WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 23 January 1917, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE WAE AND POLITICS ACTIVITIES AT HOME. (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, Jan. 19. The statement by the "Daily Chronicle’'’ in regard to the recommendations for electoral reform made by the joint committee of Jhe House of Lords and House of Commons cabled to the evening papers on Thursday, got sufficient start of the contradiction of the Press Bureau to set x>eople here drawing comparisons between the attitude of the Imperial Government and the attitude of the New Zealand Government towards domestic legislation. Members of Parliament on both sides of the House, as well as a much larger number of outsiders, arc expecting the statement of the "Daily Chronicle to prove very near the truth, and to find the Imperial Government dealing with electoral reform, including proportional representation, without waiting for the end of the war. In any case an effort will be made here to have the matter considered on non-party lines during the next session of the Dominion Parliament. On this point a number of members have expressed themselves as quite determined. THE TWO MAJOR-GENERALS. An article appears in the "New Zealand Times” this morning,, drawing a somewhat invidious comparison between the services and rewards of Sir Alexander Russell and Sir A. Robin, The writer insists that the spirit of justice, strict, impartial, and clear-sighted, should always animate the system of promotions and rewards, and then implies that tills lias not been the case in the distinctions conferred upon these two officers. The one,, he says, has gained every stop and honour on the battlefield, and the other was not fortunate enough to be sent to the front, and, therefore, has had no battle arid no campaign service. The criticism is not likely to attract much attention outside of Wellington, but it seems only fair to Sir A. Robin to say for wide publication that he has used every effort military discipline will permit to get to the front, and has been detained in New Zealand only by the desire of the Minister of Defence to have his assistance in getting through the vast amount of military work that has to be don e in the Dominion. POPULATION AND REPRESENTATION. The number of scats in the House of Representatives that will be lost by the South Island and gained by the North-Island as the result of the census is still the subject of much discussion hero. When the figures were first announced the Minister stated that the North Island would probably gain four, seats and possibly five, and he has not vet amended his calculation; but a closer examination suggests that the exchange of seats will not be more than two. The North Island has increased its preponderance by 75,495 souls, and probably by dividing this number by the probable electoral quota Mr, Russell has reached his estimate of four or five seats. But the little sum docs not work out in exactly that way, and in when the north increased its preponderance by 54,087 the transfer was only one seat. Of course, the transfer of the two seats from one island to the other would make a relative difference of four, the Noith gaining f-\vo and the South losing two, and perhaps that was the point in the Minister ’s mind. RIVAL DEPARTMENTS. Among the aftermath of the holidays is the usual number of complaints from travellers concerning the confusion created bv two Government Departments competing for the tourist traffic. Intending holiday makers go to the railway booking office under the impression that it is the Tourist Bureau, or to the Tourist Bureau under, the impression that it is the railway booking office, and when half way through their trip they discover that some concession they might have obtained from one institution is not included in the ticket they have purchased from the other. This naturally is very annoying to the individual, and as both institutions seem equally to blame State control is roundly denounced, and business drifts away to private enterprise. From the public point of view there is the still more serious aspect that work costing £2OOO or. £3OOO a year in one office might be done in the other, a couple of hundred yards away, without a penny of expense.