WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 April 1920, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES.

(Our Special Correspondent). SIR JOSEPH WARD. OBSERVATIONS IN AUSTRALIA. WELLINGTON, April 22 A sharp attack of sciatica which kept him indoors for a fortnight Interfered with Sir Joseph Ward’s enjoyment of his trip to Australia, but lie lias returned to Wellington in excellent health and spirits and with very pleasant recollections of the kindness and hospitality showered upon Lady Ward and himself by their Sydney friends. Owing to his indisposition and liis obligation to return to New Zealand for the Prince of Wales’s visit, lie was unable to get across to Melbourne, but lie met several of his Victorian friends and was glad to hear from them of the prosperity their State was enjoying. New South Wales was in scarcely so happy a condition. The prolonged drought, oi which very little had been heard Oil this side of the Tasman Sea, was really a very serious matter and had gravely affected all the rural industries. This, coming at a time when the State wa* confronted with all its war problems, was most unfortunate, but with its marvellous resources and its wonderful powers of recuperation New South Wales never had occasion for despondency and was displaying none now. NEW SOUTH WALES ELECTION. Sir Joseph described the political situation in New South Wales as interesting' and perplexing—interesting to the onlookers ond perplexing to those involved in its complexities. Tho close balance of parties in the State Parliament probably represented nearly enough the divisions of opinion in the country, though it was quite possible the abstination of an unusually large number of people from recording their votes at the recent election laid affected one side more than it had affected the other. The nemand that the elector should indicate the whole of his preferences on the ballot paper, even when there were as many as twenty candidates or more, in addition to leading hundreds of peoplo to abstain from voting, had produced an enormous crop of informal votes. Thousands of people with strong party prejudices, and with little understanding of proportional representation, simply refused to give even a fifteenth, or » twentieth preference to a candidate of whom they disapproved. The result was that tho\ either did not go to the polls at all, or made a moss of their ballot papers when they got there. PARTIES AND PROSPECTS.

This, Sir Joseph hastened to point out, did not reveal any inherent defect in tin* principle of proportional representation. It merely showed that the system had been unhappily applied and that too great a demand had been made upon the intelligence of a section ot the community. It would he quite sufficient to require tie voter to express preference for the number of candidates to he elected or at least ior three or four more. The oliance of a tenth preference being effective, even when live candidates were to be elected, was so extremely remote there was no practical purpose to serve by demanding its expression. Tho multijlieatiun of preferences', however, though it evidently had increased the number of informal votes

and probably had delayed tlie counting, could not have impaired the accuracy of tlie returns. Tho new Parliament must be taken to represent the will of the electors who recorded valid votes. Sir Joseph’s own impression was that the Labour Party was in the ascendancy in New South Wales and that with a growing sense of responsibility it would modify many of its extreme views. Its leader, the new Premier, tfas a sane and capable man of whom everyone spoke well, and if lie could carry on lie probably would gather strength with tlie development, of Ids policy. BACK TO NEW ZEALAND.

Sir Joseph, courteously but quite firmly, declined to be drawn on New Zealand politics. He bad gone to Australia as a private citizen and bad refused to discuss with the numerous jounalists—many ol them, by the nay, New Zealanders —who "ere good enough to call upon him what had been happening in the Dominion during the previous three or four months. He had returned as a private citizen and he was going to preserve the same attitude here. He could say, however, that his trip to Australia, like all his other trips, had made him realise that New Zealand was- a- much blessed country and a very excellent place to be able to call home. Governments would come and go, probably at shorter intervals than had been the ease during the last two or three decades, and some would be better than others. Hut no Government could wholly retard the progress of the country or long impede the purpose and the enterprise of its people, in a month or so h%’duld he starting out on a visit to the Old Country, where he had business calling for Ill’s attention, and he might lie away till the end of the year, but already lie was contemplating the pleasure of his home-coming.

THE COAL SHORTAGE. stillTcute. WELLINGTON, Aril 23. ft is now six or seven weeks since the Prime Minister stated to an interviewer that the acute stage of the coal shortage was over and that the agreement made at the conference between the mine owners and the men would make for the gradual restoration of normal conditions. Hut to the ordinary householder who has not yet experienced any of tho relief he was promised, coal is as difficult to obtain as ever it was and tho cost of cartage is steadily increasing. It is true the State Depot is receiving cash orders for small quantities without putting its customers through the ordeal of standing in a, queue for hours together,' but it is not committing itself to any time lor delivery and many people have been without an ounce of coal for weeks, lhe private dealers simply smile at the stranger who comes to them with his money in his hand and asks as a favour for half a sack of coal. ABOUT THE AGREEMENT. As tho improvement in the position was to he produced by a better tinderstanding between the Mine Owners’ Association and the Miners’ Federation, j 1 H, is not reassuring to learn from Mr J- ,! Arbuckle, one of the representatives of 'I the men, this understanding has not

been reached. “Fully a dozen unions, he said this morning, “are unable to procure the increases of wages granted under the national agreement. The mine owners are doing everything in their power to prevent the lrom procuring the rates of pay set out under the national agreement. The State mine authorities are the only ones that have met the men fairly and settled things in accordance with the agreement. If a settlement is not made within the next few weeks by the private coal companies there very likely will be a recurrence of the trouble.” The Executive of the Federation expresses the strongest desire to preserve the peace, but it is not at all certain about the attitude ol the men if the whole position has to be reviewed. THE EMPLOYEES’ VIEW.

A representative of the Mine Owners Association seen this morning made light of Mr Arhuckle’s assertions. There are a few outstanding points in the interpretation of the agreement between the owners and the men that wore not yet quite settled, he said, hut the owners throughout had tried to deal with these in a conciliatory, spirit and were at least as anxious as Mr Arbuclrle professed to be to preserve the peace and remove the inconvenience the public were suffering. The coal shortage wa s due to a variety of circumstances, but the one that could be most easily removed was the “go slow policy, limiting the rate and volume of production. If the men would make up their minds to do the best they could id themselves they very soon would he doing the host for the community, and while earning big wages would be relieving much of the inconvenience and loss they now are inflicting upon individuals and upon the industries of the country. THE GOVERNMENT’S BESPONSIBILITY. Meanwhile the Government is accepting the Association’s view of the matter and. though dealing fairly with the men, insisting upon the terms of the ngieement being observed. The Prime Minister left for Auckland yesterday afternoon to meet the Prince ot V ales in the northers city and during the next few weeks will be engaged .mainly with the entertainment of the Dominion’s royal guest, hut he lias a fully equipped office travelling with him and While joining in the social and public festivities proper to the occasion will keep an alert eye upon the developments in the coal situation. The general opinion is that the miners are not seeking trouble and that the differences between them and the authorities are so trivial that a mutually satisfactory settlement should l.c icached without any serious difficulty. Needless to say, the coalless public legard this as a consummation devoutly to he wished.