WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 30 May 1927, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE LIBERAL REVIVAL. Ml! VEITCH'S C RUSADE. | (Special to “ Guanliaii j WELLINGTON, May 27. Wellington lias too many other things it considers of more importance on hand just now to pay much attention to controversial polities and controversial politicians: hut the condensed reports of Mr Veilcli's speech at Invercargill this week have attracted more attention here than has ant of the previous activities oi the member for AYanganiii on hrliall cf the nett Liberal evangel. The capital city in its inattention to politics, however. I,as omitted to discover by what warrant .Mr Veitch is appearing as the. leader of a new party in opposition to both Reform and Labour and apparently without any authority from either the Nationalists or the surviving Liberals. It is understood locally that MV George Forbes, the official leader of the Nationalists, is wishing .Mr \ eit h well, and that Air T. Al. AVilford, the last of the Liberal loaders, is holding aloof from party politics for the time being. AVhether or not Air Voiteh speaks with the authority of any large division of the old Liberals and their successors is not yet disclosed : hut his mention of an agricultural hank with a capital of ‘ not less” than a hundred millions suggests that he is pro-1 pared to meet the farmers a good deal

more than halt way in the matter ol ] finance. 1 LACK OK INTEREST. j < The ‘‘Evening Rost” is not disposed to belittle Air Veitch or his crusade. ; It recalls that he has heen a consistent j supporter of the agricultural hank j cure for the ills that beset the farmers | and that he has dared to hold opinions : of his own and express them. “I he weakness of Dominion polities at present,” it says. “ lies in the lack of keen, public interest. The menace of Social-, ism is not near enough to rouse tfie ( public to action, and there is no other dcar-cut issue before the electors. In j consequence, the people are hut mildly j interested, and they accept mediocrity | with a little grumbling, hut no deter- j mined attempt to have the standard t raised. AVlmt we need at present is , not more parties or new parties or new labels, hut better men. With a few, more able men in the House there would he a closer examination of exist- | ing problems. Such men would, in all | probability, lie unable to discover new j remedies, but they could apply better , methods. In the protection of sec- J ondary industries, lor example, it is not the policy that is at ixull. hut its aimless application.” Here are truths for both Parliament and public to consider and foi- Air Veitch to place in ' the forefront ol his appeal to the .electors. THE RETTING RAID. j

Tin.* |>ro(veilings in ( hrist* luuvli ! against the “clients” of a big hook-J maker ill the Cathedral ( il\ have ( created something like < onsternniion hero in certain social circles and in the telegraph and telephone service, iho former proceedings against small hook-, makers, who picked up the half-crowns ami ten-shilling notes ol speculating clerks and shopgirls, attracted little serious attention, and did nothing to arrest the illicit gambling that was going on all over the country. The arrest of two big operators a month or |

two ago alarmed some of their patrons for a time, hut it was not till the Minister of Justice directed that pro- 1 eeedings should he taken against the “ hackers ” as v.ell as again-t the “layers” that a veritable stampede began. Hove lar the mure drastic* eeedings are to he carried remains to be seen; but it is known tli.it the authorities have in their possession' documentary evidence that might send , quite a number oi highly respected: business men and leaders ol society. ; both mule a.ml female, to gaol. Then ! again there are scores of telegraph and telephone employees involved in the. bookmakers’ schemes fer betting across the wires. The. newspapers are not:

allowed to publish Lotalisator odds, hot there is many a fair damsel behind the poxt-nfiico counter who can tell her friends not only the winner ol a race, but also tin' dividend it has paid.

THE LIAIITED. '[’he Prime .Minister does not appear to have been particularly happy in fencing; the deputation that waited upon him at Eeihlmg with a request that the “ Limited ” express between Wellington and Auckland should stop to pick up passengers at the local rails way station. 'the stoppage it was urged would occupy ony two or three minutes and Podding; would he confirmed in its claim to one of the lending provincial towns along the route of the Alain Trunk Railway. “II Podding wore given a stop 'other towns would demand a similar stop.” Air Coates pleaded. “If there were many stops the ' Limited ’ would cease to he a 1 Limited ’ ; he had endeavoured, as far as possible, to eliminate political

and every other consideration, save that of public interest; he considered

the ‘Limited’ should ultimately liecome a complete sleeping train,” and so on and so on ad infinitum. In the end the good folk of Podding were forced to the conclusion that they were not going to get their stoppage and that they were faced with the nightmare of the “ Limited " as a sleeping train. Travellers who make much use of the “Limited’’ soon come to realise that its sleeping berths, particularly those labelled De Luxe and charged for at the rate of 20s a trip, are the noisiest and the shakiest places on the train, and remove their patronage to the shilling pillow and the ordinary car.