WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 68, 20 March 1916, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

PRAISE FOR THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE. LABOUR TROUBLES. WELLINGTON, March 17. Perhaps praise from the Women's Christian Temperance Union is not the highest tribute the heart of the Minister of Defence could desire, but taking everything intjoj account tlhte Hon. James Allen has very good reason to be gratified by the approval of the ladies now meeting in convention at Wanganui. Without being antimilitarists they are very keen critics of military methods and praise from them is praise indeed. If the Minister had been persistently careless of the physical and moral welfare of the men in camp and at the front, or if he had looked with a commercial eye upcn the wet canteens, he would have received a very different message form th e representatives of the W.C.T.U., whc, to do them justice, are no respectors persons when the maintenance of their principles is at stake. Nor will it be cut of place here to mention that with all his temperamental defects, which have brought him into conflict with /hosts of people who might have been easily conciliated, Mr Allen has won golden opinions from many of the officers attached to his department and from the men under their control. His whole heart is in his work he is loyal and even mag- : nanimous towards those associated with him and he never spares himself at the expense of an ether. These are qualities everyone can appreciate. His faults are chiefly the faults of manner and of a certain obstinate persistence which precludes the admissicm of a mistake cr the confession of a fault. THE EARLY SESSION. It is expected the Prime Minister will make a statement concerning the i early session of Parliament before leaving for Auckland next week land fix the date cf the meeting for the last Thursday in April. Probably the party leaders already have made up their minds on the subject, but so far they have satisfied the curiosity of none of the enquirers. In jest or in earnest, Mr. Massey talks of keeping members in Wellington for only a fortnight or at most three weeks, but should compulsory service be included* in the Government's programme the session will be more likely to run into three months. The Budget will present no great difficulty, the Minister of Finance, having an overflowing Treasury and entertaining no radical

taxation proposals, but the introduction of the necessary amendments of the Defence Act to bring conscription within the reach of the Ministry would provoke a controversy which might occupy the House till Christmas and certainly would occupy it for several weeks. Then the war Pensions Act and the Cost of Living Act 'are bound /to come up for discussion in one form or another and if disaffected members are half as good as their word these measures will provide more strenuous fighting than has been seen in Parliament for many a long year. The Standing Orders administered by a strong hand and without much regard /for the traditions of Biritish representative' institutions might considerably curtail the superfluous talking, but the circumstances will not be favourable to driving tactics and Mr. Massey's estimate of the length of the session is, from 'a ministerial point of view, altogether too optimisitc. j THE PENSIONS ACT. I The Liberal members of the House who are anxious to have a bout with ( Mr. Allen and the whole of his colleagues, if need be, over the War Pensions Act will start out with the advantage of proved prophesies behind them. The Act was passed through all its stages under the guidance of the Reform Government, before the National Government was formed and the' party truce proclaimed, 'and the Liberal members who did not happen to hold seats on the Secret Defence i Committee were able to express their j opinions of the measure with the ut- | most freedom. During the debate on j the second reading Mr Hugh Poland j followed the Minister of Defence with one of the best speeches of its kind ever delivered in the House. Having 1 paid the customary compliments to the Minister and acknowledged his good intentions, the member for Ohinemuri proceeded to scarify the measure in the most merciless fashion,

I pointing out with unfailing precision all the defects that have since been revealed in the Act. 'When Mr. PoI land sat down the burden of his tale | was taken up by Mr. Buddo, Mr. Isitt, Mr. Poole, Mr. Smith, Mr. Witty, Mr. McCombs, Mr. Veitch, Mr. Anstey, Mr. Talbot, Mr. Hanan, Mr. McCallum, Mr Payne, Dr. Thacker and some of the other stalwlarts on the Opposition benches, and finally Mr. Allen was glad enough on the motion of Sir Joseph Ward to take his proposals back for reconsideration. They were much improved on their next appearance, but still Mr. Poland and his friends protested against the. inadequacq of the pensions in several cases and at last were only half persuaded to accept the measure as an experiment to be reviewed later on. Obviously they are on the best of good wickets to renew their criticism. LABOUR'S PROTEST. Labour's protest against the failure of the Government to take earlier steps to check the rise in the cost of living has taken more definite shape in the case of the Petone Woollen Mill workers than in the case of the railway men. The Avoollen workers have been engaged largely for months past on the production .of military clothing and they express themselves as extremely loth to do anything that -would 'affect supplies to the troops, but the continued rise in prices has brought many of them face to face with the fact that they are receiving less than a living wage. The mediation of the Minister of Munitions and Supplies has failed to bring about a settlement of the trouble and at the moment it looks as if the output of the mills would be very seriously retarded at a most inopportune time. The lesson of the whole unfortunate ■business is that the administration of progressive legislation should not be left to an unsympathetic Minister.