WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 May 1924, Page 1

WELLINGTON NOTES.

ELECTION POSSIBLE THIS YEAH. (Special to “Guardian”.) AY ELLINGTON, May 12. The possibility of a general election this year, following upon the dissolution of Parliament, litis been referred to more than once by tbe Prime Minitor, a,ud there l- no doubt about the fact that there i- a good deal of political unrest at tile moment, ami there ialso it good deal of underground engineering going in. None of the parties seem quite tit ease or quite pleased. On tlie fare ot things there appears to be solidarity in the Labour Party, but this cohesion is more apparent than real, for there is said to be serioti- friction in tin- inner circle. The trouble began with the death til Lenin, the Soviet Chief of Russia. A eolile mes-age of condolence was sent bv .Mr Nash, the general secretary of the Labour party, the terms of which did not. please Air McCombs, ALP. The latter publicly repudiated the action ul the Secretary, it was anticipated that the matter would come up for discussion at tbe annual Easter conference of the Labour Party, and probably it did. At all events there is said to be rift in the Partv. The Reform Party is also far from happy, lor things have not been .-Imping as desired. Air Massey Imped that such recent events lithe snece-s.fnl handling of tlm railway strike, and the sensational success achieved by the N. Z. £5,009.00b loan, would restore tile party to public favour, lint the reverse appears to he tlie case, and there is trouble within the Party itself. It is staled that the Liquor Parly is endeavouring to engineer tut election this year, but this may be an invention of sumo rabid Prohibitionist. lint in considering a dissolution one lias to remember Unit tbe Members of the House receive £450 per annum, and it is hard to !«•- liove that they will risk the 10.-s of this even for party purpo-es. At all c\enix there hits been no dissolution ol Parliament. other than tbe effluxion of lime, since the Payment of Members Hill v.as passed by tbe Ualhvnee Government in IS9I. and there is only a very remote nossibility of there being one now. EXCHANGE AND MONEY RATES

Tbe question of tbe exchanges hits recently come up for some discussion, and a Yorkshire paper has suggested that, one of tbe “big live" liritish hanks should enter into the business and provide such competition ns would help to bring down tbe rates. Even if all live banks were to compete with the Au.-tralian ami New Zealand hanks they could tlo nothing, because the situation is being iollueneed by sjiecial circumstances and conditions. Ibe Australian and New Zealand bankhttve plenty of money in London with limited facilities for transferring the credit to the C’otntmmwealtlt and New Zealand. Tbe embargo on gold shipments makes the position very dilfieult for the banks. The exchange position at the moment is very satisfactory for the importer and very unsatisfactory for the primary producer. Thus an importer. ill New Zealand wishing to remit say £1(19 to the London merchant can buy a draft for the amount from bis banker for 5-, but. a producer drawing upon bis London agent against produce consigned, can sell hi- dratt for £lOll. but he will only ret CPS per cent. Tintt is, the batik’s buying rate for O/D. Bills ol Exchange is 2 par cent, discount, and the selling rate only 5s tier cent, fit Australia the buying rate is £2 Hs fill pet- cent, and the selling rate of £1 Ui-od. per cent. The exchange rales are cheaper in New Zealand than they are in Australia. There i- a wide dilference between the buying and selling rate-, because the bank- have large credits in London, which they are eager to -ell. and t laprice is consequently low. They have no wish to 1 1 uv credit in London for they have a super abundance of it already, hence the high Inlying rate. If the batiks were free to import gold there would mi dilliculty idiom the exchange, for then the rates could never ri-e above the gold point, that i- the cost of freight, insurance, (nicking etc. ol gold. THE WOOL MARKET.

Have wool values reached tbe peak: Some wool men -com to think so. and ha-c their opinions on the trend ol the current London sales. It is a debatable matter whether tbe London sales can lie accepted as a safe guide to the market. Tbe woo! that is being offered in London just now i- mostly tbe proparty of speculators. There i- plenty of evidence to show that the speculator- in wool have done very well up to tbe present. Those who bought parcels in Australia ami New Zealand in November and December turned o\ei their stocks in a rising market, but those who made later purchases were not quite so fortunate, because they paid extreme rates, and with costs of transportation added there is no margin left. Apart from this there i-' rea-on to believe that wool has reach--1-d the peak at least for tbe present. The next clip, both from Australia ami New Zealand. am! probably I rum South America and South Africa, will he larger and there .should be a .substantial carry over of the la-t clip. Furthermore high prices will have checked consumption, and there ilikely to be a certain accumubuiou of wool. This docs not mean that price" will drop. and il there is a lad it cannot be much for there exists an un-sati-!ie:l demand for wool which is only held in check 1.-v the current high prices. AYool will bring in good money for several years to come.