WELLINGTON TOPICS. THE SHORT SESSION.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 March 1921, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS. THE SHORT SESSION.

(Our Special Correspondent;. WELLINGTON, March 11. The (jorenionial part ot the opening ot '■ Parliament yesterday presented no new ■ feature, with th c exception of a Govern- ; or-General who already has won his nay ! into the hearts of the people, making his , tirst appearance within the legislative [ balls. Lord Jellicoe looked and played ) bis part well. He was punctual in his ; arrival, cordial in his reception of the j plaudits of tin: crowd, prompt and pre- ) cisc in the performance of his allotted | task and self-possessed and confident in his retirement from th L > Chamber. He bore himself, in short, just as one • would expect the hero of the Battle of Jutland to do, and won his wav still further into th 0 esteem of people who have watched the readiness with which he has adapted himself to he requirements of his high office. THE SPEECH. The speech, in addition to having the great virtue of brevity, was singularly free from the platitudinous phra :es winch two generations of politicians have placed in the mouth of the representatives of the Crov n on such occasions, It might have been constructed l )V his Excellency himself and certainly savoured rather ot the quarter '‘‘ck than of the Treasury Benches. Its dominant note was the insistence upon he importance of th 0 Prime Minister of the self governing Dominions in general and of Mr Massey in particular, being present at the lipperial Conference in Umdon this year. This, of course, is the whole raison d’etre for the short session and it is presented with much greater tone than it could have been in mcr" words .MR WILFORD'S PROTEST. Mr Wilford’s proposed amendment to rim Address-in-Reply may or may not be a good tactical move as mu ’ 1 things re counted in party warfare, hut its obvious purpose, is io provide ;i peg on which to hang a recital of Air Massey's ■ whole-hearted denunciation of the proI jiosnl to postpone tlq. ordinary session of Parliament when Sir Joseph Ward was going Home to the Imperial Conference in 191)9. It would he unfair to anticipate the text of Mr Wilford’r speech by quoting here what, the J’riinf Minister had to say on that occasion, but there was one paragraph in his • rdciil protest which may not h,. iinproiitahiv quoted at the present juncture. "If the prime AI mister went out <1 Parliament, and I went out of Parliament.. and hall'-a- dozen other prominent members went out." Air Aleksey declared from the Opjwsitmn benches. ‘T venture to say that the business of the country would lie just as well conducted and the interests of the people just as well looked after as has ever been the case.” Modesty of this description is a fading flower in 'w> present Parliament. WATERSIDE LABOUR. With the waterside dispute fresh m ih ( . memories of members and with tie' conditions of its settlement, ns between the employers and the workers, s.ili undisclosed, the subject could .scarcely escape mention on the tirst. day of the session. The mention came f \iin Air George Alitchell, the Independent member for Wellington South, who asked the Prime Minister, if in view of the great national loss suffered by the Dominion through the interruption of work on the waterfront, he would set up a Royal Commission to get at the mot- of th,. trouble and to make recommendations for its removal. Air MitchcH’s own disposition evidently was 1 towards a change of the method of controlling labour on the wharves and the Prime Minister very discreetly suggested the member should put his question 1 on the Order Paper, where it may repose to the, ordinary session in September or October.