WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 October 1920, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

POLITICAL PARTIES. THE McCALLIJ MITES. (Our Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, cub. 22. The “Dominion” this morning pokes fun at Mr McCollum's new party—the McCailumitea, as it calls its members — as well it may. r l'he member for Wairau, whose cheery optimism easily might be misinterpreted by a stranger, seems to have been talking very much at large when lie gave a representative of one of the Auckland papers to understand that a fresh group of “Progressive Independents” was in course of formation in the House oi Representatives. Anyone could have marked off fifteen, members of the House who claimed to lie unattached to either of the old parties and who would have indignantly resented any suggestion of sympathy with the extreme Labour Party, but only Mr MeCallum could have imagined that the fifteen members he mentioned were converging towards a coalition that by and by would constitute the official Opposition. INDEPENDENCE. The incident, however, is not without serious interest. The Wellington paper, whose sympathies, with a certain amount of friendly candour, arc on the side of the Reform Party, does not demur to the suggestion that Mr Massey’s solid following, his “thick and thin brigade” as it lias been dubbed, numbers no more than forty-three, including his three Maori stalwarts and not placing the Speaker, the Hon A. M. -Myers, who is absent in England, and Mr Lysriar, whose party leanings still arc delightfully indefinite. Fortythree means of majority of nine when the other groups can muster only thirty-four Votes between them, and, of course, makes Mr "Massey's position perfectly secure for the life of the present Parliament, but it does not represent the overwhelming strength that would he good for no leader. THE MEAT TRUST. The Meat Trust was up for judgment in the House yesterday afternoon on a report from the Agricultural and Stock Committee to the effect that the issue of a meat export license to Armour and Co. of Australia would he inimical to the interests of both the producer and the consumer. The evidence submitted to the committee appears to have overwhelmingly justified the tenor of its report, but Mr George Forbes, the member for Hurunui, a sheep farmer and a particularly sane and capable advocate of the interests of bis class, expressed a quite different view. The Government, he said, had refused the permit without giving a reason and now the committee had endorsed the refusal, still without giving a reason. The agitation against the American firm, lie maintained, had not come from the farmers at all, but from‘the meat, exporters, who feared strong competition would compel them to pay higher prices. THE OTHER SIDE. ' Mr Forbes’s view was not the popular one in the House by any means. Mr Vernon Reed, the member for Ray of Islands, gave it some half-hearted support and Mr David Jones, the member for Kaiapoi, confessed to a measure of sympathy with the American enterprise. Hut Mr Robert Masters, the member for Stratford, and the Minister of Agriculture were ready with very strong indictments against the Meat Trust, with which they unhesitatingly associated the Armour Company. Mr Masters insisted that the farmers who had petitioned in favour of a license being issued to the firm were in no way representative of the farmers of the Dominion and the Hon W. Nosworthy quoted at length the finding of the United States District Court which, he said, undoubtedly included concerns of the Armour character in its sweeping denunciation. The debate was proceeding when the dinner adjournment arrived and Mr Massey promised an opportunity for its continuation.