WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 January 1924, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES.

THE WHEAT SLHSIDY

CONFLICTING INTERESTS. [Special To The Guardian.] WELLINGTON, Jan. 23. Even it' the long-suffering public is content to pay a 11i 14! 1 price for its broad in order that farmers may obtain a correspondingly high price for their tv heat, the Minister of Agriculture is not going to find the defeat of the law of supply and demand such a simple business as he had imagined it to he. While the local papers are printing reports of .Mr Massey’s speech at the "ly'.'i banquet” in London in which Lie 1 Rrimo Minister predicted a In nth. lullin' for the egg industry in New Zealand, the poultry farmers are using the same means of publicity for their demand that the wheat embargo shall he r":rove. 1 ■.;■! far as their reqitir .olloll ts ri'i f-onrerivd and that they 'ball be nl- !• v.o d to import fowl-wheat from oversea., without lot or hindrance. Mr Nos worthy, it is stated officially, is prepared to favourably consider the pro-

ne l rl and is now examining the facts, Pat, i; is understood, if fowl wheat i imparted under the conditions proposed

it will V:a mainly fur distrihnti -u in the North 1-land and "to poultry interests nidv.” How these interests are to be rlearlv defined has not yet hi an ox-' plained and tin' task promises to be a scmewlmi d illicit 11 and dciionte one. NEW ZEALAND ALLIANCE EXPLAINS. Tim New Zealand Alliance is still a

live ami ;m act ive crgiini-nl imi m heliaij ot’ prolnbil ion, and dees md alloe il a oppocciits pi act tai aimed oi il in assert ion and I r n •!i< te n. A day or 1 -yo ago the papers published a eable-

gram from Christiania slating ilia I Norway had decided to repeal prohibi lien and (hat Sweden was di-appointed wiih (be result's obtained, iiom the system. The assistant, secretary of file Alliance now v. rit-n-t to the papers incideiualiy men: inning that f liristiania is in Nor. iv and not in Sweden, and declaring that neither of those countries had had prohibition, as it is understood i:i New /"aland. Norway, lie says, carried a prohibition law in 1010 by p;,•pillar vote abolishing the mniiufucI ure and importation of spirits, but pei mil ting Ilia use of liquors containing tmt more than Id per cent oi alcohol. bc\it.HP l ', that is. ol twice the strength ul Ilia heel brewed in ill" Dominion. This i, the kind oi pi oh iliit ion that appears lo have broken down in Norway. In the ease of '■Ateden there was a system 1 ! rationing spirits, which was intended to lessen their promiscuous consumption, and I; 1 •-1 year it was proposed to go a sicn I m i her and prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquor.-, containing over \ per rent ol alcohol. This propouil was defeated by a distinct majority, though it is said that u 7 per cent of the women voters supported it. I,AllOCI! GOVERNMENT. The local papers arc not yet. rccuiii iled to 1 he advent of a Labour Government at I Lime. •"'E-ecause it is in a minority, and for other reasons," the ■'Dominion" says with nicely turned satire, "the llritisli Labour Tarty "ill enter on its lir~t term of political nilii e with rather uncertain prospoets.” f-iieb as they are. however, 1 lie "Dominion” hits no inclination to make the el I hear pro-pccls. "Like any II * her Government." il says, alter roferi'ia, to the pcis.il.ilit i - of the railwav strike, "a Labour Government which tails to take vigorous action ngnim-t the menib"!'-. oi an industrial section who v.'ti'itnnl; depart from con. slit tit iiitial proredur. a.ml attempt to dragoon the community by direct 101 ion will d'.’inc it,trine that it L unfit to govern and unwortl'-y of public tonii(lerii'C or support. pitch action, however. evidently will be at least very -riioii-’y hindered by the wild men Me ranks ,1 the lii-iimh Labou: Fatty It s'-eins very po •: iblr 'hat p::&t failures lo cup • with th! 1 tiirh'J.l "f j mi nt, and to insist open 1 lo; d e •;< p' ' ance and support ed pbu'd- •' pari v aim- may exnaxe the RrPmb !,.ii 1 .itr l’arl.v to a heavy setback at v;l at nth wwi-c might liavc hec'ii a time e.f eimoi’t uni I v.” No doubt Air Ramv ; i - - MacDonald on the scene of action realise, the gravity el the situation a* j’ullv as can the most punctilious stickler for I u\ ami order at this end of the world can. set mo r, nrn.DiNcs. The i’ji'oo". al of the Minister of Education to !e- eii the lost of school building:' substituting wood for bricl. in their const ruction is receivin'--. pr-yhap; not unna.i orally, the approva.l 1 • tin- S’av. millers’ Association. |!oi tlie Association not. only welcomes an opportunity to prove that timber

will serve the purposes of tlto Education Department Letter than brick has done. It: also undertakes to provide material that will bear more than favourable comparison with brick for all practical and artistic purposes. If is certain that the cost of construction will be very materially reduced and that buildings in addition to serving present purpose- ns well as brick :vnld do under the best condition,, will be more rapidly adaptable to alterations and extensions that may be required v. it li the passage of the year-. The Minister is receiving congratulations from all quarters on his deieriiiiiiation to lessen the cost of his Depart mem while increasing iis effi cioncv.