in the course of his speech at a participant in the Address-in-Reply debate on Friday. He said: “I believe party government is at the bottom of all our troubles. I suppose now that I have said that I will have few friends left in Parliament. The Government won’t agree with me, nor will the Opposition, but I can’t help it.” He stated in reply to an interjection by Mr. R. Semple (Labour) to the effect that Mr. Wright had been a “pretty good party bullock,” that he had never been a strong party man. He realised the shortcomings of the system. Under the present method, of government a Prime Minister was nothing more or less than a dictator. “Look at his power,” Mr. Wright said. “He is sent for by his Excellency the GovernorGeneral and that is the end of the section. If a member has been a good boy he has a chance to get into the Cabinet, but if he has been a bad boy he is overlooked. . .” Continuing, Mr. Wright said that the Prime Minister had absolute authority. He not only appointed members of the Legislative Council, but he selected candidates for the House. If a man elected to show a little independence or failed to “toe the mark” then party funds were brought into the fight. Mr. Semple at this stage observed: “You will get a taste of that next election.” Mr. Wright: “That may be so, but let them all come.” He went on to say he had often witnessed the spectacle of old friends of his in the Reform Party speaking one way and voting another. When the party whip cracked they had to come to heel. The system was vicious in the extreme. “I would rather be a rat-catcher’s dog than swear allegiance to a party and vote against my convictions,” he declared. “The party system is "wrong. There is a strong feeling throughout the country against Parliamentary institutions. ...” Mr. Samuel: “The whole machine is on trial at present.” Mr. Wright: “That is so. It is going through the most critical stage of its history. There must be some other way, and I say there is another way, without going into details at this stage. The party system has been weighed in the balance and found wanting.” It is a fact that Mr. Wright has in his day displayed more than average political independence as note his stand in 1916 as an opponent, in association with the late Dr. A. K. Newman, and four or five Labour Members, of the proposals (adopted) to float our war loans free-of-income-tax; the 1921-2 Civil Service Salaries cut, also his democratic opposition to recent wage reductions and the higher exchange move of the Government,