WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 March 1925, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES.

UNDESIRABLE LALAIIGRAXT3

(Special to '‘Guardi ~.n”.) AVELT.TXGTOX, March 23. 'flu* reply of |lie .Minister of Education ami Justice to the deputation that waited upon him in Auckland the other day, to protest against the ease with which stowaways and deserters from ships established themselves in the Dominion, is regarded as unsatisfactory by many people here. Sir James Parr admitted that the (|Uestioli was of importance and suggested that the careers of .stowaways and deserters, who escaped deportation, should he watched closely “for the first year” of their settlement in this country. If the men turned out badly, he added, the responsibility of taking them away from Xcw Zealand should he placed upon the shipping companies that brought them to the Dominion. The shipping companies protest strongly against any such interpretation of the law. Already they have to hear the inconvenience and cost occasioned them by these undesirables, and they are not disposed to he held responsible for their careers after they have been allowed to wander where and how they please for twelve months. The companies ale quite prepared to hand stowaways over to the police, as they have done hitherto, and, if needs he, carry them, hack to the port from whence they came; hut their obligation must cease, they insist, when the culprits are acquitted by a magistrate, or turned loose with a “caution,” to follow their own bent. Mil HOLLAND AO ATX. The leader of the Parliamentary Lahour Party continues to he well treated by the Press Association- as he snmiid he. of course- and newspaper readers at a distance are aide to follow his eleeioueeriiig campaign with some measure of interest. Mis reception ill Dunedin appears to have hern a particularly cordial one. and the local prophets are now predicting that the southern cits , as well as Christchurch, AA'ellingloii anil Auckland, is going to pass i ver wholly to the La hour cam]) at the December general election. Perhaps it would be unkind to suggest that in this prospect lies the reason for Air Holland’s silence in regard to electoral reform. But his silence is suggestive. Proportional representation figures line and large In the platform of the Labour Party, hut it would not suit, the purpose of .Mr Holland and his colleagues to have this system of election In operation just now. The present ineluctable system lends itself to the influences of enthusiasm, industry and organisation much more fully than proportional representation would, and at present these qualities rest with Lie Labour Party in a larger degree than they do with either of the other Parties. As evidence of this fact the pre-mice of seven “minority representatives” on the Labour benches in the Douse is striking testimony. At the 192.3 election the Labour Par!;.- increased ils voting strength, compared with (he figures for BUD. by only I'd par emit, but it increased its represent..!. ion in the House hv just ll'.O ner lent. LA BO l'Ll AS PHOSPKCTS.

.Mr Holland cannot expect to "epeat this perl'ormanee at the next gvneie! election, and yet he must do even more than this to secure an absolute majority. In Ifll!). when the I ahonr ■Party Ursfc entered the field disass :-

eiated from the Liberal Party, il secured eight seats, and in 1922 it secured sixteen. At the Bill! election it polled 127,“12 votes and at the 1922 election L12,3!l votes. Had the principle of proportional represi ilia! ion been in operation and the whole Dominion had voted as one constitutoiic-v the party would have won ill l!!l!) 1'• ,S2 seats (if one of the occupants could have been cut up info a decimal) and ill 1922 17. ml seats. It lias never obtained its full share ol repre.v.miation in the country constituencies, owing to the scattered condition ol its lorces, hut it has gained more than its share in the cities, and apparently will (milium.' to do so. Between !!)!:! am! i!i22 Lac increase in its udvs scarcely kept pace v. il h the in: reuses in the td iscr parties’ vote-; bat there are iliumaiimis that it has ban making loore piogicss in. (ids respect during Ha lasi two years, and it v. ill 11 ■ • l b" a' a!! sin prising if it achieves I he distinction of becoming the oliicia! Opposition in l/ie mxt parliament. In that nc. .dr I l.iiland's pi'cdu l ion might In realised. (cmplele eoaiili u hr! ween ilel'Uiu ; 11 ; •! |p- re! v.tuhl be iin o' |ii a! h> and :■ sclol.ieo Ol the dill'll iiliy mi'.'hl he found in the pi t:-, edeiit provided al Homo 1a...t year. THE l)A H! V INDUSTRY. The coni rovers;' i:\cr the decision oi the Daily Board to lake absolute emir.d of ail dairy produce expurled Horn the Dominion seems to he growing in volume ami intensity. The supporlei if the scheme, headed by Air (Irounds, the chairman of the Board, and hacked up by ihr big h.Bullions in the \\niato district., profess to he salushed with the invgiess they are making, Imt they don’t sjK-ak so eonlideiit l.v as they did a Week or two ago, when everyappeared to lie going their way. lee refusal of the Government to i-suo the desired ()rder-in-('ouneil, which would have f.uidilicd the hoard ttgainsl. all legal pruc: edings, has been a sad blow to them, and the unhappy Aiinister ol Ag: ice It ere is having dubious cinplimen!:. tiu-.v. n at him proaim:s.ousiy. Tim ct la v side is developing am.lher line of attack, which promises to be more fruitful limn any other it has; yet exploited. The chairman of the Dairy Board, while assuring ail his audiences that complete arrangements have been mad • for ftnam iug turn fact ones and the farmers when the inert hauls are <:.•• ■ eluded from the business. si far haproduced no satisfying evident e m eonlirma lion of Ins words. Home ol Die factories and many of the farmers are under (inuiteiai obligations in the n.. rehants, and the prospect, of having tlieso left- hanging over their 1 cads while their butler is carried away to an unknown fate is not, increasing their enthusiasm for absolute control. vacates of the maintenance of the statuquo are offering them no coinlurt.