WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 6 May 1927, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

LEGISLAT IVE COUNCIL. ITS LEADER’S RETURN. 'Special to “ Guardian.”) WELLINGTON, May 3

It is no reflection on Sir Heaton Rhodes, who has acted as leader of the Legislative Council since the retirement of Sir Francis 801 l at the end of the session of 1925, to say that the success of the appeals that have been made to Sir Francis to resume his old position is being warmly welcomed in parliamentary and political circles here. Sir Heaton Rhodes discharged the onerous duties of his high office with conscientious zeal and unfailing courtesy.’ Already firmly established in the personal regard of his fellow councillors he demonstrated to them his wide knowledge of affairs and punctilious care for the traditions and dignity of the revising ehaniher. "But the respoiisilditics of his office made insistent demands upon his physical strength, and towards the close of hist session they made grave inroads upon liis health. Sir Francis Bell carries his length of years so lightly, and stands out so prominently among the foremost of Dominion statesmen, that no other mem her of the Council could he expected to equal him in his leadership. Qualified by rare natural ability, by professional training, by wide experience, by critical observation and by the broadest of broad patriotism he represents adotjiialelv and at their best all the great driving forces if the community. His return t office at a critical time in the career of bis own party and in the affairs of the country is as opportune as it is welcome.

A CANNY SCOT. Whether or not, .Mr R. \V. McYillx, the late genera! manager of the Non Zealand Railways, and last week elected a member of the Wellington City Council, really is a "Canny Scot” is a |iicstioii on. which no reliable information is available at tjie lnomeui. But at a meeting ol the Council of tip’ New

Zealand Amateur Athletic Association held here last uigbi he displayed a

sense of pawkv Highland humour which imniensclv tickled the members of tile company. ".My long experience in the public service,"’ lie said in acknowledging tbe congratulations offered •O him by his fellow members upon bis election, and explaining why be had not taken the platform, “taught me this much—that more reputations have been wrecked by individuals making promises in perfectly good faith mid with the utmost sincerity so far as they were individually concerned, but without individual knowledge or a ithout first having had an opportunity <-f a peep behind the scenes. The

result has been on many occasions that when the same gentlemen have bad in decide—or join with others in deciding certain questions, they found that circumstances over which they had no control were such ns to absolutely pre••!"dc flip possibility of them carrying their promises. What happened. The,"l- character had ‘gone west.’ They "ere fold they had made nLI sorts of pledges and had not kept tlicir word.” Hr MeVilly lias seen the reputation of many a. sanguine Minister of Railways “go west” and he has profited bv 'he spectacle.

BTBLE IN SCHOOLS. Tbe “Evening Post.” ilic sturdiest of 'ho champions of flic non-sectarian '• mi-actor of Die Dominion’s education csfon, :<i n ,. t (.oWnnt of the attitude '' tbe. "Minister of Education towards O’c Rilile-in-Selmnls e a inn aig n. I bough all tbe frontal attacks on tbe secular principle of our State School system, which have given it pence

Irnm flip mischiefs, of .sectarianism controversy during tile fiftv rears of its existence liavo been decisively dotented.” it says, “tlie enemy are nnl without hope of accomplishi'inr their purpose hv indirect -moans. A l?elioi'ms Kxercise in Schools Bill. which appeals for the support of the religions as a cure for the Endlessness’ of the present system and for the

acquiescence of the friends of the system. on the ground that it is not introducing religion into the curriculum, has been 1 ejected by Parliament secern l times. But the narrowness of the maforitv hv which it*was defeated in the Legislative Onmr-il last year, arid the almost unprecedented extent to which it. heated the atmosphere of that norl’lallv sedate assembly, indicate flic 'longer into which the public ana t has allowed our educational system to drift, and the. element of bitter strife with which it is threatened.” From this the “Post” proceeds to imply that the Minister in preparing to facilitate the next attack of the raiders and to proditec evidence which plainly calls for a reply from that gentleman. Freni a cursory glance at the facts it looks as if lie were set a fairly difficult task.

POQITTC’S. Political parties and’ party politics, with the approaching “working session” of 1 lie present Parliament in sight:, are becoming something more than the subjert of mere street corner gossip. News from Auckland of a quite authoritative nature tells of a distinct revival of a “Liberal” sentiment in the “Queen City,” and of Binds being offered For a systematic campaign throughout the two islands. Tn "Wellington, so far as can he gathered, the general disposition among the ‘progressives,” ns the opponents of the Government style themselves, is not to revive the old Liberal Party, with the somewhat discouraging history of the last few years, hut to bring together in a new camp the dissatisfied business people, the really progressive section of the Government’s opponents, the ‘‘.sane’’ Labourites and the remnants of the old Diehnrds. The difficulties confronting the authors of Hi is scheme are the absence of an experienced leader and the lack of an inspiring policy. Neither of these requirements appear fo he fothcoming, and while they are being sought numbers of electors who would have welcomed less turbulent quarters are crossing over to the Labour shelter. That Labour is growing in strength there can be no doubt, its revised land policy having brought many recruits into its rallies, and unless the “Progressives” take the field fairly equipped in the near future M - IT. E. Holland and his battalions will lie very hard to overtake.