WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 January 1923, Page 1

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE BOUTICAL PARTIES. LIRKRAL-LABOrR LEADER RETK’ENT. BPECIAI, TO GCA Hill AN.

WELI.INHTON, Jan. IT Mi T. M. Will’ord, the leader of the Liberal-Labour Party, is back in town again after his holiday in the north, but when seen to-day he showed r.o disposition to discuss the political situation. This attitude, of course, is justified by the circumstances. One of the local newspapers stated after iht publication of the resolutions adopted I,y the Reform caucus last week that they opened the way to negotiations between the two older parties. But Inis was not the ease at all, except so tar as the resolutions indicated the readiness of Mr Massey’s followers to concur in any arrangement l heir le.rior might make to give stability to tinHovernmeiit. The next move still tests with tiie Prime Minister, as ii did when he approached Sir Joseph Warn preparatory to the im motion of the War Cabinet in 191-1. Whether or net anv further progress will he made in the limiter before the impending sliert session of Parliament, remains to he seen, but at the moment there seems to he little prospect of any ear 1 ' irti«mi. The strained personal relations between the Prime Minister and the leader of the Libera I-La hour Opposi-

tion will not facilitate the negotiat ions. THE LABOUR PARTY. Meanwhile the Labour Party, which constitutes just upon one-half of the Opposition, is able to regard the political tangle with interested com pi tic.■my. Mr Holland and his associates reluse positively to admit that their substantial success at the polls lasi month was in any way due to Reform and I.if,oral electors easting their voii" for Labour candidates when there wa' no candidate ot their own particular colour in tlm held. They claim tlial the doubling of l heir party stieiie.to in tlie House was due Lo a growing revolt against the old o.dei and predict that each succeeding appeal to the constituencies will reveal a similar tendency. Bui the actual figure' do not hear out this assumption The Labour Party did not obtain its increased representation through an increased number of votes being east in its favour. Imi by the less inequitable operation of the electoral system which deprived it- of nearly otto halt the representation it should have obtained in 1019. The sane solid men in the party admit that Labour has made no real progress in the country during the last three years and declare that it will make none in the next three years unless it modifies its demands and very materially revises its methods. ELECTION PETITIONS. With the voting strengths ol the C veninieut and of the Opposition so evenlv balanced as llie\ appear to be a! ill" present time, n i' only natural that Mr Massey should wish to have the meeting of Parliament postponed till alter the various election petitions have been decided. This will be _ tin convenient course, il not the slrictL constitutional one. and no objection to i its adoption is likely to be raised on either -id" of the House. The petitions themselves are not open to disi ussfini, except in the most general terms, hut. the long list ol irregularities alleged against Sir Maui Polimre

ami his friends in connect ion with the Western .Maori election suggests again that ii is quite time the Maori elections were conducted liv ballot in Hm same milliner as are the European elections. This reform is now long overdue and probnblv it has been delayed as ninth by the growing feeling that special representation ol the Maori people is no longer necessary ; s it has been by a careless disregard oi tin' educational progress ol the Native race. ETNA NCR. Bankers and other business men her.while welcoming the decreases in departmental expenditure during ’ho twelve months ended on December -11. announced bv the Prime Minister on

Saturday. :uo not yet satisfied that c VC!’ V 11; ill O’ possible lias been dotte 111 this d 1 rorlion. They point out that large parts of tlie savings in the Hallway Department and the Post and Telegraph Department are due to i lie discontinuance ol desirable services and that, the savin*; of the butter subsidy and tlii' termination of certain pension' are not properly included in the list. At tl.e same time they have crop's of praise for the courage with v.hieb Mr .Massey attacked the problem t.it the eve ol a general election and for the beginning he has made with a vet v necessary work. I heir earnest desire now is for a stable Covernment ihat will dare to overh.aul the incidence of taxation itt such a fashion as to encourage the speedy revival of trade and commerce. "'1 here is no doubt." Iho ‘■'Dominion sacs this morning sneaking on their I -.<:•!ta11. and referring particularly to the company tax and similar imposts, that as they now fall these taxes are doing ■ good deal not only to binder tno teeoverv of established industries, but io discourage the investment of no- - capital in the Dominion. ’’ That is the - burden of the complaint coming Irem all sections of the business contmunttv. LAROI'R REJECTS AAV A HD. MEHELV rOEITICAT, RKMOX ST HA TI OX. WELT.TXCTON. January 17. It was reported here yesterday that the Waterside Workers’ Federation had voted by a substantial majority for the

•rejection of the recent award of the Arbitration Court reducing "ages, but no one seems to be at ail seriously perturbed by this latest effort to save the face of the Alliance of Labour. Even the men themselves regard the ballot as more or less of a farce and do not expect it to be followed by any tangible results. ‘'There need lie no fear of a strike," one of thorn stated this morning. “We have grievances under the new award and we want to remove them, but we are not going to stop work on that account. If the Alliance of Labour pushed the matter to that length it would find lots of men going over to the new union and that is just what it wants to prevent." The fact is that the Alliance, as it is known in this country, is rather a political titan a labour organisation, and is •anxious to avoid any action that might bring it into disfavour with the

great body of unattached electors whose-votes may be swung any way. CENSORED BOOKS. Yesterday the Hon. IV. Downie Stewart, the Minister of Internal Affairs. impelled by some recent criticism at Home, made a statement in regard to the censorship of books imported to the Dominion. Tt cannot be said that he cleared up the matter quite satisfactorily. The criticism had been directed ebielly against the exclusion of certain medical works, which medical men thought might be circulated with advantage to the community, and the Minister confined himself mainly to this aspect of the question. But even when he took the broader view, he did not make out a very strong case for the censor. “There are quite a number of books and magazines on the banned list,” lie said, “which seem to be innocent enough, and others which are admitted which seem to me very poisonous. lo the nrdinarv observer this would seem a very good reason for a searching revision of the whole svsteiu. but Apparently Mr Stewart 'oneurs with the view of the Cumprroller of Customs that the {elisor:-hip muM be entrusted to an officer whose identity on no account van be revealed to the public. The current story lias it tlial the censor is a temporary clerk loosely attached to the Solicitor-General's office.

IJQI’OR REFORM. The Prime Minister has not yet given any indication of the nature ol the liquor reforms he promised last session in the event of Proiubiion being rejected at the liensing poll, and he is not likelv to make an_\ statement on the subject until the position ot the Government is a little more clearly determined than it ft at present. The movement in the I liited States, however, for the substitution of the sale of light wines and beers for complete Prohibition is obtaining a good deal or svmpnthv here both Ironi l’roliibitionists and Moderates. .Mention ol the matter in the cablegrams this morning led a very strong supporter of Prohibition. purely for economic reasons, to say that in view of the result of the last three or lour appeals to the electors he had come to the conclusion that tlm national ellieieiiey for which he and hi.- friends had been particularly striving would bo more readily achieved by concentrating upon the re!onn of the liquor traffic lather than upon its abo- ] i i ion. lie wa' familiar with the enn,,j tin- inure ardent Prohibitionists that while alcoholic drinks were on sale in any form there would be drunkenness, but from hi- own observation when travelling abroad be was satisfied that light vines and beers would not occasion one tenth ol tlm t rouble aiising from i he indiscriminate sale of stronger liquors. i,\Bori! and capital. Among the very interesting I m-’” - read at ihe S"ienue Conference now sitting here is. one on "A L :-! ’aid vrship Solution” in which Mr 11. AaHm. a well-known Hamilton business man, who has given much attain inn lo a readjustment of the relations between Capital and Labour submits a selienn for equality of effort and equality i reward which is well worthy ol the attion of both employers and employees. Mr Voider lias gone far mot - " deeply into the problem than have the authors of various crude schemes >.f profit-sharing which in most eases have been emphatically rejected by Hie workers, and lias evolved a scheme of co-part-nership which seems to assure both brains and hands in their just' share of

the results obtained. Air Massey has pronounced his benediction on the scheme in very handsome terms. “Tho Govern,incut,” he writes, “welcomes the efforts of such citizens ns Air H. Voider to make co-partnership a genuine success. The proposals he makes go mue'a further than a monetary inducement to make peace. They tile founded on a belief in abstract justice and are inspired by a spirit of fair piny. They are, moreover, reduced to the terms of a business proposition.” It is to be boned that Mr YnldePs paper will obtain wide publicity and receive the attention it deserves.