WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, 11 April 1918, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

SPECIAL SESSION. A TAME OPENING. ._■,. WELLINGTON, April 10. The opening of the Special Session. of Parliament, called, as the Governor explained in his Speech, to consider a proposal that the Prime Minister and the Minister of ;'iuance should attend an linpsriai Ccat'-jrence and h meeting of ihe Imperial War Cahi»»t, turned out a rather tame affair after all. The great things happening on the Western Front overshadowed a merely ceremonial proceeding and the wretched weather prevented anything in the way of a social display. The Speech, with the great merit of brevity, presented the obvious things in the obvious way and was as terse and business-like as the circumstances demanded. • In a paragraph of less than a dozen lines His Excellencywas made to express confidence that both branches of the Legislature would go in with the Government in its determination that the Dominion should assist the Mother Country to the utmost of its ability in the present crisis, and there all it was necessary to say ended. THE SENTIMENTS OF THE HOUSE This His Excellency and his advisers are justified in counting upon the hearty cooperation of a large majority of the members of both Houses in any effort to strengthen the bonds of Britain and her allies is already abundantly clear. Even those members who are loudest in their complaints against the Government's administration, have never a thought of Impugning the the underlying principles of its war policy. The last man and the last shilling, if required, is still the measure of the Dominion's service to the Empire. It is being whispered about the lobbies this morning, hov/ever, that New Zealand's immediate part in the great struggle may not be the supply of more men for the Western Front. The difficulties of transport may preclude that service. But there is other work of a no less exacting nature to be done and for this the Dominion may be asked to" hold itself in readiness. A statement on the subject is expected from the Prime Minister this evening. THE ETERNAL .QUESTION. Opinions differ even among the Prohibitionists themselves as to whether or not the New-Zealand Alliance has chosen an opportune 1 time for pressing its demand that the recommendation of the National Efficiency Board for the suspension of the liquor traffic during the course of the war should be submitted to a poll cf ; the electors and decided upon a 'bare' majority vote. On the onehand there is the section of ardent reformers who would put an end to'the traffici at any price and on the other the less confident folk who wbitloMiave deferred this new effort till a more convenient season. Probably the greater weight of public opinion is with the latter. Six o'clock closing, so far as Wellington is concerned at any rate, has very materially lessened the more flagrant evils of the traffic and it is easy to argue from this basis that it would be wise to leave well alone. That, doubtless, will be the view of the Government and of a majority of the members of the House. COST* OF LIVING. 1 The laugh raised in the House yesterday by Mr. C. H. Poole's inquiry as '■ to what steps the Government had taken to give effect to the recommendations of the Cost of Living Com- , mittee was not directed against the member for Auckland West, but rather against the. Government itself. The question was neither superfluous nor pointless. Since the committee sitting last year there has been another enormous increase in the retail prices of commodities in common use. Between February 1917 and February 1918, the latest figures available for comparison, the average increase on prewar prices advanced from 25.79 per cent, to 33.64 per cent. The increase in dairy produce was from 29.65 per cent, to 30.75 per cent., in meat from 27.35 per cent, to 36 50 per cent., and in groceries from 25.,*6 per cent to 32.43. The most astounding increase is in the prices of groceries in Wellington, which now exceed those in many of the small .inland towns.