WELLINGTON TOPICS.
j THE SESSION. PERILS OP PATRIOTISM I (From Our Own Correspondent.) j £ . . Wellington, Mav 8. u is a curious tact that the session to Do opened to-morrow is exciting less ! popular interest than has any previous session that can be easily'called to mind by the oldest member of Parliament. Tt is to deal with measures of far-reaching importance, affecting in a : greater or lesser degree every member of (he communitv, and yet the'mass of the people are little more concerned about its proceedings than thev are about the doings of local bodies that control their minor affairs. Of course, this is mainly due to the war diverting attention from everything else that is not of direct personal consequence. But to some extents it is due to the renunciation of party politics, to the frank suspension of the contests between the "outs" and "ins" • which hitherto have constituted the very salt of public life in this country. In this respect New Zealand has set an admirable example to the whole Umpire, to the Mother Country no less than to the other dominions, and both parties,may bo congratulated upon their forbearance and their patriotism. But (here is just a little danger of the needs of the position being misinterpreted., The comnact between the parties that the whole force of Parliament shall be directed towards winning the war does not involve the surrender of the rights of honest criticism. Differences of opinion on war taxation or soldiers' pensions or land settlement are in no way inconsistent with perfect unanimity' on the great vital question of the hour, and while the country would strongly resent anything in the way of factions opposition it will expect its representatives to keep a watchful eye on what they conceive to be the best interests of the people.
BUSINESS OP THE SESSION.. Although Ministers are no longer talking, in jest or in earnest, of the session occupying only two or three weeks they are still hoping to bring it to a close before the end of July. There are indications, however, that Mr. Massey and ■Sir Joseph Ward are not in such a hurry to get away to London as they appeared to he at the. beginning of the year, and if : members wish to discuss the Government's proppsnls at greater length than I might be desirable in a case of urgency, (hey probably will he given reasonable facilities for doing so. It has been hinted that debate will be limited by the character of much of the business, and doubtless the newspapers will be rehired to exercise rather more circumspection than they have observed on some former occasions, but it is not ikely tiiat the sacred privilege of free 'peach will be materially restricted, except, of course, by the good'sense of 'iwibers. The measure attracting the fro?t attention in advance is the Mili'■llry Service Bill, which 'received its final touches from the Cabinet last week, Slid has gone on to the printer in much the same shape as already outlined in this column. Voluntary enlistment will ; remain open to the man who prefers this plain path of duty ami compulsion will be applied only in cases where it is required to stimulate the sluggish conscience. Soldiers' pensions and their dependents' allowances will be reviewed, additional provision will be made for the settlement of returned soldiers on the laud, war taxation will be overhauled, perhaps more drastically than has been generally expected, and the Government will take certain powers for tlie control of the liquor traffic during tlio continuance of the war. These will constitute the principal items in the session's programme. MARRIED. MEN AND THE WAR. The representations that have been '. irade to the Recruiting Board in regard to the inadequacy of the separation allowance made to married men toining
the Reinforcements has brought from the secretary of the Board a letter which has provoked a good deal of very pointed criticism. The pith of the letter is that the allowance was not fixed in "any parsimonious or cheese-paring spirit." but "wholly and solely that men with largo families should iiot be encouraged to enlist." This statement comes a little late in the day, considering the Board has been appealing for inen, regardless of their domestic condition, and accepting married volunteers without making any enquiries concerning their dependents. ' Nor even yet is the position quite clear. "Steps are now being taken," the secretary writes, "to enquire into the circumstances of men who offer themselves for service in all cases where there is reason to believe that a man's family responsibilities are such as to make it inadvisable to enlist him." This reads very right and proper, but .in the very next, sentence tie- secretary flatly contradicts what he has been instructed to say. "Under the voluntary system of enlistment," he continues,' "the Recruiting Board thinks it is safe to assume that the married man with family responsibilities who enlists knows what he is doing and is in a position to make adequate financial provision for his dependents, in which case the Board sees no reason why he should not enlist." This leaves the pious resolution of the Board simply nowhere. It is not going to encourage married men to enlist, but if they respond to its urgent appeals it will assume they know what they are doing and will leave the dependents to shift for themselves. Surely this is not the last word the Prime Minister and his colleagues will have to say on. the matter.
SOLDIERS ON THE LABOR MARKET. The local newspapers, naturally anxious to avoid saying anything that could prejudice the calse of the country's stricken heroes, are handling the protest of the Labor organisations against the exemption 'of returned soldiers from the conditions of the industrial agreements and award very gingerly. Tlie Evening Post is sure, as everyone who knows Mr. Massey must be, that the Prime Minister would not condone such contemptible conduct as the Hon. J. T. Paul alleged against certain employers, and that he. and the At-torney-General, who is energetically and systematically looking after the interests of the discharged men, would he quick to punish the wrong-doers when t:u-y were discovered. But the pome mode by Mr. Paul and other members' of the deputation that, waited upon Air. Masi-ey, in his capacity of Minister of f.aho", hist week, was (hat wrong could be. done without the authorities knowing enything about it. Mr. Paul gave a specific instance in which an employer had endeavoured to employ a returned soldier at £SO a yenr to fill the place of a man who was receiving £IBO a year, and the Minister was unprepared villi any assurance that could be expected to satisfy the members of the deputation. He professed, however, to hue an open mind on the subject and it since has been suggested that positions for the returned soldiers requiring to supplement their .pensions by light work might be found' in the public service, where, there are a number of men in robust health engaged upon extremely easy jobs. Probably there would not be sufficient positions of this kind to go round and in any case displacing one man to make room for mother would not solve the difficulty, but obviously if returned soldiers are to enter into competition with other workers on the employers' own terms their appearance In the labor market will be a oaii«o ,of constant irritatio/
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Taranaki Daily News, 10 May 1916, Page 8
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1,240WELLINGTON TOPICS. Taranaki Daily News, 10 May 1916, Page 8
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