WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 July 1917, Page 3

WELLINGTON NOTES.

PARLIAMENT IN SESSION. THE SIGNS AND PORTENDS (Our Special Correspondent) WELLINGTON, July 2. The House of Representatives appears. t« have assembled in a particularly serious mood this year, eager to get to work and ready to dispense with any superfluous preliminaries that might interfere with the progress of thc business. Wha t- thisf attitude- portends it is too early to say with any confidence, hut tho feeling about the lobbies is that menibeis . irrespective of parties, arc going to bej more, critical and less amenable to dts- j cipline than they have boon in either of j the other two sessions since the begin-j liing of the war. ; Of course, the early attacks upon the Minister of Defence by Mr. Vigor Brown and Dr. Thacker are rather per- ■ sonnl than symptomatic of the- temper of the House and need not he taken into serious account-, hut' as the session proceeds more weighty indictmnts will be levelled against Sir James Allen and his colleagues. Already members whose constituents are- specially interested in the hut-tor fat levy have met to decide upon the refund of thc money that has Ix'Cii paid, while quite a muinher of questions more or less directly challenging the policy and administration of the National Government have been placed Oil- the order paper. early closing. The advocates of closing the hotel bars at six o’clock during the course of the war and for six months after were early in the field with a huge batch of petitions in support of their prayer and it is understood -that- tlie pile of papers lying on the table will he supplemented by many late arrivals. The- report that the Trade is prepared to compromise on the question and would accept eight o’clock closing is denied by people- who ought to he acquainted with the facts, hut the representatives of the petitioners profees to lie confident of getting a' good deal more than this without making any terms with “their friends the enemy.

Precisely what ground there is for their optimism is no yet clear, hut it is known five or six members who opposed the reduction of hours last session are now disposed to reconsider their decision. One of these is a gentleman who put his whole trust in “antishouting” and would not tolerate stay further concession to the “reformers . How soon the matter will, be brought to a vote depends upon the wishes of the Cabinet, which is said to be anxiously weighing the strength of the two parties, but the position oaninot he greatly affected by delay and probably Ministers will be glad to'get it off their minds. 1 STRAWS. Though members of Parliament obvious lv have come to Wellington brimming over with patriotic zeal and heroic resolutions, just at the moment they seem to be concerning themselves rather with small tilings than with the great. The talk of the week-end has centred not round the Loan Bill or the taxation pro--1 posab or any other pleasure for winining

the war, but around the Governor’s new title and the special train that brought -the Party Leaders- from Auckland. Tho new honour conferred upon His Majesty’s representative in the Dominion) dos not- appear to have greatly impressed any one, unless it is liis Excellency himself, who made a very proper little speech at. the ceremony on Friday aind the special train has provoked many derisive comments for which the irrational economies of the Minister of Railways are largely responsible. No doubt Sir Joseph Ward put the, matte? of the title in the- right- lightwhen he urged the importance the increased status would give to New Zealand in th© eyes of outsiders, and if it costs the taxpayers nothing in the way of increased salary or additional allowances they really will have no occasion to complain. RAILWAY SERVICES. Th e special train from Auckland, running at thc heels of the ordinary express, is in a different category, and had it been put on merely to gratify the whim or the vanity of -the Ministers there would have been plenty of

excuse for tl} o taxpayers and their representatives in Parliament making a fuss. But this is scarcely the case. Naturally Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward required t.o have as much time as they possibly could with their colleagues while they were travelling to Wellington. They had! to get in touch with what had happened in the Dominion during the preceding njno or ten months and would have had no hop 0 of doing this had they travelled by t-he ordinary train. But perhaps the public protest, which may find some echo in Parliament, may induce tlie Party Leaders to look more closely than they otherwise would have done into the whole administration of the railway service during war time. If t-lffey tell the public tho measures adopted by (Mr Herries ar e necessary towards' winning the war the public will he satisfied. If, however, they discover tuese. measures are simply t-lie expression of disgruntled officialism the. public will expect them to interfere.