WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 31 October 1921, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

SI 11 RIM NO FREIGHTS. PREFERENCE TO ARItEXTINE. •SI’HI lAI. TO CI'AUDIA.N. WELLINGTON, O.i. is Tlii' sin!ciiienl 111 ;i<I>■ by tln* Eiimc .Minister in (lie I lon so on Wednesday in rcganl |o shipping freights lists OJieouraged tlio producers and business men ;o hope ibe mles on meat between tbe Dominion and London will be redneeil in tbe near future, but il lias not satisfied tbein that llie closest possible attenlion to their interests in this respect is being given by the High Cnmmissioncr’s oflicc. It appears that the first intimation Air Alassey received ol the fact that Argentine meat was being carried to London at about hall the rate charged for New Zealand meat came from the British llieorporateil Society of .Meat Imporers. and that lor al! the nigh Commissioner’s ollice know about tbe matte r the unfair discrimination might have been maintained lor another year or two. Now the -Minister hits called the members of the Producers’ Committee and the repre onlativi's of the exporters together ami they a: 1 ’ sitting in conference to-day discussing proposals for putting' the Dominion on an equal looting with its South Alihan rival. City men are ipioting the incident as another illostiation of the need for the I letter rep: eseir a 1 ion of the country's euiiii'er.ial inten-t- at Home.

COAL SUPPLIES. Mr Alassey is tolerating all kinds of discursive talk in the House iusl unit, wishing, so the gossips sty. to In ;■ me!it- ii 1 1 s to a good him- ntr HU toe Auckland Hast l.y-clcct imi i- ov; r. On Wednesday afternoon Air Holland read a resolution from the Westport I’ro-g.e-s League, urging the! 'he Do minion’s Inp.-ign contraels lot ''"al supplies should he terminated by pay--11,,. loasiilinhle eoinpeii-aI ion or that theii fulfilment should be delayed, and engaged the Pi Alinisier in quite an ilitci cst iug lit t'c cmivc: sation acinss the tloor oi idle I loose. Al c Holland drew I min I lie Minislc: a s.nLment to (j.e • licet that them still were about

/ti.liOt) lolls of I'nreign coal |o a:-ivi All Alassey tumid have I ii very plea ed in do v. ithnlil .my import al i.ms. b’t

w !en tbe railttay stocks acre d mil I. six oi seven days’ rcquiiemeuls lie bail m, alternative and tins bound to g" a broad lor supplies. Air Hull mil interjected that Hie slim Inge was duejo no fault on tbe pal t of ti e miners. Inn Al Alass.sv ict omii'cndcd the nicinb"i for West port not to raise I'lii; point. The luiiuiurable gentleman liimscll, he fiid. uas not altoge; her l-laim-less Ml the mat lei. When I lie impoi led coal it acxhausled the Rail nay He) at lincul would he glad in go I,a, I; to lm al cal. RACING ( O.M.AIIS'ROVS RKRiiRT. It is hegillll ing lo look as if 1 1'|, roiiInla i hills exleude I lo M, Alley on bis In 111 handling ol the opposition lo I!u» i{;u i. niiiinissiuii > u*pfirt \u\»* ;i little premailire. ills Whins who have been pi irking I lie card bat c repio led to him Hint a majority ol Ibe members ol the House are against the adoption of the nqioil and that the opponents ol racing and the opponents of reform will vote together if the Commission’s leenmmendatioii.s ate put to the House on blue. This means that if the I’rime Minister adheres to his deierminatioit to give his mill parly no lead in the matter the report will go by the board and the status quo will he maintained. A nnnilior of memhers iaiaiiirahle io t!ie rep,nt hold strongly to the opinion that the question is of such outstanding importance Hull the Minister should not leave the report to lie strangled by an alliance between two contending factious wliieb have not a

single thought or sentiment in icgard to racing in ci-ininnm. "It is like Hie Prohibitionists and the Trade comhining to prevent ativ reform ol the drink tinMil'," a member of the House said to-day, ••and the result will lie the same. All the old evils will remain." That seems to sum up the position fair ly enough.

SAMOA

New Zealand’s sliaie of the "white mail’s hurdeti’’ just now Samoa and the delude in the House last night on the Rill introduced by the Minister ol Internal A flairs for extending the existing system of administrating the all’aiis of the island showed bow peiplexing it is in many respects. The lion K. R. Lee lias neithei tlie font', nor l.lie imagination of the Empire builder, and His eonscient ions belief in the righteousness of Ids cause is only a feeble substitute for the must motive faculty needed at the present moment. ().f course llie Labour members made a vigorous tit tack upon the indentured labour system, and though they seemed to make little impression upon the Minister in charge of llie Rill or the solid majority (hat stood behind him, they

obtained fiom Mr Massey a reiteration of bis undertaking that as soon as it Here possible to do without Ibe indentured labour it would be abolislic I. This was regarded by Mr Holland and bis friends, who gather what crumb:, ol comport they may in these days, as an admission of the justice ol their contentions. To-day they are pluming themselves upon a “moral victory” ol the kind by which Mi Massey binisell made bis wav to ollice and to tame.