POLITICAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 402, 25 June 1908, Page 3

POLITICAL.

The coming change in the personnel of the House of Representatives as the result of the general election will be very much more marked than it has been for a somewhat lengthy period, says the Wellington correspondent of the Hawke’s Bay Herald. In addition to the alterations that will result from the change in the boundaries of the constituencies, there will be many changes through the voluntary retirement of members in consequence of illness or business calls.

The Opposition party will apparently suffer a great deal in this respect. At present, in a House of 80 members, it consists of only 16. namely, Messrs Aitken, Allison, James Allen, Bollard, W. Fraser, Hardy, Herries, Lang, Lethbridge, Lewis, Malcolm, Mander, Massey, Reid, Rhodes and Okey. Of these 16, it is probable that 5, if not 6, will not seek reelection, namely, Messrs Aitken, Allison, Lethbridge, Lewis, Reid and Rhodes. There has been no definite announcement regarding the retirement of Messrs Aitken, and Rhodes, but the New Zealand Times says that neither _ of these members will seek re-election. With the usual loss of a number of others, particularly in the North Island, the old Opposition will be practically a thing of the past, and what will be to all intents and purposes a new party will have taken its place. New Zealand politics may then develop along slightly different lines. The present Government party will also suffer through the alteration of the constituencies and through the retirement of some of the present members. Amongst the retiring members from this side of the House will be Messrs Houston (who has been in ill health for some time past), Mills, Rutherford and McLachlan.

There are thus at least ten members of the present House of Representatives who are voluntarily retiring from politics. Constituents in a number of cases will no doubt put others into involuntary retirement.

Mr Me Nab states that he will not be surprised if after the general election the Opposition organisation as a special organisation ceases to exist. If so, he adds, it would only make way for some other organisation, because there are always ambitious men who would take such an opportunity to endeavour to get into the front rank. Such a state of affairs would open up a big field for rising political talent.

Everything points to a short session. The main trouble before the Parliament will be an attempt to satisfactorily solve the problem caused by the recent break-down in compulsory industrial arbitration. Mr Millar has his bill ready, and it will be introduced early in the session. The Workers’ Compensation Act Amendment Bill is also ready. It is practically the same as the one brought down last session. It is unlikely that there will be any morning sittings of the House of Representatives till towards the end of the session. The Premier thinks the House us ually will rise at midnight.

Among the candidates who are said to be in the field for the Hurunui seat (says the Christchurch correspondent of the Dominion) is aMr Reiter, who delivered his first speech at McKenzie (Cheviot) on Thursday night last. The local public, apparently with some reason, regard his candidature as a joke, for Mr Reiter has some remarkable ideas. He said among other things, that the Government should start industries, and that as a beginning they should offer a bonus of for the first ten thousand yards ot linen produced in the Dominion, the linen to become the property of the Government and be given to the poor. Working men ought to get linen shirts as cheaply as cotton ones. He would reduce the national debt by putting a tax of a head on batchelors, beginning at the age of 18 years. Subsequently he said he would tax widows ten shillings a head. “Are you in favour,” he was asked, “of setting apart a thousand acres on Cheviot for growing fish?” “Yes,” he replied, “if Sir Joseph Ward would agree to it,” In reply to another question he said he was not in favour of the absolute majority, because it would play into the hands of the prohibitionists. Apparently the candidate thought that the absolute and the bare majority are the same thing. Asked as to whether he thought the yellow peril real or imaginary, he said he had never seen a Chinaman with the yellow peril.