WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 March 1922, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE HOUSING PROBLEM. FROM BAD TO WORSE. SPECIAL TO GUARDIAN. WELLINGTON, March 22. The Wellington Central, Progress Teague does not exist merely for the purpose of booming the capital city. It does not hesitate to discuss frankly, even with brutal candour, the seamy side of the city’s social conditions and in its latest report it has a good deal to say about the local housing problem. It has collected a fresh, set of hoirid “examples’' of ovef-ctowdillg and unwholesonie conditions, which seem to bear a strong resemblance .to these to be .found in the. great cities of the older countries. There are, it is alleged, a man, wife and five children living in two rooms without convinces ; a man, wife and four children in one room, and two families of ffve and three respectively “in a wretched hovel” of two rooms with kitchen scullery. Conditions of this sort have been long known in Wellington and how ahcl again' have formed the subject of violent protests. But still they remain and probably the day of their removal is not yet. BRAINS IN PARLIAMENT.

The approach of another general election is being signalled in. the correspondence columns .of the local newspapers by a reiterated demand for “brains in Parliament.” In last night’s “Post” Mr Stuart Wilson, who has travelled and observed, puts forth a view which seems to epitomise a growing volume of public opinion. “New Zealand with a population of a million and a quarter,*’ he writes, “has a House of eighty representatives and a Legislative Council of forty members. If the sum paid to these hundred and twenty persons was limited to a. House of twenty members and a Legislative Revising Committee of, say, six members, there would not be the complaining which one hears everywhere to-day, about the dearth of business brains in Parliament.” Mr Wilson implies that better pa.y is required to iliducd business irieii of the right type to offer themselves as candidates for Parliament, and no doubt this is the case to a. certain extent; but the business men’s own explanation of the position is that the constituencies never have shown any particular desire for their services. EFFORT AND EFFICIENCY. Inquiries made in Wellington iateiy have revealed the fact that there has been a distinct improvement in the effort and efficiency of the great body of workers since the beginning of the year. This is generally attributed to the increased number of hands available and the keener competition for jobs. During the war labour was scarce and dear and the conditions

from the employers’ point of view did not improve greatly till the work of repatriation was completed. But during the last year tliej-e lias been a considerable amount of immigration and the “slump,” among its other untoward results, has driven an increasing number of men into the city. Local employers, it may be said to their Credit, have shown no feverish anxiety to reduce wages, hut they are insisting upon better service than they wore getting some time hack. Carpenters, during the “boom” years were claiming 3s an hour, and not hustling themselves a great deal in earning the money; hut now they a.re receiving 2s Gd -.an hour and giving much better service for the reduced wage. In other trades and occupations the same sort of thing is happening. THE LIBERAL-LABOUR CAMPAIGN. The local papers are not giving much prominence to Mr Wilford’s organising tour in the South Island, hut private information received here is to the effect that the leader of the newold party is well satisfied with the progress he is making. He has had no.

difficulty, it is said, in arousing renewed interest in the Seddonian form of Liberalism and in finding suitable candidates to carry the standard of i tli e party at the general election. One of the difficulties, indeed, seems to be a superfluity of Aspirants for parliamentary honours, but here he is going ; to leave the final choice to the local . people with the proviso that the candidate seleced must subscribe to the, general principles of the party’s programme. So far Wellington has not been : taken into the inner confidence of the new party, and really the city knows very little about its intentions; hut it is understood that shortly after Mr Wilford’s return, the local campaign ' will be launched and then vigorously • maintained.