NOTES FROM THE CAPITAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 April 1916, Page 8

NOTES FROM THE CAPITAL.

BUSINESS OP THE SESSION. WAR FINANCE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, April 24. The Prime Minister's otvn statement of the business to be dealt with does not suggest that the approaching session of Parliament will be either particularly short or specially tranquil. Compulsory service, war pensions, land for soldiers, and finance written down in this casual way may not make up a very formidable looking programme, but any one of these subjects might keep t'lie House occupied for a month, and Mr. Massev can scarcely be flattering himself that the private member will accept t'lie edict of the Government as to when be should talk and when be should remain silent. There is a report abroad tlmt the Reform members are being urged by their leader to assist in shortening the session by abstaining from all unnecessary debate, but even on the. Prime Minister's own side of the. House party discipline is not so effective as it. was a year ago, and with a general election drawing nearer, the most amenable follower will lie anxious to justify himself in the eyes of his constituents. The Imperial Parliament can no longer be quoted in support of the contention that l'easonabie criticism is inconsistent with loyalty to the KmpirJ, and probably Ministers will find themselves conirorted with more plain speaking than they have encountered since the formation of the National Cabinet.- The Bill empowering the Coy•eminent. to impose compulsory service in the not altogether improbable event o: the voluntary system failing to provide all the recruits required to fill, the monthly reinforcements' will meet with' strenuous opposition from only a small minority of the members. Even they will not carry their opposition to ex- ' tieme lengths. Sir Joseph Ward's readiness to accept compulsion in the last resoi t has' induced several other strong anti-conscriptionists to take up the same attitude, and the flovernment's proposals, assuming they are accompanied hv proper assurances in regard to pensions and allowances, will not provoke the trouble that was at one time anticipated

TV AT! iPEXSIOXS. Tt is taken for <rranted here in circles Hint, arc colloquially flescrilied as the "best informed'' tliat the chief amendments in the war pensions system to he submitted tn Parliament will provide for the award of pensions "by right" and lor additions to the separation allowances mid the payments for children. These, of ponrse. are the points for which the Liberal-Labor members outride the Secret Defence Committee, almost without exception, contended when the present Act was passing .th'roifgh iho House. Mr, Poland, the member for Oliinemnri, will have special reason to congratulate himself if these points fire now conceded by the Government. His speech on the second reading of the measure was the best exposition of a sound system of pensions heard during the debate, and its effect upon the House was so pronounced that had the ''pnrty trace" been la existence, at the time the. measure would certainly liava been returned to the committee for fui'ther consideration. In practice the equity of the contingent pensions—fcho liability of dependents to have tjielr allpivaneos reduced on account of property they jiejd oy relatives they possessed—was at onoe exposed, and it is to .the wsiit of the Geverainsnt that at gs

»early stage it directed the Pensions Board to disregard the unjust and humiliating condition?. The possibility, now approaching a probability, of marlied mew bting required to fill the gaps in the. reinforcements makes it a matter of urgency that the separatum allowance and the payments on account of children should be. increased, and there is not the least doubt Out any proposals in this direction made hy theCovcrnmcnt would receive the ready consent of the House. - So -far the Minister of Defence, who is facing the problem quite frankly, has been able to say married men are not required; but if the war should run into another northern' winter he will have to alter his policy in this respect to ensure the fulfilment of the Dominion's obligations to the Mother Country. The only differences on this question will be over the amount of the increases, and the House is not likely to prove illiberal to the men who make the greater sacrifices.

LAXD FOR SOLDIERS. The legislation rushed through Parliament last session with the object of making immediate provision for returned soldiers anxious to settle on the land was more admirable in its intentions than in its achievements. No one is specially to blame for its defects, though doubtless the Minister of Lands might have introduced a more comprehensive measure if he had fully realised all the needs of the position, ftivl Parliament must now give its non-party atitention to the returned soldier without means and without expert knowledge wbo is qualified in other respects to make the best of any opportunity that may lie. offered him. The case of this man is not so hopeless as it may appear to the big holder, whose ideas of farming run into broad acres and large flocks and herds. There are many thousands o: acres in both iilands now devoted to raising sheep and cattle, peculiarly well adapted for many of the smaller industries. Unhappily, practically all the land of this description has 'passed out of the hands of the State, or h held on leases that cannot be terminated at u moment's notice, and Mr. Massey will htue to make use of the somewhat' threadbare Lands for Settlement Act, to secure in any large numbers the suitable holdings required for fruit and vegetable growing, poultry and bee raising, and the other small industries which otter a comfortable living to the man whose only capital to begin with is his labor. Tile Minister has not indicated the character of the legislation he intends to introduce with a view of promoting this class of settlement, but obviously he will require money for improvements as well as money' for land, and already he, must have realised that the vote of last session was utterly inadequate. Among the papers in bis department he will find some very valuable reports on this subject pre.pared by Mr. J. E. March, of Christchurch, and their perusal might furnish him with many valuable bints He has a unique opportunity to encourage close settlement of a most useful kind, and it is as much in the interests of the country as in the interests of the returned soldiers that he should turn it to the best advantage.

| FINANCE. In his statement to the newspapers the Prime Minister mentions finance as one of the matters that will engage the attention of Parliament next month, and it is safe to assume it is finance in its special relation to the war that is 11: his mind. Sir Joseph Ward has declared so emphatically against a war loan, as it lias been urged upon him by a large section of the press, that there is not likely to he any departure from his settled policy in this respect; but probably it will he found, when the facta are known, that in a way more acceptable to the authorities at Home he has been practising quite a considerable measure of self-reliance. There U a .good deal of speculation as to what he has actually done, and naturally some misunderstanding and adverse criticism; but the fact that his policy is approved by his colleagues and reputable financiers acquainted with t'lip circumstances should allay any uneasiness that mav be felt by people who wish the Dominion to make a. financial, demonstration of its patriotism. That capitalists will have an opportunity to invest their tnonev in directions .where- it. will materially, assist the Empire in winning the tear is tolerably certain, and that war profits will receive some additional attention from the tax-gatherer is not improbable. In the meantime impatient people who are (retting at delay must gather what comfort they may from the Minister's assurance that he share.s their desire to justify the Dominion's professions of goodwill and loyalty towards the Mother Country, if need be down to the Mother Country, if need be down to the last shilling and the litst man.