WELLINGTON NOTES

Hokitika Guardian, 6 April 1923, Page 1

WELLINGTON NOTES

J TUI’ PARTY POSITION. ■MR MASSEY'S CONFIDENCE. [.Scnc'iAj, To Tin: (. carman.] WELLINGTON. April 3. With the Tauranga seat secure to I l, ie Government for the lift of the prej stilt Parliament, and the Ooui.uai seat ' I again in the balance, the Prime Minis- ‘ i ter naturally feels less •."■ncerned about lhe party position than in* did during l" s strenuous contest with Sir Joseph VOird up north. Whether or not he '■■ill regard the position .sufficiently secure to justify him in reconsidering the invitation of Mr J.lonnr Law to attend the forthcoming Imperial Coukrence is. however, another question. Even it he should he fortunate enough to add the Oamaru seat to the othi.ii' trophies that have fallen to his electioneering skill, lie still will lie depend, at upon the support of the Liberal member.- who helped him through the short se-sioo with their votes. How far that support will I: > available remains to he; seen, but probably Air W ilffil'd, on behalf of the Liberal-halloin' Party will lv prepared to lucililat e Mr Mas-ey's departure by giving him adetpiule a.ssnianeis on partv matmi-. Rut the Prime Minister himself, apart from such considerations. may he ili-im tin •<! Ln leave the Dominion at a time e. hen a strong hand is obviously required at the helm. At the moment it i- difficult to think ol any ol his colleagues filling his position adequately at swell a time. THE OAMARU SEAT. Inn story that Sir Joseph Ward. Inning failed to oust the Reformers from Tauienga. is now anxious to meet them in Oamaru. has not linen circulated hy his friends. Sir Joseph has , too nice a regard for the rules of the ,

gaiiio to think of attempting to supplant Mr Mnel’hersou m the affections of the electors of the .southern constituency. As a matter of fact the ex-l.i-beral leader, after emergintg from the Taiiranga (oiitest ‘till further improved in health hy a. fortnight spent in exhilerating travel and congenial oeeupninn. went off for a holiday to Auckland with all the Imnynnry of youth and at peace, it would seem, with all the political world. An immediate entrance | into another election campaign was the very last thing lie win conleniplat ing. It is inn: that he spoke of ''stumping'' ihe country in the interests of sane economy and prudent explanal iuii. hul the pilgrimagti he was einitomplaimg had nothin"; to do with nariy politic: or impending olrolioueonng. Here, the imonusioii is that Air Alai Pherson and Mr Lee will lie left to tight their haltle over again without Hie intrusion ( of a third parly of any colour and that j the electors of Oamaru. in accordance i with good and established precedent, j will confirm th-ir former choice. VOTE-SPLITTING. I The friends of the Government, it. j would go without saying, are not I pleased at the prospect ot the Labour Party Looping out of the Oamaru con- j test. The I a.hoiii'-Socialist group.” j thy “Dominion'’ .says this morning, “in- i (bilged ill a lot ol fall talk alter the j general .election, hid they do not up- ! pear to he able to translate their talk j into action. Ivxalti’l by their gains in j slreugth ■ some ol them rather lucky ; wins - they announced their intention ; uf in future running a candidate lor: ovorv clct lore.; a. At th i re. ant Tail- |

lacga !■ v 'election. howcv , they failed in l!i ir lir-.t effort. Vareuis reasons vi r.* given for this failure, hut the plain Let remains that they were unable to mu a Labour-Socialist- candidate. Now there is to he another hyeidci tion at Oamaru and again there art signs that all the talk of a few weeks hack is likclv again to he unproductive of results. Air Holland, the leader of tin. I.ahiuir Sm-ali-t Party, save the matte! "I * milling a C.III-1 1. 11lt■ • is I'll. I H ell in Die hand . f the Oamum hraueh uf the partv. ■■Much probably means that tin* parly intends to allow the scat to go hy delimit.” Vi hat it 11 nillv in: an-, -aid a v.i'crau l.ahouriic

P.-day, is that lli-: 1 ran!-: and file nl l!>< f parl.v ura i iriiiy ni la ■ piny the 11 • < *!* !!I **. iMtoiiinrnnx and rni, me-. Th I’ro!iilm! 1 imi i oh ; • make in • j •••mu nl' tlif fa,-I tlnil ili.-ir cll'iiris on . I la 11 a 11" of i In' I Jnftirm on mlida la i:i 1 In , ] l aiiiMliya l.v , lari ion marki i] i ho i.pol: i 'MI ion of n nay, policy in I hair eainI ! I ai 'll. IVr-iuialiy many of tham it. a la - It ail rM ; i *< I i I! a I \ i! i -- , \ • ! i i - a at o j Si I .I<i-I*l ili Ward IVoin I'nrliainant. whoiv, !!"••, va ra mi-iv. !i:> would have dona 1 iinioh ii--fiil work fur ilie i oiun.ry ; lail they wara sati.~li.vd Ik" Mipiirta ■-ion of ilia liijimr iraliia was of mote ouiiscI|!!aliaa 11, til" 111.-!--. 11l lie I aopla 1 liilli ivara (he i•amino.-, and goings of jm-i- ---| liaians and (lor • r-ine• 111-s. This Inina j lit" an a 11: -y war.' 11in![ia’leil to give jlhair siipi all ill Mr ?.l;ia.\i illan in ilia ! raiaii! (iin!a- I. l imply lietyi use he gave I writ ten pi da,'-, lo a-.-i-.t laani inwards i ii •• goal tlmy wara s ’t-kiiio;. while Sir ■ In."'all Ward is • 1 n "t a I nh'iilutMy to add : 11\ 11'i11 a to Ills platform uti,•ranees. which V. arc i'usi.ii faaioiy their poill; 111 i l.v. 'l'll V. allM ha tile 111’ !ii v id till' League 111 tie. elect inns in i'll fire and •I'pya- 1 lug lie' i'oi support. It wanted id. in io under -min! ilirt j! «ir iain eitilndo toward', proniliit ion t\ mild ha ill" i liief !:t• ■ I ain ilaiarininin;: the allolinanf at t !i - viiiaiv of ilia oriiani-.illion. (OXTROL OK 1 IQl'tilt Tit nmwx"S !•:.''' I’KR 1M K.XT. W I'd, If xerox. April I. Mr .1. n. MeKv.:i:i lias raiuna il from his trip io Knglai.d nml the C< -ntinoni h\ way of Amorim, with th impressi'e.ii I that th" t.liic!" a sy fain of liipior lonj i rnl cotit eiii' mu eh t !:.i t. i •. v ortliy ut j i aiisid--raii.nl hy tin- | n-i 11 !•• of X-w Xaalill’..|. Hi'' .y ill t.luali.-i- il I was not hunt enough to allow him In j i make anything like an evliati"! iv- it'- j w*s! ijtat inn nl' t he system. hut many of! [ the hii'iiie.-s m ii mid porsoiial iriend.- ! | Im mat while iiifr through Canada j were loud in its praise. Kollo.-, in it | upoti a lony parioil of proliihitioti. ! wl-ieli. his friends told him. had not j ( .n altogether satisl'a> tore. cuinmi'-j sinner aoiurol was inirodiiei il. and <hir- i imt tin- first I-limpleta year of it' exist- ; oiii a had dona awav with most of the : . vils of tin- liaaiis-.-il trade and with the worst evils of the iilieit tra(fie. The change was ln-ought about. Mr Mi-lvan explained when discussing the suhp.vi ta-day. I iv an act parsed hy t >; a !. gislative Assenihly early in 1021. and actually came into operation on May l't of that vc nr. The avowed purpose ni its promoters was to ofl'ecl hy di'eiplmarv measure' administered in a n aide manner a reform in the Imlnts "I j the people which had not resulted from ! ia- imposition of arbitrary restrictio!!'. • TN Li COX'TROUXif AUTHORITY. | The Act vested the control of tie- ! iraflic in live commissioners appointed I hv Ordcr-iu-Couuc-il and holding Ufliff ; din ins the pi. .'.sure of the I.lent.-Co- j vet-mu-. The cominsisium r s exercise varv wide powers in the discharse of j their responsible dnti.-s and are paid adequate salaries, the chairman hem:: rc'iuire.l to forego any other occupation. The first commissioners appointed and now holdms office. are S'-'it lemon of the very highest standing and I'.iputo in. the province, and apparently their admini-iration of tlm taw "as met with general approval ot the puolir. They exercise the exclii'tve riftht ro' sellins alcoholic iu,uors in the piovin-. . • of importing and uan-poriin-g lii.inu-s; of granting permits to hotels, restaurants, taverns, .simps anil clu •' ,or the sale of wine and beer: aim ut regulating th.c establishments to whim, permits are granted. I Iwy al '° alx ‘ entrusted with authority to gnai'l against breaches of the taw. and to punish offender.- wlten discovered, llw discharge of such inportant duties necessitated thq creation of a vast and complex organisation, and eight month* after the commencement of their opera-

y i tions the commissioners were emplov- -- i ing a staff of over 8D() persons. Inij provements in working methods and the simplification of services, however, permitted the reduction of the staff to (ji 1 persons hv the end of the vear PERSONAL OBSERVATION. Mr .Mac Ewan had no opportunity of veriiving much of the information given him. hut it all came from credible sources, and he had no hesitation himo self in occßjiting it as correct. One test was easily applied. He was elmlst jenged hy his frit-nds to lind a single man obviously limbr tiie influence of :t drink in the streets' of the city of g Montreal or in any other public place h of this Ifig seaport, including tlie hotels e and shops permitted to sell wine and hccir. He could not make his search a e very thorough oil,?, having other ninto tors to engage his attention during his - stay in the city, but lie kept liis eyes r eyes open, vi-itod some of the hotels - and shops -and made independent int quiries; hut he neither saw nor heard i anything to tonfute the boast of his I Iriends. To tile casual observer Mon- * treal certainly was a very sober, well i behaved and efficient city. “(If course," Mr Mac Ewan emphasised again “f do ' not profess to have, made a close study of the system—that was impossible 1 under the circumstances—but f v> vorv mneh impress-oil by what I heard and saw and should like to see the parti; s to the liquor controversy in this country giving it some consideration with an open mind.” LESS ARDENT LTQVOR. The main features of the Quebec .system arc the elimination of the propriety interest and the substitution of light wines and liters of the very best quality [or the more ardent liquors, which do more than !W per cent, of the damage uiulor the licensed system. Hotels, shops and clubs still exist for the .-.ale of wines and beers, but they must obtain their supplies through the commissioners, and their sales and the conduct of their businesses are constantly under tile supervision of flic department's officers. This supervision , inis born so effective that at the end of the commissioners’ first year of office ( Ihe> were able to report that their perseverance in acting against delinquents Imd had the result of almost entirely oliminatilig ihe illegal trnllii within the territory. To realiso the | full significance of this achievement. Mr Mac Ewan pointed out. it. was necessary to rememher that Montreal was a great shipping centre with a population ol ever half a million. Spirits could he obtained in ihe province, hut under Mich strict regulations that they rapid- j ]y were going out of use as a. beverago. n