WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 18 April 1932, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS

PARTY UNREST

IN COALITION CAMP. (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, April 13. During last week end many stories were afloat concerning unrest among the rank arid file of the ' Coalition Party in the House of Representatives, and when members returned to their labours yesterday it soon ,became evident that hilT the stories, , were not without foundation. On Monday evening some twenty Coalitionists mostly early arrivals met in Parliament buildings, anil the National Expenditure Adjustment Bill with a freedom that might not have been altogether acceptable to the Speaker had lie been in the chair. Some of them, indeed, were frank to an extreme. Their main complaint was that the proposed scale of wage cuts did not adjust the burdens of file sufferers equitably. Their alternative t o the Government’s proposal was the elimination of the Publio Service wage reductions and the imposition of universal wage tax between Is 3d and Is 6d in the pound. It certainly looks ns if this would he tho more equitable method of . distributing the .'.national burden, • \

LEADER’S QUANDARY. Both tlfe R’igbt Hon, 0. W, Forbes and ,-his ally the Right Hon. J. G, Coates have been more or less embarrassed by the appeals of their respective followers in the Hou- o to substitute a wage tax in place of a wage reduction, an arrangement which would leave tho Civil servants .with some hope of - recovering the losses to which they are at present condemned. Seen yesterday Mr Forbes stated that several IJn’ted members of the Coalition, had freely stated in the Tobies that' they were dissatisfied with some of the provisions of the National Expenditure Bill and might be , compelled to vote against it. Mr Coates when questioned in the subject was less reticent than ’his leader had been. It was correct, he said, that some litem- ' bers of his party had indicated dis-

approval of certain proposals of the Government. They objected to wage cuts 'and naturally were placed in an nwkwards position. .Both Uniteds and Reformers, it would seem, are perplexed in this matter.

HARD LOTS. - ; In AVellngton, at the, present time at any rate, a great deal of sympathy is due to the lower paid public servants who find themselves thrust back in op-

-poTtuiri t jFMt nd~emo 1u m ent with only the remotest prospect of recovering their former positions, The chairman of the Wellington section of the Public Service Association provides a picture of a junior officer who is far from bping among tile, worst sufferers. “In his fifth year,” we are told, “he rep ceives £139 KM per annum. OhTlis-- „

sixth year he receives £l7l per aiurtni.. By loss of this increment in“sid-B di tien to the 5 per cent, provided fcy' tl.'e Finance Bill, the -total reduction" becomes £3B 9s 6d or 23 per cent.,,of, the wage of £l7l per annum" ho* otherwise would have received.” It ' is married State servants of this type,, and not Ministers of the Crown, we are told, who head the list in the matter of sacrifice. This surely is an incongruity Mr Forbes and his c °l* leagues .should mend.

IMPENDING DIVISION.

The fate of the. National Expenditure Adjustment Bill still hangs in the balance, and the parties in the House of Representatives probably ( will have much to ,say about the the measure before it is passed on to the Legislative Council where it is . sure t<£ encounter a good deal of more i or less*' : ineffective criticism. There • are predictions of strong opposition being offered to the clauses in the Bill providing for a second pubbe service cut, -and it is quite possible the opposition to the measure will secure j some concession to the lower brandies of the Civil Service. This, however, depends largely upon the bearing of the Labour Party, which in its desire to discredit the Government with a large section of the electors may refuse to accept any concession of less magnitude, both United Coalitionists such company both United Coalitionists and Reform Coalionists would find the leader of the Opposition a somewhat embarrassing companion. Still there is a chance of Mr Holland preferring a half loaf to v no bread.