Political Prattle

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 64, 31 May 1912, Page 15

Political Prattle

The High C'oniniissioiio.rship is again being drugged nbout. It's Jack Findl.iy's (uni to be associated with the job. * i * Tho N.ft.W. Trades and Labor Council has decided to urge upon the Slut.' Govornrent the matter of the establishment of a State bread factory. From tho way some of the Libera if; are spe king, it is very evident thii' "party loyalty" plays a very small p.»rt in their sehenic of things. I •* » » A sec-ion of the press is persistently predict'.'g a Massoy-Millar alliance. Many r.ore unlikely things are likely to hupp.-11. * # * The Local Government Bill has been responsible for a considerable amount ol oonimei:' and adverse criticism from many Leal bodies. Yet the Bill aiimal reiVii'.s which may, ii brought 'inte effect, ! ■> responsible for a considerable amount if good. * k * "llo:>::'ng Roddy' from Motucka is reportr-' to be tugging his fiery beard endoav. -tig to decide upon which sid* of the ;..--litical fence he will seat himself. ?.;..<;. is very wire, by all accounts, for being excluded from tin Cabinet *• * * Still -eother political party lias bee;/ organic■ 1. Christchurch is its home. Its liar . the "Radical Party." Among those 1.-■osting it aro W. W. Tuni ;■ r. OK-Ktii 't of Lalior, and for n in;, years 3, : ieral member for Avon. •limn ~-■' Carroll, the eloquent '■ '' Maori .> iio represents Poverty' I Jay, bad a *ry lengthy Ministerial care . He lias '• dd portfolios in Ballanee, Si dim a: Ward Administrations, .) .- baps h-i.ling a Dominion,, if not Australasian record for length _of uninterrupted - rvicc. Robe son, Labor M.P. for Olaki, i'r Teporto.- as having stated that he woiihl n .-ign his seat if presented with a requi : tion signed by 3.'J per cent, ol the ele-'ors of his constituency. lie would then recoutest tho position against 11-coiners. I)ani< Rumor persistently speaks o! Sirjoo's approaching departure for Fogland. The (.lvernmeiit will without doubt grant i; free pass and spend public money ipon Baden Powell, who is to •t-mr N .- Zealand lecturing under the auspice- of J. and N. Tait, theatrical agents Why not extend the sani" courtesy to every barnstormer on the road ? .. » A slab of wisdom from Bill Masscy: "1 beli'-.e that everyone of tho present Ministers brings mc nearer the goal at which I have been aiming for years, and that is to get all the sane, seusibb . and really progressive men on one sid- of the House and to place alt tho I'iidulsts, fanatics, and opportunists. on the > 'her." This from such a source is mill, funny. * * * During the course of his remarks in Invercnrgill on tho cost of living, Fowlds . fated that in a speech he delivered in the North he informed hitaudience that the wages paid to tin. . I.arotonga natives, ls. Od. a day, were higher than those received in New Zealand. A member of the audience, aftei the clo*e of the. meeting, approach* < him and said that he must l>e aware that conditions wcro better here thai iv RaroUiiiga, and Fuwlcis replied that one day's work a month would cloth--a man in the island referred to, a day's work a week feed him, and ho hart no rent to pay, every native having brown piece ef land (leasehold), on which he grow his cocoanuts and other fruits. Hf "defied any worker in New Zealand to do that. * * # Wo read somewhere the other day that Bill Massey was formerly a member of the Knights of Labor. It must havo Ikh'u many years ago. * * * Mr. Lloyd George, tho British Chancellor of the Exchequer, states in recent Parliamentary papers that 10,300 persons were liable to eupor-tax in l!)O9-10. In other words, they had over „.">OOO a year. Tho total income of thoso persons was £130,000,700, or an averago of £12,621 each. It is curious to see that the popular phrase of tho "upper ton thousand" has thus been justified in one senso at least. The latest income tax returns shows that tho gross iucomo which came under the purview of the inland revenue was £1,000,000,000 in 1908-9, before tho supertax was in force. It also shows *.;■,.* Mio total income of 58-5,000 emp'oyee's iv as £136,000,000, an average of £_!3U per head. There" weTe" 202 employees with salaries ovor £5000, and 20 business men made incomes of over '£'.0,000. But as no details have ever been given of incomes from land, any rompiitation of the number of rich men in Great Britain and of their average income has been hitherto impossible.