WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 2 November 1925, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

13UTTER CONTROVERSY. M. .1. 13. MaeEWAN RESIGNS FROM RUTTER. HOARD. (.Special to “ Guardian.”) WELLINGTON, October 29. ri„. (-egret expressed by the business community at tiie resignation ot Nil .1. 13. Ma'cF.wan from the Rutter Produce Export Hoard will lie shared by many dairy burners throughout the country. Mr M.arKvau accepted a -oat on tbe Hoard as the representative of the merchants and exporters very reluctantly, feeling, as he said at the time, that his views were not the views of a majority of the members of the Hoard, and that he was destined t„ i',ll the role of a hopeless minority. However, he set about his task with his accustomed thoroughness and understanding and gave his cordial support to every proposal for the better

organisation of the dairy industry from | li e delivery of the milk at the factory , to the sale of its products overseas. No other member of the Hoard ajs 11 i:ite so well c'luipped as he was by early training and wide experience to deal with questions of this kind. , Hut when a proposal for the Hoard to take absolute control of all dairy produce intended lor export left him with only one of his colleagues in opposition, he could not in justice to the interests he represented refrain from making the most emphatic protest. That was the beginning of his estrangement from the Hoard and probably be now has cut bis connecotion with that body in the hope of being of more service to the producers with a free hand. PROTECTION AND PRICES. Side by side with what seems a somewhat strained attempt on the part of the chairman of directors of Distributors Limited to show that Mr .1. J. McGrath, one of tbe candidates for the Wellington North scat, has 'exaggerated the profits made by millers, the Evening Post ” in an article dealing with taxation summarily deals with the reiterated fiction that New /calami r workers enjoy a free breakfast table. •‘There is difficulty.” it says, •* in striking a fair balance between tbe interests of the consumer and the welfare of the local manufacturer or producer. The importance of the problem is often over-looked because the full effect of the protective duties is not nerecivod. Some oi the duties arc liov. so high as to become prohibitive, and careless thinkers conclude, because no protective duty is paid, that there is do burden upon I lie consumer. fn trutii, tbe burden is usually greater in such cases, because local production and manufacture, operating under the shelter of the high tariff, are free from outside competition, and can collect from the consumer what the importer would have to pay to the Customs. This applies to many of the items of th,. so-called ' free breakfast table.’ In reality, the 'free breakfast table’ is pure fiction.” The truth of all this is obvious enough to anyone acquainted with the facts, and yet again and again during last session of Parliament the Government was credited with having maintained for the workers a free breakfast table. Mr Harris, the member for Wnilemata, thought it the highest compliment he could pay the occupants ot the ’I rcasnrv benches. RE-AD,JUSTING THE HUH DEN. The "Post” with a commendable desire no doubt, to divert the election controversies from Ihe byways into which they have drilted to the highways ot logical discussion pursues the stilijec. further. " The Tariff ( ommis>ion.” it recalls. " indicated the principle that protection should not he indefinitely prolonged, exclusive of competition, and that predicted examinations should be made to determine whether protected industries were making such progress as to atiord hope that thev would be aide to continue without t a rill' shelter, ft is time now In imply those principles and to determine whether, in certain items at least, the duties .should not be lowered, so that the possibility of outside com- ! petition nitty exercise its salutary inj (1 nonce. Political candidates cannot settle these issues at once, but they can at least tell the electors whether I they believe the principles enunciated ! liy the Tariff Commission should he put into operation or merely remain on record. Also, candidates should stale plainly what action they propose to lake to secure a fairer incidence of direct taxation. Upon this issue at least there is material upon which lo base action, and the public is entitled to Miincthiiig more substantial than Commission rcciiiiinux'iilatioiis which lie unheeded.” This all is very admirable so far a- il goes, hut the recoiiimondnturns of the Tariff Commission by this nine arc lorgolten by ninety-five per cent of the electors, and no candidate for Parliament will he eager to revive them within a week ol the polls. THE ELECTION. The closing of the nominations for the approaching general election brought no surprises. Ihe expected happened in almost, all the constirttencics. Neither Nationalist nor La hour* ite was disposed lo tackle Alt' K. 8. Williams in the trackless wilds of the Ray of Plenty and for the second time this Reform aincliorist goes hack to the House without a contest, respected and liked by till parties, ami probably still wondering which of them differs least from his own conception of the political millennium. Seventy of the seventy-six European members of the last House again are in the field, and there will lie thirty-nine straight-out contests, fourteen between Reform and Labour, fifteen between Reform and Nationalists, six between Nationalists ami Labour and one between Reform and Independent. There will he triangular contests in thirty-one electorates, while in five cases there will ho four-cornered contests and in the Bay of fsiands a five cornered contest. Rolorm. Nationalists and Labour are opposed io one another in triangular lights in twenty-three constituencies. Xeeedless to say Reform organisation and discipline have given the Government a very distinct advantage in the , disposition of flic contending forces. Predictions as to the result vary far more widely than do the political'views of the candidates and inevitably are colored by tbe party leanings of their authors. Perhaps if to-days’ guesses could be averaged they would show the Reformers with 39 European seats, the Liberals with 21 and Labour with 16, I with the four Maori votes left to decide the fate of the Government.