WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 August 1922, Page 1

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

• THE RAILWAYS. STILL LOSING MONEY. SPECIAL TO GUAUDIAN. WELLINGTON, August 12 The statement mad by elie Hon D. H. Guthrie in the House on Friday to the effect that the daily loss on the operation of the railways had been reduced from £4,770 to £2,100 did not arouse any particular jubilation oven among the Minister’s political friends. They, like other observant people, realise that the saving is due to a reduction of services at great inconvenience and loss to the community. On the revenue side of the account the earnings for the year show a decrease everywhere-, in the North Island amounting to £110,405, and in the South Island to £13,007, which means that the public is not using the lines to the extent it did twelve months ago aild is turning to other means of transit and transport wherever possible. The extent to which the railways are beifi'g deserted for the roads may be judged from the report that sheep are being carried by motor lorries,

running side by side with the lines,

from Palmerston North to parts of the Taranaki district, a distance of some 150 miles. Savings that drive traffic from the railways cannot lie economically sound.

MR MeCOMBS’S INDISCRETION. Mr McCombs’s assertion that the Commission which adjusts the electoral boundaries every sixth year had been guilty of grave impropriety was mentioned in the House again on Friday afternoon, when Mr David Jones protested strongly against gross imputations being launched against the memliers of the Commission under the cover of “privilege,” without the support of a tittle of evidence, and challenged the member for Lyttelton to repeat his statements outside the House and “to put up sufficient cash behind him to make it worth while, so that the Commissioners might obtain at the hands of the law such redress ns was due to them. Air Jones’s indignation at the suggestion that the boundaries of his constituency had been ‘.‘gerrymandered” for the purpose of assisting the Reform candidate at the approaching general election was quite natural, lint the member tor Kninpoi - bordered on the ridiculous when he implied that the negotiations between the Liberal party and the Labour party to prevent vote-splitting were just as heinous ns would have been such a grave impropriety as Air McCombs had attributed to the, Boundaries Commission. These politicians .Sometimes betray a strongly distorted sense of proportion. SUPERANNUATION.

More than once lately the Prime Al mister lias expressed himself as concerned in regard to the actuarial soundness of the various superannuation funds. Of course lie lias not suggested for a single moment that there is any danger of the State being unable to discharge its obligations to its retired servants, but he has emphasised the. need of over-hauling the whole-system of superannuation so that it may ho placed on an equitable and sound basis. The subject was brought up again in the House on Friday, perhaps liv arrangement, when ’Sir John Luke asked for a statement showing the position of all the funds. The Minister of Education, whose Department had been pointedly mentioned, said he was satisfied a further contribution of £25,000 or £30,000 a year would he required from the* Government to place the Education lipid in

a satisfactory position. Subsequently the Prime .Minister stated that all the funds were in a similar plight and that the problem would have to he faced sooner or later. The time was .not opportune for a further large grant, but the matter would he kept in mind and handled later on. THE ELECTIONS. Though the chances of the various sections of His Alajestv’s Opposition materially improving their position in the House at the approaching general election do not appear «t the moment to lie very rosy, their respective leaders seem to have no difficulty in find-

ing candidates of a good type ready to enter the fray. .Mr AVilford, the leader of the Liberal section, lias lean singularly fortunate in this respect—assuming the announcements published in the papers to bo correct —and it looks as if lie would he able to pot into the field a team of forty or so not unworthy of the brighter traditions of the party. Whether or not .Sir Joseph Ward will he a candidate is a question still unanswered, blit if he should decide to again offer his services to lie country it- probably will he through the medium of one of the city constituencies. His presence in the Mouse Would not necessarily embarrass the present Liberal-La hour organisation, and it would he warmly welcomed by a great number of people who do not see eye to eye with loin on minor political questions.