WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 21 March 1923, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

TH K MAYOR AD CHAIR. A QUESTION OF SALARY. SPECIAL TO GUARDIAN. WELLINGTON, March 19 The contest for the chief magistracy ~f Wellington is not amusing mud. interest except among the four camh-d-,tcs and their immediate friends. IHe newspapers have ceased their efforts to alarm the citizens at the prospect ot the coveted honour falling to the Labour candidate, Mr Peter Eraser. M.P., probably realising that hitherto Mr Fraser has nourished amazingly under Press denunciation. On Saturday evenim' this very enterprising young man occupied a whole column ol the ‘■ I’ost" in explaining to all nidifleienpublie what he was going to do with the mavoral salary if the electors were pleased to place him at the head or the poll. His salary as a member .. Parliament, he stated, was sufficient tor his persona! needs and lie wnolil retain otilv so much of the mayoral sa - ; IV as was needed to cover too actual ex'nonses incidental to the onu-e. The Labour •movement," it appears, doe-

nut approve of one man receiving payment for two jobs and therefore its rhnsen candidate for the mayoral diair in rim event of success will devote what he does not require of his honorarium ■■to public expenses, particularly t,, the relief of distress.” Mr Imiwr has the grace to assume that the pre,,'nt. bolder of the office'. Mr R- A - Wright. who also is a member of Parliament. already has done tins, 'ml l|,e fact ha- not yet Ix-on advertised. Tll E GOOD OLD STV LI.. If j here really is an niHlerstanding l„, The It.•(,.!•mors nod Sir Joseph Ward that the opposition nut up a gainst 11,0 ev.L.brrnl lea deli» H; T-uramm eoutosl is only a -ham ligul. ami Man lie i- lo be welcomed a- omul' Ihems-lves un bis retting to Parlmi. then the principal Reform organ j. dissembling extraordinarily well. On Sal un lav the •■Dominion's” leading article bore the heading a Wizard of Finnm-e” and assailed Sir .10-u 1 rh with all the vigor of loriner ,lav-'. --In the matter of a State bank.” it say-s. ••Ills policy appears to he that ~l' Mr Facing-all-ways. 'He has ehanged Ids views.' he said at the "Ut--,q. ||e no longer favoured going ahead with his State bank scheme owhv to the difficulties in 1 lie wav. 'He 11,,,the Bank of New Zealand -hnnl.l be extended and take tlm place ~f a Stale hank.' is an opinion lie expressed later in Hie same speech. Finally: Hie believed in a State bank, but he thought it should come by the develonment of the Bank of New Zealand.’ ” The intention of this ohviouslv is not friendly but Sir Joseph's friends here fail to see any inconsistency in the three statements, even d they do fairly represent wlifit lie actually said.

EARTHQUAKES. Tlm earthquakes which occurred here on Friday night and la-t night have provided ’anot her example nf the indiscretion of prophesying without being perfectly sure. Oat Thursday night Mr F If. Field, of Wanganui, in the course of a very interesting lecture on tbc -,diir system de'-hired that W ollington at the present time seemed to be unite safe from earthquakes. Earth,ptakes, 1m explained, could not occur except with I lie combination ol three farters. Two factors were conducive In an earthquake in this part of New Zealand, but the other factor was absent. Without this laetor an earthquake in Wellington was extremely uulikelv. Twenty-four hours later the second lecture by Mr Field was interrupted by a sharp shot k ot oatthquako and last night a still sharper shock occurred. Last night s slmck, indeed, though very brief, was one of the severe-! felt here for a long time, and must have seriously weakened Mi Field’s own faith in his three factor system, it has revived among the

, j.ler residents of the city many storms of the early experiences ol the city in t!,i- respect and has set timid people recalling predictions ~l a -hake wdiieh induced a considerable holder of house property to sell out and re-invest his capital elsewhere. LIQUOR LAWS.

Both the parties to the liquor controversy here-—the Moderates ami the Prohibitionists —are curious to know what special information lias induced t lie Anglican Conference sitting in Auckland to express hearty approval ot the Prime Minister's promise to introduce legislation for the reform of the licensing laws during the life of the present Rarliament. So far as is known in political circle- Mr Massey has committed himself to no particular line ot reform and is free to move in any direction he may please. The principal bone of contention between the parties ju-t now is tlm issue of State Control, which Hie Moderates wish to retain and the Prohibitionists de-ire to abolish. As the i--uo stands at present it simply is an aid to Continuance, every vote cast for State Control counting against Prohibition, but if the three j-sue- were submitted to the ele,-tor-unde;' a system of preferential voting tbe real temper of the Dominion would be ascertained. !: 1- under-toed Hoi an arrangement of thi— kind would be acceptable to a majority of the Prohibitionists. but that it would be opposed to the last ditch hv the Trade.