WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 April 1922, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

FASTER-HOLIDAYS. IX FRUGAL MOOD. BPECIAI, 10 GUARDIAN. WELLINGTON, April 17 ideal weather has prevailed here for the holidays and the Easter of 1922 will he long remembered by out-of-door people for a succession of sunny days ,-arelv experienced by the capital city and its suburbs at this season of the vear. Uail.vay travelling has been less popular than it was in former years, even excursion fares looking bin in the.-’’ times of stress, hut the • rams have done good business and the picnickers and campers have been as numerous as ever. Wellington is not so well provided as Auckland is with holiday resorts, but during the last; year or two some of its enterprising citizens have begun to exploit, its latest resources in this direction with encouraging results. One inaikcd feature of ihe railway traffic during the l ulidiiys has Lot'll the increased proportion of second-class tickets issued. This surely is a symptom of frugality which should convey a timely hint to the Prime Minister when he comes to frame \; s pew tariff. All the authorities ;|l ,ree that the way to make the railways popular is to make them cheap as well as serviceable. threats and counter threats The holidays have suspended any active proceedings in tlie Rost and Telecraph dispute. The position on Thursday was that the PostmasterCeneral had informed the secretary of the Officers’ Association that ho was disinclined to hold the matter over till tl,e quarterly meeting of the Executive a„d that to facilitate an earlier decision the Department would grant leave to the members and pay tlie cost nf their immediate attendance in Wellington. It is stated to-day that the Executive lias accepted this arrangenunit and that it will meet in Wei lingua, at the earliest possible moment probnblv at the end of the present WLV ] ; . 'Meanwhile the members oi Hie Executive on the spot are very veiled d in regard lo the whole business. Tin. secretary declares that the resignations from the Association as a oonsenuonee of the determination ol a niajoiitv of the members to affiliate with the Alliance of I our arc much Rover than tbe Executive expected, but he.docs not ■unjoin' unite so confident of carrying u’,.' s,li,'lik‘ lUra'ial' S’ ,l " l "* r „„h „l ,1,0 Ii" 11 \ ELI A NTH DF LARCH RIf the Alliance of L'dmur is deprived of the big victory it thought it had more than half won as it probably will be it will have only its constitution or ns lack of candour concerning iis constitution to blame, Ihe public nearly so easily alarmed by Me ~(... ~f ‘ imionirm” U'd'V n : . it " |,S il 1,-w ve.irs ago. hul. it wants to know exactly V list kind of unionism is implied by the term. The Secretary ol the Officers’ Association has been assuring the rank and file cf the Department that in no conceivable eireumS U.„ -s will they be called out on strike or asked to repudiate their obligations tl) the State in a single particular. Hut in the same breath lie has been to'lme,- Hiem that affiliation with' the Alliance will largely improve the status of the Association and add material \ to >t« efficiency. He never, however, has attempted to refute tlie reiterated assertion that affiliation means submission to tlie dominance of the Alliance mid the Alliance itself has maintained a silence which the public at huge regards as extremely suspicious. t'X I’M PEG YMF. NT AND IMMIGRATION.

Air George Mitchell, the very live member for Wellington Smith, has sub. milled report to the Central Progress Lem me in which he discusses the question of unemployment and immigration with characteristic force and candour. -•The present system of immigration under Hie overseas settlement scheme, where men land in a new enuntry without, work being definitely provided for them,” lie says, “can only embitter the lives of the immigrants and injure the name of the D-.mimion.” From this generalisation Mr Mitchell proceeds to demand that the old inefficient policy of dumping inimigmuifo on the wharf and leaving them there to shift for themselves'sha ll he abandoned and that “State stock jobs” on reproductive work shall be established in each centre so that there shall lie no idle capnbliy hands in the country. If is not quite exact, of course, to imply that the Government is taking no thought whatever for the unemployed immigrant, hut it is true that some better provision should he made than any that exists at present tor employing willing hands upon reproductive work. Mi Mitchell is doing his part in an effort to raise direct attention to this necessity very manfully.