WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 September 1920, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

(Our Special Correspondent!

THE LIBERAL PARTY

THE NEW LEADER

WELLINGTON, Sept. 22 Even among his personal friends there is a disposition, to take Mr T. M. Wilford, the new leader of the Liberal Opposition, not quite seriously as a politician. They recognise his ability, his virility and his readiness. Their scepticism is not altogether unnatural. Mr Willord, though still a young man as politicians go, having turned fifty only just the other day, has been in Parliament for twenty-four years, and during that time lie has had to fight his way in an arduous and exacting profession which reserves its big prizes for the men who give it their undivided attention. The member for Hutt has not conformed to this condition, having served a large suburban constituency assiduously and occupied a seat for a term in the National Cabinet, but until now he ha.> not pretended to make his service to the .State the first call upon his time and energy. CONGENIAL WORK. Now, however, circumstances, which are his own private concern, are enabling Mr Wilford to devote himself to politicsKjnore closely than he has ever done before,-. He' is in daily attendance at the room allotted to the leader of the Opposition in Parliament Buildings,busying himself witji visitors and correspondence and attending to the hundred and one details that require the attention of a party leader. Here he is in his element. An indefatigable' worker, quick and methodical, he covers an enormous amount of ground with little apparent effort, his professional training as well as his personal bent contributing towards this end. Since the days of Mr Ballance, there

lias lieon no loader on either side of politics quite so business like in his methods. Mr Wilford believes in letting each day bear its own burdens, neither worrying about the troubles of yesterday nor the difficulties of to-mor-row, and in practice this philosophy appears to work out uncommonly well. IN THE HOUSE. In the House Mr Wilford already has earned some kudos as a tactician. The surprises he sprang upon the Government last week when the Railway estimates were under discussion were cleverly conceived and very admirably [ executed. To tie on a division with a ' party that came back from the constituencies only eight or nine months ago boasting of an unassailable majority was n very palpable'hit indeed and lias , done more to draw the scattered e!e- j ments of the Opposition together than has anything else that has happened since the general election. The Prime Minister attempted to make light of the incident, be.ing himself a good tighter and a very excqljent tactician, but the over zealous party newspapers have betrayed what they thought and felt about it by be- . littering the leader of the Opposition to , the length of whittling liis politest 1 following down to half a dozen and his personal influence to the vanishing point. HIS POLICY. |

ills long parliamentary experience, while giving him knowledge and confidence, has purged Mr Wilford of the vices of political youth. He still dreams dreams and sees visions, but he does not expect to realise them by the means that may have appealed to him a quarter of a century ago. He is above all things intensely practical. He does not talk of the equality of opportunity nor the equalty of sacrifice, though he stands, firmly to the principles expressed by these phrases; but he epitomises the whole range of practical reform in a broad application of the demand lor a reduction in the cost of living.. He is looking beyond the prices ol sugar and butter and the scarcity of coal. He wants the elimination of waste from the public service, the insistence upon efficiency, the placing of the big burdens upon the broad shoulders, and the relief of the “bottom dog’’ not only by lessening the cost of living, hut also by making living itself more hopeful, more inspecting and more of a service to humanity at large.

THE LABOURER AND HIS HIRI

POLITICS AND PAY

WELLINGTON, September 2-1

There is little doubt that the increase in the pay of Ministers and members recommended by the Joint Committee of the two Houses of Parliament will be adopted bv the not altogether disinterested representatives of the people. Long before the increase in the °f living began to press heavily upon the whole community, it was generally admitted that members of Parliament, particularly those occupying seats in the elected branch of the Legislature, wore inadequately remunerated. For thirty years past people acquainted with the facts have realised that parsimony in this direction is the very worst kind or extravagance. Hundreds oi young men of the right type, capable beyond their fellows, keen and ambitious, have been prevented from entering Parliament simply by a sense of duty to those dependent upon them. The result, speaking broadly and with many individual exceptions in mind, lias been the perpetuation of a Parliament that i~ not fully representative of the brains and ideals of the country. THE UPPER HOUSE.

But while public opinion here appears to lie practically unanimous in approving of the proposed increase to the salaries of members of the House of Representatives it is distinctly divided in regard to Hie £l5O a year it is proposed to tack on to the pay of the gentlemen'of the Legislative Council. Wellington, perhaps, is too close to the personnel of the revising chamber to see it in its proper perspective. Of course flic Council even in these decadent times, contain-; two or throe of t l >c brightest intellects to be f-mud hi the public life of the Dominion. Sir Francis Tiell and the Hon. (). Samuel are equipped by knowledge and cxi’cripn"<' as are no two members of the elected Chamber, and in spite of their advancing age they remain among the •"'■st, fnrcefel figures iii Parliament Then the Hon 0. .Tones, the Hon. .T. McGi-cmr. the Hon. J, Barr pod half a dozen others that mi vht be mentioned representing /cry

capable different schools of thought that have a right to be heard in the Council. But after these shining lights comes an eclipse that seems hardly north the additional money. | A CONGESTED DEPARTMENT. I But whatever may be said disparagj ingly of the rank and file of the Legislative Council, it must be admitted a revising body of some kind or another was never more sorely needed than it is at the present time. Ministers themselves are complaining that legislation they have promised cannot be introduced because tire measures they have outlined cannot be prepared by a sadly overworked Law Drafting Office. Only the other day Sir William Herries stated in the House that lie had two or three ' Labour Bills on the stocks, hut doubted on account of the congested condition of the Law Office, if he would be able to launch them during the present session. Then in the House on-Wednesday during the discussion of the Masters and Apprentices Bill introduced by the Minister of Agriculture it was discovered that the measure revived legislation of more than half a c e atury ago which rendered apprentices liable to solitary confinement imprisonment and other penalties which the Government never can have wished to see inflicted. legislative reform. These facts taken in conjunction with ( the movement for saving the Council from the sacreligeous hands of the electors have drawn renewed attention to the question of legislative reform. Probably the Council has never fulfilled its .main function, that of a revising chamber, better than it is doing now, but its efficiency in this respect is entirely due to the presence of Sir Francis Bell, the Hon. O. Samuel and the Hon. J. McGregor within its walls, analytic minds of these three professional gentlemen rendering nil invaluable service to the country. But this being the case, it lias occurred to many people that the reform needed is not the creation of an elected Upper House, but the abolition of the Second Chamber altogether, and the appointment of a revising committee, with no power of veto, to overhaul the legislation passed bv the elected chamber, and, when necessary, to send it back for further consideration and revision by the people’s representatives. It is on these lines the new leader of the Liberd Opposition would reform.