WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 25 February 1931, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS

INDEPENDENT CHANGES MIND. “ALWAYS SUPPORTED REFORM.” (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, February 23. Mr (}. A. Troup, the retiring Mayor of Wellington, who a month or two- ago plighted his troth to a non-party political associatison as its candidate for the Wellington North seat at the aporonching general election, has changed his mind. A deputation headed by Mr H. E_ Johnston, K.C., the standard bearer of Reform at the Hutt by-elec-tion, waited upon Mr Tioup at the week end, and apparently bad no difficulty in persuading him that Reform had more to offer than had Independence. The Retiring Mayor fell an easy prey to the persuasive King’s Counsel. He had always recorded his vote in favour of Reform since his arrival in the. Dominion, he said, and though while Mayor lie had been “obliged to keep his party sympathies in the background’ ’he never had wavered in his devotion to his party. He bad felt all along that the best hopes of the Dominion lay with the, present Opposition. COUNTRY FIRST. The approach of an early session of Parliament and the prospect of a general election within a few months are not perturbing tbs Prime Minister at all. He will drop into, a friend's house after a long dny’s work and spend, a . couple of hours chatting without mentioning politics at nil. A garden and an orchard will absorb his whole attention during a long Sunday afternoon and the folk across the fence will take him for a horticultural expert turning the sanctity of the day to good account. He had a typical retort for the Christchurch journalists who confronted him on Saturday. ‘‘The question of fusion has not arisen,” lie told them. ‘‘l am not the least concerned about the party politics. I have a duty to perform, and I feel sure thinking people will realise that drastic measures have to be taken. It is absolutely necessary to save productioni” There is the man.

ALLIANCE of labour. The only section of the community here, that appears to have no sympathy with Mr Forbes in his efforts to deal effectually with the grave economic problems confronting the community at the present time is that embodied in the Alliance of Labour, “So many Alliance of Labour deputations seem lately,” says the morning paper, “to have wended they way to the Parliamentary Buildings putting on a fierce air and muttering in their beards all kinds of things, that the public is beginning to be bored and lackadaisical about these trumped-up proceedings. Yesterday, although threats wore disavowed by. the Alliance, they were but thinly yuijed, The Prime Minister Hid well, however, ■ to discount and Ignore these 1 familiar rumblings and give a reasonable answer to the unreasoning contentions of the deputation,” The Prime Minister certainly has been very tolerant towards his persistent visitors, but the time must come when they will realjse he is about the country’s business.

“NEW ZEALAND CORN LAWS.”

Under this heading the “Dominion'’ this morning appeals to Mr Forbes to take his courage in both hands and relieve the country of the “'bread tax” with which it has been saddled for u number of years. “When Mr Downie Stewart devised t.he sliding scale of wheat duties,” it says, “probably neither ho nor anyone else dreamed that the course of prices would produce the outrageous position that obtains to-day. To- show how the scale works, wheat is at present being quoted at 2s 3d in Sydney. The duty on imports to New Zealand would be Is 3d plus J-d for every id by which current domestic value Is less than 5s 6d. That means that the duty on an article costing 2s 3d is 4s 6d or 200 per cent, and to that prohibitive duty has to be added insurance and freight.” That this problem is not so easily solved as jt seems to be to the Wellington daily, may he judged from the fact that at the annual meeting of the Associated Chambers of Commerce held a little while ago a proposal for the abolition of the wheat duty as it stands at present was emphatically rejected.