WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 111, 12 May 1916, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

SPEECH FROM THE THRONE. A GOOD PRECEDENT. (Special Correspondent).* WELLINGTON, May 10. Although the Governor's speech delivered at the opening Of Parliament yesterday was not the shortest on record, it came near enough to this distinction to encourage the hope that the debate on the Address-in-Reply will be correspondingly brief. This is not a time for superfluous talk any more than it is a time for empty ceremenials and members' services to their constituencies will not be measured this session by the number of pages they fill in "Hansard." Doubtless it was with an eye to the proprieties of the occasion that the Government selected Mr. D. H. Guthrie to move and Mr. George Forbes to second the Address. The two senior whips having, when they please, the soft speech that turneth away wrath and the conciliatory manner that makes fcr harmony and goodwill, can be trusted to say nothing that would provoke an outburst of party feeling. It

is quite among the possibilities of the week that the Address may he allowed to pass without any debate at all. The Speech itself was not a very impressive production. It said the obvious -things in the obvious way, neithey better nor worse than they had been said many times before, and it left unmentioned the obscure things everyone is anxious to fatjiom. It was in fact, the usual Speech with the saving grace of brevity and for the sake of this allredeeming virtue it may be forgiven its manifold defects. PATRIOTISM AND PARTY.

His Excellency’s advisors are making what may seem to many people a rather large demand upon the patriotism of the rank and file of Parliament when they ask them to devote the whole of their energy during the present session “to the consideration of measures which have direct relation to the existing exceptional conditions,’ but something must be allowed for the interpretation Ministers intend to be placed upon their words. It may be taken for granted that every member cf the House,’whatever his political preferences or party prejudices, will eagerly support every measure designed to strengthen the hands of the Government in the assistance it is giving to the Mother Country and her Allies in winning the war. That goes without saying. But even among the most ardent patriots there may be honest differences of opinion as to what measures have “a direct relation to the. existing exceptional conditions.” There is the military view and the economic view and the social view, all dependent upon one another and all cf equal importance in the eyes of many earnest, observant men. Land settlement, for civilians as well as for soldiers, the cost of living and licensing, for instances, may not be questions directly relating to the war, i but they have been brought into pro-

minence by ' the existing exceptional

conditions and no time could be more opportune for their discussion than now, when our politicians have ceased to be partisans and all have become patriots. WINNING THE WAR.

This evidently is th e view taken by members of the House whose devotion to the cause of country and Empire no one is likely to question. Mr Wilford, whose patriotism is plainly of the positive degree, and has been expressed by something more tangible than mere words, does not think the time inopportune for dealing with the rent question or for the comprehensive discussion of the cost of livingproblem or for the revision of the fiscal system. Mr. J. C. Thomson, another ardent Imperialist, whose robust common-sense is recognised on both sides of the House, has not been deterred by military objections from preparing a Soldiers’ Voting Bill. Mr R. A. Wright, who in th e old bad days of party turmoil Avould have shuddered at the very idea of interfering with the sacred rights of property, is competing with Mr. Wilford for the honour of bringing house rents under re-

view. Mr. Field, a Reformer, though perhaps a somewhat half-hearted one, is busying himself over the milk supply, a plank in the Liberal Party’s platform while Mr. Anderson ,a consistent stickler for the proprieties, is implying that the medical examinations at Trentham are not all they ought to be. These and a score of other indications of the same kind

I suggest that private members will not place a narrow interpretation on the i Government's desire to confine the I session to war business only. I A JAUNT HOME. I There appears to have been quite a number of members of Parliament i ready to assist the New Zealand I branch of th e Empire Parliamentary i Association in doing honour to the invitation of the parent body to send four representative legislators Home to see what is being done by the Mother Country in connection with the war. The number is variously stated at from, twenty-five to thirty-five and had all the gentlemen ready to sacrifice themselves on the altar of duty been able to go, both Houses would have presented an empty appearance for the remainder of the session. The selection made yesterday, taking into account the members who could not °o and those who would not go, probably is as representative as could be expected in the circumstances, but it scarcely will fulfil the average Britisher's conception of the type of politician produced in this country.

UNIVERSAL PLENTY. "We cannot get universal plenty except by universal production and universal demand. But the majority

of people will never be able to grasp these economic fundamentals as long as an appeal is made to economic reasoning' alone. Prejudices are stronger than reason, and can only be banished by considerations stronger than themselves.

“What we have to hope,” adds the Spectator, “is that this new conception will teach the employer that his

interest and duty lie in improving the

position of his workpeople to the ut-

most possible extent, and that the same conception will teach the wage-

earner that his interest and duty lie in making the best use of his strength of body and mind.” The Spectator bases its hope for the future on this fact; that there will be a new spirit between masters and men, and that this will affect “the whole future organisation of society.” It quotes with approval Mr. Walter Long’s saying that “the war is a leveller.”

LESSON OF THE TRENCHES. "Th e main lesson of the trenches," says the Spectator, "has been that in the face of German shrapnel and hand grenades officers and men, from whatever class they spring, are primarily human beings. In the presence of a common peril the private and his officer have learned to understand one another better, and have discovered the good qualities Avhich each possesses. How far this discovery is reacting on civilian life it is hard for the moment to say. Old prejudices die with difficulty, and in our large towrts the militant Socialists are still denouncing the rich as selfish grinders oi' the faces of the poor, while in middle-class suburban circles the working man is still spoken of as if lie were a creature of differed flesh and blood. When the men come back from the war they will bave a new tale to tell, and their tale will change the whole relationship between classes. The importance of this consideration can hardly be exaggerated."