WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, 11 September 1918, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

WELLINGTON CENTRAL SELECTION OF (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGON, September 9, The lion. W. D. S. MacDonald, the acting leader of the Liberal Party in the absence of Sir Joseph Ward wastoo fully occupied last week with the pressing business of the various departments he controls to give much attention to the impending by-election, in Wellington Central. To-day, however, he is conferring with a number of representative electors in the con- t stituency and expects to be able to announce the name of the selected Liberal candidate for the seat in the course of a day or two. He hopes it will be possible to secure a candidate acceptable to both the Liberals and the Labourites as was the case when. Mr Robert Fletcher, the late member, won the scat from the Hon. F. M. B'. Fisher in 1914, but so far the Labour organisations have made no -suggestions towards this end and the popular opinion is that they will follow the same course as they did in the Wellington North by-election and put up a candidate of their own free frpm obligations of any kind of either other parties. | OFFCIAL LABOUR. i

The view of official Labour is that not having subscribed to the “party truce’ 5 it is free to raise any political issue it may please during the byelcction, is bound, indeed, to see the internal affairs of the country are not overlooked in the supreme importance of winning the war. That many Liberals and Reformers too, for the matter of that, sympathise with this view up to a certain point goes without saying and Mr MacDonald’s own frank admission is that the treue should not save the National Government from the freest criticism of its domestic policy and administration. This at least loaves Labout wth a fairly wide choice in the selection of a candidate and-points to a basis on which the Labourites and the Liberals might revive the understanding which existed between them four years ago, At the moment, however, the prospects of such an arrangement are not very encouraging. v.

REDUCING REINFORCEMENTS *

The mobilisation of another draft of the Second Division sot certainpeople talking again of a reduction of the Dominion’s, monthly Reinforcements Some of them even urge that now America is pouring her soldiers iftto France by their hundreds of thousands it is utterly unnecessary and even worse for New Zealand to continue depleting herself of the man-power, of which she stands so much in need. It. is a comparatively small minority, as. far as can bo gathered, that holds this view, but it is a .fairly noisy, one and its protests, which do not usually emanate from the members of the Second Division themselves, are reaching the oars of the Minister of Defence. Sir James Allen, however, while not unmindful of the sacrifices that arc being made, holds firmly to the view that the Dominion must discharge its full obligations to the Mother Country and that its task will be done only when the war is over. THE SESSION.

In political circles the opinion is growing That the approaching session will extend over Christmas and that whatever may be the course of the war it probably will be the last one of the present Parliament. It is generally assumed that Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward will not reach Wellington till about the middle of next month and that they will not wish, the session to open before they can take their places in the House. If these assumptions are correct only eight or nine Aveeks will remain before the holidays and with such big questions as finance, Imperial relations, licensing, repatriation and duration of Parliament to settle, this time aat.ll be totally inadequate for the orderly transaction of the country’s business. A second session in March and a dissolution at the ordinary time in December is among the suggestions being made, but this has no colour of ministerial authority.