WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 4 July 1917, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

PARLIAMENT IN SSESION. THE SIGNS AND PORTENTS. WELLINGTON, July 2. The House of Representatives appears to have assembled in a particularly serious mood this year, eager to get to work and ready to dispense with any superfluous preliminaries that might interfere with the progress of business. What this attitude portends it is too early to say with any confidence, but the feeling about the lobbies is that members, irrespective of parties, are going to be more critical and less amenable to discipline than they have been in either of the other two sessions since the beginning of the war. Of course, the early attacks upon the Minister of Defence by Mr. Vigor Brown and Dr. Thacker are rather personal than symptomatic of the temper of the House and need not be taken into serious account, but as the session proceeds more weighty indictments will be levelled against Sir James Allen and his colleagues. Already members ■ whose constituents are specially interested in the butter-fat tax levy have met to decide upon the line of action they are to take to secure the removal of the impost and the refund of the money that has been paid, while quite a number of questions more or less directly challenging the policy and administration of the National Government have been placed on the order paper.

EARLY CLOSING. Tli advocates of closing the hotel burs at six o’clock during the course of the war and for six months after were early in the field with a huge batch ,of petitions in support of their prayer and it is understood that the pile of papers lying- on the table of the House will be supplemented by many later arrivals. The report iliai 'the Trade is prepared to compromise on the question and would accept eight o’clock closing is denied by people who ought to be acquainted with the facts; but the representatives of the petitioners profess to be confident of getting a good deal more than this without making any terms with “their friends the enemy.” Precisely what ground there is for their optimism is not yet clear, but it is known five or six members who opposed the reduction of hours last session are now disposed to reconsider their position. One of these is'a gentleman who put his wTTole trust in “antishouting” and would not tolerate any further concession, to the "reformers.” How soon the matter will be brought to a vote depends' upon the wishes of the Cabinet,, which is said to be anxiously werighing the strength of the two parties, but the position cannot be greatly affected by delay and probably Ministers will be glad to get ft off their hands. STRAWS.

Though members of Parliament obviously have come to Wellington brimming over with patriotic zeal and heroic resolutions, just at the moment they seem to be concerning themselves rather with small things than with great. The talk of the week-end has centred not around the Loan Bill i or the taxation proposals or any other measure for winning the war, but around the Governor’s new title and the special train that brought the party leaders from Auckland. The new honour conferred upon His Majesty’s representative in the Dominion does not appear to have greatly impressed anyone, unless it is His Excellency himself, who made a 'very proper little speech at the ceremony on Friday, and the special train has provoked many derisive comments for which the irrational economies of the Minister of Railways are largely responsible. No doubt Sir Joseph Ward put the matter of the title in the right light when he urged the importance of the increased status would give to New Zealand in the eyes of outsiders, and if it costs the taxpayers nothing in the way of increased salary or additional allowances they really will have no occasion to complain. RAILWAY SERVICES.

The special train from Auckland, running at the heels of the ordinary express, is in a different category, and had it been put on merely to gratify the whim or the Vanity of the Ministers there would have' been plenty of excuse for the taxpayers and their representatives in Parliament making a fuss. But this is scarcely the case. Naturally Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward required to have as much time as they possibly could with their colleagues while they were travelling to .Wellington. They had to get in touch with what happened in the Dominion during the preceding nine or ten months and would have had no hope of doing this had they travelled by the ordinary train. But perhaps the public protest, which may find some echo in Parliament, may induce the

party leaders to look more closely than they would otherwise have done into the whole administration of the railway service during war time. If they tell the public the measures adopted by Mr. Herries are necessary towards winning the war the public will be satisfied. If, however, they discover these measures are simply the expression of disgruntled officialism the public will expect them to interfere.