WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 24 June 1929, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS

LABOUR'S MISSED OPPORTUNITY

SOUND WITHOUT STRENGTH

(Sped a 1 Co rrespo nclen t.)

WELLINGTON, June 20 The “Evening Post” i.

pinnacle of party independence, offers some timely advice to Mr E. J. Howard and other represented i <"• our in Parliament which these gentleman very well might take to heart. The other day Mr Howard, it will he remembered, confessed that the country was not yet ready H’or Labour, and now the “Post” suggests with infinite delicacy .that it probably is not so much a question of the country lining ready for i.abour as it is of Labour being ready for the country. “What Labour most needs,” it says, “ is to put itself on side with the great bulk of people who stand for Rugby and not for gunpowder. If'Mr Howard and his friends wait for a gunpowder mood in New Zealand they will wait for a long time. Rut if they play Rugby the ball already is at their ifeet.” In this respect it is significant that while the Labour Party in New Zealand has been driven to despair and the Labour Party in Queensland has collapsed the the Labour Party in the Mother Country has won its way to the Treasury Benches. OVERDRAWN. In its ''.eal to turn Labour from the error of its ways and so qualify it for t..e opportunity which lies at its feet the “Post” carries its strictures a little too far. “What has happened in the past”it says, “is that Labour has not played football as the whole of the onlookers prefer to see it played. There has been too much off-side rule with unconstitutional players waiting for the illegal pass—result, everybody whistled back. That off-side play has been greeted with such yells of delight by. a small but very vocal section of the barrackers that Labour has been misled into mistaking sound ifor strength, and has played to the wrong gallery. What Labour most needs—as indeed the party now confesses by its changed tactics—is to put itself on s.we with the great bulk of the people, who stand for Rugby, and not for gunpowder.” Simifies of this kind are scarcely justified by facts. The Labour members, of Pariament ,at any rate, are not less punctilious in debate than are the members of other parties. RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION. The Hon. W. B. Taverner, the Minis ter of Railways, on his return to Welington after his southern trip, which Ticluded a further inspection c'f the tap lying between the breaks in the -jouth Island Trunk Railway, reiterated the views he had expressed in Christchurch and Dunedin, in regard to the completion of the line. There was no area anywhere in the Dominion he said, which- could beat it from a scenic point of view. He had not had time to inspect the country lying between the hills and the sea, except n patches here and there, but from what he had seen and what he had heard from competent judges he was satisfied the line would make the occupation of a large area of land feasible and profitable. One of the Minister’s travelling companions ,who previously had been over the greater part if the Marlborough province, gave it as his opinion that there was room for several hundred .farmers along the route of the line and that most these would do their business in Wellington. The capital city, however still looks askance at the undertaking. THE POLITICAL «l'rUA T JON.

The “Dominion” this morning publishes a paragraph from Christchurch which has occasioned considerable comment in political circles here. 'Tim mragraph appears in a brief report of nil address delivered by the Right Hon. J. G. Coates to a gathering of Reform Party supporters. Tne first oart of the report suggests that- the comments of the leader ot the Opposition were admirable in every way. H breathes of all the sporting qualities if which tbe speaker is possessed. In c concluding paragraph quite a different note is struck. Tbe Reform

. arty, Mr Coates is represented as saying, believed in keeping men as Government appointees on local bodies who were good citizens, irrespective of their politics, but he had noticed that since the new Government came nto office some very fine gentlemen ad been kicked out and replaced by Government supporters. Anyone knowing both Mr Coates and Sir Joseph Ward will find it as hard to believe such words were spoken as to believe they were deserved. Mr Coates is as scrupulously courteous as Sir losepli is incapable of unworthy patronage.