WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 24 September 1928, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE NEW PARTY. ATTR ACT INO A TTENTI ON. (Special to 11 Guardian ”.) WELLINGTON, September 20

The “ Dominion ” evidently is more impressed by the re-sip pearanee of Sir Joseph Wai'd in the forefront of everyday politics than are many of the exPrime Minister’s personal friends. In its editorial columns this morning tlie' Reform journal gives prominence to two examples of cheap humour which are obviously intended to discredit Sir Joseph. “A clever quip at the expense of the United Party was in circulation in parliamentary circles yesterday,” it says. “A lobby humourist rechristened the party the ‘ Re-United Party.’ Those who study the personnel of the leading figures iii the party and their recent history will appreciate the appropriateness of the latest title. It rather rubs the gloss off the attempt to present the party to the public as something new and unweighted by the handicap of past’'failures.” Just where the clever quip - comes in is not very apparent; but presumably its purpose is to convey the impression’ that thb members of ..the United Party are re-' sponsible for all the political failures of the past three or four decades. As ninety per cent of them have never sat in Parliament, the “quip” appears to the outsiders a little tawdry.

THE CHURCH AND POLITICS. The oilier humorous effort of 'the morning paper is scarcely more happy than the one just mentioned. Its hero is the Rev. J. Archer, the gentleman who warned the Australian flyers off New Zealand soil on the Sabbath. Day. ‘ ‘ There is a somewhat gruesome touch about the comment of the President ol the Labour-Socialist Party, the Rev. J. Archer, on the new United Party,” the “ Dominion ” says, “ but there is a good deal. of truth in it, too. Mr Archer summed' up fjhe situation with the remark, 'lf is just hs" difficult-to resuscitate a political Corpse 1 as • a corpse of any other type/ The recent political history .of Britain ahd Australia has shown clearly enough' that? there is no real ' use lor a half-way third party . iii politics to-day. The> old Liberal parties Ini vie gradual iy: dwindled away, having 1 served their* day,” No doubt the Tteformefs obtain) a. good deal of satisfaction' fi'om; reflections of this kind arid their hd'pes {pay l be realised or they may hot. Meanwhile it should not be too much to expect courtesy and chivalry from gentlemen even if they do happen to be politicians. ~ • t, * ,•,

' TO MAT Q GROWING. ! , The fear" thatHthe importation, of tomatoes fromKara,tonga may result in the .introduction.of the fruit fly and other island pests to the Dominion should he. dispelled by a statement .made ,by Sir Maui Pomare, in the House off. Representatives yesterday. . There was no disease in-..C00k Islapd toma- ■ toes, and as all the Rarotpngau .tomatoes were shipped in the green .stage .there was.no danger of the. Jutrpduc--tion of the fruit .fly to Mew Zealand, frpm that source. He had .been ;ad-> vised, the Minister said, that the' fruit was always rigidly examined by Government inspectors before shipment, and it was again rigidly, examined here by Agricultural Department inspectors, but no fruit fly has been found in any shipment. There was absolutely no danger that the fly would come to New Zealand from Rarotonga. Perhaps the most effective safeguard against the introduction of island pests to the Dominion from the Cook Islands is the difference in climatic conditions between the port of shipment and the port off discharge. Even if the fly were brought to New Zealand it would not survive the unloading. ,

LICENSING. The emphatw rejection of the amendments to theJLicensing Bill proposed in the House® of Representatives last night suggests that the measure is likely to emerge from the committee stage in much the same form as it did last year. This would not be satisfactory to the Prime Minister nor to the prominent figures in the newly-consti-tuted United Party; and it would, not mean that the Bill was destined to make its way on to the Statute Book during the present session. It still would have to run the gauntlet of the Legislative Council and there is no reason to suppose the revising chamber is now more favourably disposed towards the two-issue ballot-paper and the bare majority than it was last year. On the political side Prohibition is probably in a better position to-day than, it ever has been before; but in the constituencies its mana appears to be waning and were it accepted by the present Parliament it probably would be renounced by the next. that, of course, would put it in a worse position than ever, and demonstrate to the world at large that pledged votes are a two-edged sword.

[Since this letter was despatched ifrom Wellington, the Bill was lost in the Lower House.]