WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 28 September 1925, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE SHIPPING HOLD-UP.

GRAVE APPREHENSIONS. j

tSpeeial tu " Guardian.’ - )

\\ ELLINGTON. September 21. 11:,.]-,. was a link- disappointment in tin; House la si night. when the question concerning the shipping iioLl-wp. put to the Prime Minister hy Mr G. W. Em'lies. the leader of the Opposition, drew from .Mr Coates only a promise to the elVeot that in the course of a day ur two he would make a statciiKuit on l lie subject. Just what was expected from the Minister v.a- not made quite clear, hut Ml- Coates is such a prompt

lorceful personage. the Mouse nmy have- imagined lie had ready at hand a solution of the t rouble I hat had arisen. Rut Mr (Mates did not pretend to have anv inspiration of the kind. The most he could do the most anyone el-c in 1 1 1 s nosition could have done was to indicate the gravity ol the situation and to promise furl her details a- soon a. t key were available. Mr 11. E. Holland. the leader of lhe Labour Party, lias anxious that there should he an opportunity •" discuss the Ministers statement when it was made, and Mr (Males liad no objection to such a course ji n were demanded hy a map oritv ol the members : lull lhe 'Ciise of the House obviously was again-l a wrangle that could only widen tie' breach the contending putties. THE DAIRY I'RODIT ERS. A mono the people direct l.v involved in the hold-up the dairy tanners are the ino'l intimately eoueerued. At the meetin;t of the Wellington Harbour Hoard yesterday, the Chairman. Mr ■). C. Cdlihe. reterred to the strike as the gravest euianiity that Inis helallen the jifodtieers lor many year.-.. Ihe "Post last night, was oqu.'illy emphatic in summing up the position. " It is imnossihle at the moment." it said, "in sec how the great dairying, industry of the Dominion can escape grave loss it the ships are held tin for much lunger. The deplorable spectnclle is dis. placed to all the world that supplies ol Dominion loodsiufls. urgently ueodeil, are held ill) from Great Britain; that those being held there are being rationed. almost as in time of war, and the price is eonscqiientlv rapidly advancing; and tliitt Rritish nticnvploymcnt, had enough in all conscience. is heino made worse. So tar as the dairy termer of New Zealand is concerned, he will require to exercise the utmost care over his commit molds anti expenditure, notwithstanding; present inflated returns for liutler-lat. lie should prepare for trouble." Indirect sullcrers through lhe hold-up will he the memhers of the Labour Party in the House, who. whatever Mr Holland may have to saw will lose much support at the polls throuoli the crass stupidity ot the sea men's or.ua nisa t ions. ELECTORAL REEOR.M. It seemed almost as an alTet-tbought that ilie lion. .1. A. Ilanun. the member fur Invercargill, asked the Prime Minister, in the House ol Representatives yesterday, if, in view of his declared intention to give effect to the policy laid down hy the late Mr Massey. he would brine down a measure to remedy delects in llie present electoral system. The Prime Minister's reply was even more cryptic than Ml Hunan's question. lie staled, quite truly, that the matter had been dealt with In- way ol discussion ill the present Parliament, and that it would la* quite impracticable to introduce legislation at the present advanced stupe of

the session. Rut t here was mure In eon:,'. lie proposed later, I c added, to i--sue a mantle-to and a very rat'd 111 search oi that document might reveal the Cnverniuent's policy in repaid to electoral reform. It is only lair to

add that Mr Ma-sey's proposal- lor electoral reform were brought down al. a time when I heir author was physicall v unlit for stn-h a task as their passage through the House would have en-

tailed. That lie was perfectly sincere ill submitting his propo-aU to the House there need be no doubt, and. . hough of the member- o| Idown parte were opposed to them, he probably would have placed them on the Statute Rook had not the persistent opposition ol the Labour Rally barred hi- way. LA lit)Ell'S AT'TTTVDE. Again it is only fair to hear in mind that the Labour Ratty was perfectly ronsi.-tenr and entirely logical when it resolntelv opposed Mr .Massey’s Bill. Its proposals provided for proportional representation in the four large cities. Auckland. Wellington. (‘hrisieliureh. and Dunedin, twenty-live iiinslililencics in all. and preferential voting in the remaining fifty-one European cmistil ueiieies. The "fleet ol this arrangement, provided the temper of the ei. list it ueiieies remained a-, it was at the general election of 1022. would halve been to deprive the Labour Early ill' three or four of the cite seats it Won on that occasion, ami ol all but one of its rural seats. Eroportioital representation would have given the party it- fair share nl the city seals, hut preferential voting would have 'made it iii'.possible inr it to hold more than the litiller seat in the rural districts. The proposals were accepted by the Liberal Early as a step towards the goal of universal proportional rep-re-entation it desired; hut the Labour Eartv very naturally objected to surremler the advantage it enjoyed in the cities while a system wholly inimical In it- interest was to he employed in the country districts. What the Prime M.inister will say alioitl the matter in hi- iqomised manifesto has not yet been disclosed, and apparently Mr I Lilian himscit is not quit" sure as In what the Opposition wants.