WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 November 1922, Page 1

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

PUBLIC FINANCES. THE PRIME MINISTER JUBILANT. SPECIAL TO GUARDIAN. WELLINGTON, Nov 8. One groat advantage Mr Massey haenjoyed in his capacity of Minister ol Finance in the Parliament which is just expiring is that during the last year or so there has boon no one in the House <of Representatives to eli.iillenge with authority and intimate understanding his reiterated statements that everyliing in the garden of pub lie finance is lovely and that the time of cheap and abundant money is at hand. While the Hon Arthur Myers retained his seat in the popular chamber the Minister knew he was liable to correction, or at ally rate, to authoritative comment, if ho painted in too glowing colours the financial position of the Dominion; but since Mr Myers’ retirement he lias no critic that could put him to confusion or even call him to count. Mr Hunan, the member for Invercargill, may have put a question to him now or again concerning the cost of raising a certain loan and Air Holland may have denounced him for not providing more generously for the unemployed .but beyond these party pin-pricks he has escaped unscathed. THE BUSINESS MEN’S VIEWS, j But now that Parliament has pro ! rogued and the House is on the point of dissolution the business men of the i city have taken upon themselves to offer on their inn account some criticism of the Government’s finances. I They do not question the accuracy of the- statements Air Massey made at Pukekohe in regard to the “savings” and “economies” he has effected in the administrative expenditure of the Dominion. They have, no definite knowledge of their own on this subject, but they do not suppose that Air Alassey would mis-state the facts. They are not satisfied, however, that all the savings for which Air AJa.ssey takes credit are really economics in the true sense of the word, The reductions in the expenditure ' upon railways and post And telegraph' services, for instance, they look upon with very garve suspicon in this respect. The railways they say. arc, being starved, and the post and telegraph services are declining both on utility and efficiency. The lessening of essential services may save tho Government a certain amount of money, but at best, they maintain, it can only transfer the cost to the ]Mib-

IIOW THE MONEY GOES. Their argument is along the lines that savings are being made at the expense of efficiency. They had taken heart of grace from the statement in Mr Alasscy’s manifesto to the effect that economy was to take on the new meaning that it was not to place obstacles in the way of the development of the country and the extension of its commercial and industrial enterprises. But now they fear that the Prime Aliriister is reverting to the old idea that expenditure, whether productive or not is to stop so that paper economies may be blazoned before the country. They take, as their particularly horrid example, the cheese-paring railway policy which, they say. is still driving both goods traffic and passenfer traffic to the roads and necessitating an enormously increased expenditure upon tho maintenance of tho public highways, and encouraging opposition which must permanently affect the value of tin lines. Illustrations of what is going on they quote in abundance and apparently with abundant proof of their accuracy. To make his economies acceptable to these gentlemen Air Alassey will have to show they are not impairing efficiency. THE .MINISTER AND THE JOURNALISTS.

Mr Wilford’s assertion tiiiit tlit* jour nalists of the Dominion are in possession of fnota connected with the administration of the affairs of the country which they dare not disclose, is not being taken very seriously here. It is pointed out that the newspapers enjoy a good deal of latitude, thanks largely to the amendments made in the libel law by the Reform Government, and that some of them arc not yet entirely under the control of tho party in power. Already some very disagreeable things concerning -Mr Massey n.nd his colleagues are being said hv the Labour Press and if the lender of the Opposition is nuxioue to give them further publicly there is nothing to prevent him. The Labour candidates for Parliament throughout the country also arc* critci.sing the Government with the utmost freedom and even some of Mr Wilford’s own followers are much less diffident than their loader appears to lie. This is tin* time at which the utmost freedom of speech on public affairs is permissible and Mr Willord himself should not be chary in exercising the privilege.

SIR JOSEPH WARD. I N'T ENT It IN'S T X I) ISCLOSKI). WKLLIN'GTOX. N'ov. f). Though at the time of writing, Sir Joseph Ward’s intentions in regard to the general election still remain undisclosed, the intimate friends of the exLiberal leader expect to see him reenter the political arena, if not as a candidate for a seat in the new House, then as a platform speaker with a story to tell. He has studiously abstained from taking any part in polities since the hist general election, tceling it would be unfair to both his political friends and his political opponents to meddle with their jobs from outside the House; but with another election at hand he realises he has responsibilities to discharge as well as privileges to enjoy. It is an open secret that his visit to the South last week was in connection with a warm invitation he had received from representatives of all the political camps to contest the Invercargill seat, and that he had excused himself on the ground that lie could not be a party to creating further dissentions ill the ranks of bis political friends. OPEN CONFESSION. Probably as an untrammelled expositor of the finances of the Dominion from the pin form Sir Joseph would be even more interesting and illuminative than lie would be as a candidate for Parliament. The present Minister of Finance has had practically all the talking in this sphere of discussion to himself during the last year or so, both inside

and outside of Parliament. Air James AlcC'ombs occasionally has entered upon a brief excursion into the by-ways ni the public accounts, but the labour member for Lyttelton is given to talking above tile heads and the understanding of the audience lie faces in the House. As for the rest, Mr E. J. Howard, the Labour member for Christeiiurch South, summed up the position very aptly when the estimates were in committee a few wesks ago. “ I must, confess,” he said, by way of prelude to some observations lie wished to male, oil the subject unuer discussion, “that like the Right Honourable the Prime Alinister and most of the other members of the House I know nothing about finance at all.” Air Alassey joined very heartily in the laughter that greeted the confession, but with many of the rank and file of all the parties it was no joking matter.

ON THE PLATFORM. It is thought that if Sir Joseph Ward determines to seek a seat in the House it will not be with the idea of reegaining the leadership of the Liberal Party or any other party. If elected lie might associate himself with one party or another, but it is more likely he would prefer to plough the lonely furrow and

remain free to co-operate with any party he conceived to be serving the best interests of the country. But be-

fore lie assumed that philosophic attitude tie probably would like to say something about the criticism of his own finance and about his old opponent's administration of the Treasury. On these subjects he could be distinctly interesting. He will not discuss them for publication at the present

stage, but in the House or on the platform be could talk of many matters of concern to the country. It will be no breach of confidence to say that he does not take the rosy view of the financial outlook as Air Alassey does. Temperamentally lie is as much an optimist as tlie Prime Minister is, but l;e is not bearing the same responsibilities.

T! I hi PR lAIE AIIXISTER 'S TOUR. Judging from the reports that are reaching Wellington, Air Alassey’s tour through his own electorate and the adjoining districts is a triumphal procession. No other Prime Alinister, except Air Seddon, ever made the personal appeal he does and the farmers are not the only people in these days genuin]y glad to see him. But the reports of his electioneering speeches appearing in the local papers do not suggest, that lie is making any stmt bug additions to the familiar policy lie unfolded in the manifesto lie issued just before he left here. Business men, however, still are regarding with some misgivings the reiteration of his proposal to borrow five millions for tlie Advances to Settlers Department and smaller amounts for other enterprises. They fear there is some connection bet ween these new loans and one or two spending schemes that were intercepted during the closing days of the session. Their own urgent need, of course, is a reduction of taxation.