WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 March 1922, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE PRIME MINISTER. j EAST COAST TOUR. j BFECIAL TO GUARDIAN. j 1 WELLINGTON, March 13. Mr Massey has returned to Wellington from his tour through the East Ooast districts of tlip North Island much impressed by the hospitality of the people lie met, by the high quality of the land they occupy and by their need for roads v and bridges. It wag the first time many of the settlers had seen a Prime Minister of the Dominion and Mr "Massey, while accepting much of their hospitality as a tribute to his office, feels that during his travels he mode numb e rs of new personal friends. The people who are struggling to establish themselves on the land are by no means extravagant in their demands, realising that the time is inopportune for a large expenditure upon public works; but they are insistent upon the need for lietter means of communication, and here the Government must make an effort to meet them. The East Coast is destined to become one of the greatest producing districts in the country and every da.y by which the Government can hasten this consummation will be so much added to the wealth of the whde coitimunity

THE POOL AND THE FARMERS ’l’he Prime Minister took every opportunity that came his way during his tour to impress upon the settlers the great advantages to the public at large nnd to the men on the land in particular to he obtained from the meat pool. He assured a large meeting at Whakatane, where the disposal of the settlers’ meat is a specially burning question, that the pool was going to he a great success. Already, he said, it had had beneficial results. The outlook for beef was not so bright as that for butter and lamb; but the pool undoubtedly would improve matters. New Zealand lamb, he said, never should be selling at less than Is per pound and he believed this price would be within the reach of the farmers when their organisation wag fully established. The improvement in the position of the producers would be reflected in the gene ral finance of the Dominion and would make it possible for the Government to proceed actively with necessary development works. All this was very cheering to the settlers and they will be keeping a close eye upon the activities of the Minister of Public Works. STATE AND MUNICIPAL TRADING. An article concerning State and Municipal trading undertakings which appeared in a number of leading newspapers a week or two ago is promising to produce an interesting controversy here. The publication of the depart mental accounts, though the figures are presented in a most confusing fashion, fours brought home to a number of people, who had not given much consideration to the subject before, that the taxpayers are being loaded with the cost of State undertakings and experiments which in their present shape serve no useful purpose. The rabid Socialists, of course, continue to place their faith in the State monopoly implied by the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange, but more responsible people who do not expect to reach the milieu-

ium during the present decade are urging that State and Municipal trading undertakings which enter into competition with private enterprise should pay

the same taxation and bear the same business responsibilities as do (thefir rivals. Formal representations on the subject will be made to the Prime Min-

ister shortly and it is expected from hints he already has let drop that his attitude will not he unfavourable. THE RAILWAYS.

The statement made by Mr C. A. Humphries, the general manager of the

Australian Provincial Assurance Association, in regard to the New Zealand railways is not likely to escape the attention of the Minister in charge of the lines niul his colleagues. Indignant members of the public arc taking care it shall not by forwarding reports of Mr Humphries’s remarks to the Prime MinisGr, the Hon. D. H. Guthrie and

the General Manager. These gentlemen scarcely can fail to lie impressed. “I had previously thought,” the visitor said at the conclusion of his journey between Wellington and Auckland, “that the liiie from Perth to Kalgoorlie was easily the worst in the world, but I no longer give it that distinc-. tion,”. This is an odious comparison with a vengeance and it seems to he deserved. The complaints of local travellers, however, are not directed so much against the “bumps and jolts” that discomfited Mr Humphreys, as they are against the scanty services and the exorbitant charges. These continue to drive on increasing number of travellers to the motor cars and the roads.