NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 46, 18 November 1919, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

The Government is moving evidently on right lines in setting up what will amount practically to a separate Housing Department. Under the plans outlined to-day, involving the appointment of a Superintendent of Housing, and of a housing expert and architect at a salary of £1000 a year, definite prospects are raised that tho construction of dwellings may be organised on the big and effective scale that will mnkc for economy. The most Hopeful course clearly is to give as frtio ii hand as possible to a qualified expert to perfect the necessary organisation. Presumably, the , Departmental expert will be in a position to scrutinise local housing schemes financed by the. State, as well as to supervise the construction of workers' dwellings. The whole housing enterprise ought to be coordinated, and the appointment of an expert to control operations is. of cou'rsp, an essential first step in that - direction. Just how far the development of Stale, and local housing schemes will be impeded by the shortage of labour remains to bo seen, but it is to be hoped that the Government is not unprepared to deal with the contingency of having to import additional labour from abroad. ■ ' ■ • • The Leader of the Opposition appears to get into a rather bad tangle, nowadays whenever he sets out as a financial critic. A few days ago he unburdened himself concerning the unusual size of the Supplementary Estimates, and talked rather gloomily about the nossibilitics of a deficit. To quote him in full: "The Supplementary Estimates, for which tho Minister of Finance on September 23 in his Budget sniff ,£478,108 w uvnilnble, asked for .£1,517,000. That was d£1,03i1,000 more than the Minister had vruvided for on September 23. Ho readiusled the revenue on the Inst day of the wssion, and said he hoped on March 31 next to bo able to square the amount, but lie (Sir Joseph Ward) very much doubled this." Sir Joseph .Waiid should know better than this. He has already been corrected by Sir Jajies Allen as to the actual amounts involved, but the Minister of Finance, in addition to showing that there will not be a deficit, might have gone a step further. He might, for instance, have reminded Sir Joseph Ward of what he (Sir Joseph) said on the subject as recently as September 30 last. At that time it suited Sir Joseph Ward's purpose to accuse the Minister of Finance of underestimating his resources. Indeed, he went so far as to challenge him to say that.he had not got "from two to three millions of money up his sleeve," and he persisted that the Minister was underestimating his revenue to that extent. Now, in order presumably to shake public confidence in the Government, and by so doing assist his own chances at the elections, he jumps to the other extreme. But the joke of the thing is that for the past 'our years, as Finance Minister, Sir Joseph Ward has been millions nut in his own estimates. He. admits the fact now. and claims credit fo' , erring on the side of caution. When his successor also desires to "nlay safe," Sir Joseph first tells Parliament and the country that be knows all about it, and that Sin Jamks Allen has £3,000,000 "up his slnfive," and then turns lound, swallows bis previous assertion, and talks eloomily about jmv*ng doubts of the Minister's ability to make things square at thn fnd of the financial vear. This, of course, is party politics, and, most people are tired to death of it. * ' * • o In this quarter of New Zealand the political eccentricities of Mn. Atjiohe are not taken very seriously, but in Nelson, where, he is again seeking election as the Wardist nominee, it is apparently deemed necessary from time to time to expose his inconsistencies. _ The Nelson Mail, for instance, in its issue of Saturday last quotes a recent utterance of the would-be M.V. on the subject of profiteering, and side .by side with it quotes the same gentleman's views on the same subject in 1910. They are of interest only as affording a fair sample of the elasticity, of the political convic-

tiorTS" of a certain type of Wnvdist candidate. The quotations referred to arc as under: Mr. Atmore in 1916, Mr. Atm.oro in 1919. There was no Tim thing tliiit warrant for in- would reduce the 'creasing , the prico cohli of living was of New 'Zealand production. • • . produce because There had been men wore killing profiteering, but one another in profiteering was a Europe. Mr. Mas- bad second among si'v's reinedv was ' the causes oi' the increased produe- high cost of livlion. It would ins. Only by only allow Hie ex- labour producing plotters to corner on an increased mid make mors scale, under intelprofils.' li»ent direction, could flio wealth be replaced which was lost by Mic war. To hit Mr.Massey in 1916 it was necessary to denounce Mit. Massey'.s ruined}-. To hit his Labour opponent in 1919 Mit. Massey's remedy is dragged out as the only possible remedy. Obviously, Mr. Atmohe's memory is short, or his principles not deep-rooted- Possibly , he lms forgotten, also, that last year, when contesting the Wellington Central seat, he announced that lie "had made up his mind to try for qifti of the Wellington scats until lie entered Parliament again." It is only twelve- months since he made this bold declaration, yet he has bolted back to Nelson, and is now seeking to convince the electors of that sunny province that it is their interests he really has at heart. It is true that his reception in Wellington was a chilly one. To secure only 185 votes in an electorate numbering over 9000 voters is quite good enough reason for Mn. Atmokr moving on to Nelson or to any other sphere of political activity.