WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 May 1916, Page 8

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

SPEECH FROM THE THRON& A GOOD PRECEDENT. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, May 10. Although the Governor's speech delivered at the opening of Parliament yesterday was not the shortest on record, it came near enough to this distinction to encourage the hope that the debate on the Address-in-Reply will be correspondingly brief. This is not a time for superfluous talk anj more than it is a time for empty ceremonials, and members' services to their constituencies will not be. measured this session by the number of pages they fill in Hansard. Doubtless it was with an eye to the proprieties of the occasion that the Government selected Mr. D. H. Guthrie to move and Mr. George Forbes to second the Address. The two senior whips having, when they please, the soft speech that turneth away wrath, and the conciliatory manner that makes for harmony and goodwill, can he trusted to say nothing that would provoke an out- . • burst of party feeling. It is quite among the possibilities of the week that the Address may be allowed to pass without any debate at all. The Speech itself was not a very impressive production. It said the obvious things in the obvious way, neither hotter nor worse than they had been said many times before, and it left unmentioned the obscure things everyone is anxious to fathom. It was, in fact, the usual Speech, with the saving grace of brevity, and for the sake of this all-redeeming virtue it may b8 forgiven its manifold defects. PATRIOTISM AND ;i?ARTY. His Excellency's advisers are making what may seem to many people a rather large demand upon the patriotism of the rank and file of Parliament when they ask them to devote the whole of their energy during the present session "to the consideration of measures which have direct relation to the existing exceptional conditions,'' but something must be allowed for the interpretation Ministers intend to be placed upon their words, ft may be taken for granted that every member of the House, whatever his political preferences or party prejudices, will eagerly support every measure designed to strengthen the hands of the Government in the assistance it is giving to the Mother Country and her allies in winning the war. That, goes without saying. But even among the most ardent patriots there may be honest differi ences of opinion as to what measures have "a direct relation to the existing exceptional conditions." There is the military view and the economic view a.nd ' the social view, all dependent upon one another and all of equal importance in the eyes of many earnest, observant men. Land settlement, for civilians as well as for soldiers, the cost of living, and licensing, for instances, may not be questions directly relating to the war, Imt they have been brought into prominence by the existing exceptional conditions, and no time could be more opportune for their discussion than now, when our politicians have ceased to be partisans and all have become patriots.

WINNING THE WAR. This evidently is the view taken by members of the House whose devotion to the cause of country and Empire no one is likely to question. Mr. Wilford, whose patriotism is plainly of the positive degree, and has been expressed by something ■ more tangible than mere words, _does not think the time inopportune for dealing with the rent question or for the comprehensive discussion of the cost of living problem or for the revision of the fiscal system. Mr. J. C. Thomson, another ardent Imperialist, whose robust common-sense is recognised on both sides of the House, has not been deterred by military objections from preparing a Soldiers' Voting Bill. Mr. R. A. Wright, who in the old bad days of party warfare would have shuddered at the very idea of interfering #itli the sacred rights of property, is competing with Mr. Wilford for the honor of bringing house rents under review. Mr. Field, a Reformer, though perhaps a somewhat halfihearted one, is busying himself over the milk supply, a plank in the Liberal Party's platform; while Mr. Anderson, a persistent stickler for the proprieties, is implying that the medical examinations at Trentham are noi« all they ought to be. These and a score of other indications of the same kind suggest that private members will not place a narrow interpretation on the Government's desire to confine the sessie-n to war business only. A JAUNT HOME. There appears to have been quite a Dumber of members of Parliament ready to assist the New Zealand branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association in doing honor to the invitation of the parent body to send four representative legislators Homo to see what is being done by the Mother Country in connection with the war. The number is variously stated at from twenty-five to thirty-live, and had all the gentlemen ready to sacrifice themselves on the altar of duty been able to go, both Houses would have presented an empty appearance for the remainder of the session. The selection made yesterday, taking into account the members who could not go and those who would not go, probably is as representative as could be expected in the circumstances, but it scarcely will fulfil the average Britisher's conception of tl/e type of politician produced in this country.