WELLINGTON NOTES,

Hokitika Guardian, 5 March 1925, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES,

THE PRIME MINISTER’S OUTING

VISIT TO NEW .MAIL STEAMER

(Special to ’‘Guardi -.n”.)

WELLINGTON, March '2. Everyone was glad to see -Mr Massey abroad on Friday when lie left bis room, for the first time since bis welcome to the new Governor-General in the middle of December, to assure the public that lie was not bo much of an invalid as had been reported, and, incidentally, to inspect the new mail steamer Aorangi. He was accompanied liv the Hon R. L«. Bollard, the Minister of Internal Allans, and bis private secretary. Mr Frank I homson. He did not leave his ear and was dn\en slowlv along Queen’s Wharf to a point of vantage where he. obtained a good view of the big liner. Here be, held a levee. Captain Crawford, the commander of the Aorangi. the local representative of the owners of the vessel, ■end tiie < feudal Manager of the Haibnur Board being among those v.lm offered him congratulations. Altu leavi.m the wharf the Prime Munster ( alled''iinou Lord and Lady Mac-lay at their hotel. Lord Maclay was at, the head of the Ministry of Shipping duri„„ the war. and in his private and ofti--i-d capacitv did New Zealand many a good turn which Mr Massey has not icrootten. The invalid, swathed m wraps and rugs, reclined m a ( Insect car and shaded from the nip that flouts the sunshine in these later summer davs, did not seem to he so far on the r ,a,| to convalescence as his friends had been led to expect, but bis medical advisors still report optimistically on Ins progress, and the public ghull.v accepts their assurance. THK PRICE (IE BREAD. \ .rood deal of interest has been aroused here by the announcement that the Department of Industries and tiimniereo has informed the preside nt of the Master Bakers’ Association that tne Contemplated advance in the price o bread from fid the ’Nib had to 0,« cash over the counter and ,<1 do ivereci is not .justified, and that the department intends to investigate the position. During the war mutters ol tins kind were the business of the Bum d o Trade, whose activities were directed mainlv hv its cliairmaii. a very capable and alert member ot the legal |n<>IVssion. wlm might have done much had he not been restrained by a heavy ministerial hand. As .1 was. ilie Board, after a more or less Gilbortian tourney with high prices, drifted into disso u-, tion, and while its functions were relocated to Ihe Minister of Industries ami Commerce, its moving spirit was waited awav to the service of one ot Hie great organisations iiitimalely associated with this bread caesium. It is adm.Lted on all hands that the gentleman concerned has jettisoned none of his high pmic ioles in c hanging sides, and some curositv is being expressed here as to how far'tliis new point of view may af e t bis old judgment. One thing cerium is that the Department ol Industries and Commerce will not put no such a strenuous light as the Board of , I radc was wont to do in similar eircunistaliens in the days of its prestiue enthusiasm. POLITIC VI, PA 111 Tl'.E. Probably it was merely a coincidence ilnl the announcement ot the electioneering activities of the tlnee P" 1 lie a I parlies came almost simultaneouslv with the Prime Minister's first appearance in public after 1.. s "-.g illness; hut the fact is significant-. Ihe papers giving accounts ol Mr Massey s visit to the Aorangi. contained statements from Reform, Liberal and Labour. none of them very coherent, lmt all obviously intended to impress the electors. The Hon A. I). McLeod, who adds to his portfolios the chairmanship of “the organising executive of the Reform Party,” declared in the set terms appropriate to the occasion that “stable government” was the piiicipal plank in the platform of his party, and that towards its realisation no good Reformer would support any candidate who was not prepared to kmicn extreme Labour cm the head on every possible op-poi tmiitv. ’I lie Liberals were not to be Irusud in this inspect and therefore they must l;o excluded from ofliee at any price. Air 'I . M. Wilford retorts that the Retmmeis are nut sincere in their denunciation of extreme Labour, and that the Liberals are the only organisation to bo entrusted with llw e xtinction ol ibis political I rsl. No fewer limn eiglit Labour candidates, be says, were returned at last general election through the intervention of Mr Massey’s party. Labour calls down a plaglu.- on hath the oilier houses, laughs up its sleeve and goes on its way talking and organising. .Meanwhile it is worth recalling that at the last general election Reform polled 260X00 votes, Liberal 189.15J0 and Olli-,-ial La hour 112,01, and Independent oy.rt)l. ’Where will the 50,009 or (>O,009 additional votes that may he expected next December he east ? DAIRY CONTROL.

lii the statement lie published on Saturday explaining the meaning of “absolute control” -Mr V> • Grounds, the chairman 1 of the Dairy Hoard, makes no attempt to conciliate the opponents of the new scheme for marketing the Dominion’s dairy produce. He meets the objection that no sales on the spot may bo made by producers by saying that such sales can he effected by the board, if it thinks ‘‘forward sales would tend to stabilise the market.” But such sales “will be on behalf of the industry, not on l.ohnlf of individual factories.” Just what this implies is not clear, but it is taken to mean that the hoard will do the speculating and the producers will pay the piper. “There will be no further need for the retention of individual agents,” .Mr Grounds states,

“and possibly” the saving will be sufficient to pay the cost of marketing and the expenses of the Hoard. “I* inance,” the chairman says definitely, “will he secured from London merchants,” wlio will be suplied with the quantities of butter they previously have handled and they will he started on in a kind of “sales efficiency” competition in which boxes of butter and crates of clio'ese will be the prizes. The whole statement is a little perplexing to the more layman, hut before August of next year there will he plenty of time for its elucidation.