WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 May 1920, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES.

(Our Special Correspondent)

PARLIAMENTARY REPRE-

SENTATION

CONFERENCE OF TARANAKI

MEMBERS,

WELLINGTON, May 24

There is some interested comment in political circles to-day upon the fact that the first united conference for fourteen years between the Taranaki members of Parliament was held at Stratford ou Saturday. Fourteen years mark tho period during which the four Taranaki seats have been held by the representatives of one party, and Hie friends of electoral reform are arguing from the Stratford conference that proportional representation so far lrom making for discord and division make* lor unity and public-spirited effort. • Here, they say, is proof that a Parliament in which all the parties were represented according to their strengti in tlie constituencies, would be much more likely to give faithful service than one in which the strength of the contending forces was largely determined hv tho chances of the ballot. REPATRIATION. The statement made by the Hon D. H Guthrie, the Minister of Lands, on Saurday showing that the Government ;;a£*.bi.to—soldiers towards re-estabhshu g selves in civil life at an expenditure o over nineteen millions lerally regarded as satistactoiy. is criticism of the repatriation of the Government, of course, chiefly directed against the high prices paid fm private lands and the comparative* small -area of Crown land brought into profitable occupation by the solßei s tier. The answer to this is that the G - vernment could not acquire private land at. less that its market value and «i“ the available crown land, with rare exceptions, cannot be m»;«e productive within a year or two of its occupation. declining prices. The cables from London and New York are encouraging a hope among consumers here that a number of the necessaries of life will he less, dear m the near future than they have been since tlie first or second year of the war. But so far there is no indication ( ji “necessaries,” as they were defined a decade ago, becoming cheap. Meat inevitably must decline, but bread, sugar and many other articles of food remain at famine prices, while butter is bound to rise in spite of all Mr Massey s eilorts to keep the price down for a ■ month or two. Drapery of the common every-day kind, if the buyer knows where to look for it, is cheaper than it was a year ago, but fuel remains at an exorbitant price and house-rent is rather soaring than declining. due. gether folk with limited incomes are facing the winter with anything but a rosy outiook. THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.

Tlie Prime Minister, who was scarcely less hard worked tlian the Prince of Wales himself during the Royal visit, returned to Wellington on Sunday morning and wat at once pounced upon by the reporters for a statement concerning public accounts. The best he could do for them was to promise they would be available in a day or two. It is being taken for granted that the accounts will show a fairly substantial surplus, but that whether large or small the whole of the balance carried over will be absorbed by commitments, which are expected to be unusually heavy. In these circumstances there will lie no alternative to a large loan and with the price of money in London prohibitive, tho Dominion will have to dip deeply into its own pockets.