WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 May 1916, Page 8

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE N'EW SPIRIT. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, May 2(i. For five solid hours yesterday, from 2.3(i p.m. till 0.30 p.m. with the usual dinner adjournment, the House, in Committee, was engaged on the short title of t'-e War Pensions Amendment Bill. Of cou'.'se, no one was really concerned about the short title itself. By any any other name the measure would liavc been just as acceptable, or the reverse, to its friendly and unfriendly critics. But the title clause of every Bill gives members an opportunity to roam ;>ver the whole spacious field of political controversy, and on this occasion they made a generous use of their privilege. The discussion would have run into still greater length had not the Minister announced ,\vhcn the House met that the pensions for children would be increased from 5s to 7s tid a week. Thus disarmed, or partly disarmed, a great deal of criticism that had been in preparation, and though a number of members urged that the pensions should be still further increased the majority of the Speakers concentrated their attention upon the widows' allowance, which (hey thought should be raised from i'n to at least 'i(fs a week, the Minister's refusal to concede this "beggarly five shillings." as Mr. Vigor Brown put it, being responsible for most of the talk. Mr. Allen was not unsympathetic, indeed both he and the Prime .Minister admitted there was much to be said for making iiio:t adequate provision for the dependents of soldiers, but he insisted upon the necessity of ''going slow" till the financial obligations the country was piling up in connection with the war were definitely ascertained. THE CASE OF THE WIDOWS.

As a set-oft' against the addition of 2s fid ,1 week to the children's pension? the Minuter proposed to pay no pensions to widows in receipt of incomes o\er .tliWl, and this mot-with very general approval, though Mr. Witty eontended that no distinction should be made between the women whose husbands had given thoii lives for the Umpire. The wealthy widow, he thought, should be required In make her financial sacrifice by way of taxation. Mr. Okey, one of the fun' members of thr old Reform Tarty who took part in the debate, urged that the widows' pensions should be increased .and that the children's pensions should be graduated,' beginning at/123 or Ms a week for one child and proceeding on a declining scale till the minimum amount was reached for the fourth or fifth child. Mr. Isitt warmly supported this suggestion, pointing; out that under the present scheme a widow with one child would lie worse oft" than a widow with three or four children. Mr.. Poland took the same view and regretted that the member for Taranaki had not plucked up sufficient courage during the second reading dehate to make his suggestion then. Had he done so the House might have secured more than an addition of 2s Cd to the children's pensions. ''That paltry hall-crown." the member for Ohinemuri exclaimed, forgetting for an instant the existence of the party truce, is a fit measure for the strength of the Government." Finally the Prime Minister secured the adoption of the ''short title" by promising that, the views ex-pressed by members would be carefully considered by the Cabinet when the time for perfecting the measure arrived. Thenceforward the Bill had a comparatively smooth passage, and shortly hefore 11 o'clock was reported to the House. THE IPAETV HABIT. An honest effort is being made by almost every member of the lUiu-c to repress the eruption of party and personal feeling inseparable from political controversy, and even the less responsible of the Labor members seem to be realising that this is not the time for cherishing old grievance; or for paying off old scores. ' The outbreaks of Mr. Payne and Mr. Webb are of an impersonal character, aimed at systems and not at individuals, and the indignant explosions of Mr. llindmarsh are purely temperamental. Perhaps the member for j Lyttelton has been the last to recognise I that party \varfare is suspended and that old methods of criticism have been ; laid aside. Put even Ministers of the Crown, whose observance of the spirit of the truce has been exemplary from the very beginning, have once or twice fallen from grace Mr. fbigs rant misinterpretation of some remarks i made by Mr. Poland last session in rej gard to willows' pension*.. for instance, was a mo-t deplorable lapse, and Mr. Allen's implication that Mr. Wilfor.l had first recommended a man of denimi descent to the favorable attention of the Defence Department and then assisted the Anti-'Jerinan League in houiidins-the man out. was utterly ■ inexcusable. But those incidents rather emphasise the spirit of toleration and conciliation that pervades the House than threaten its continuance. A year ago they would have scarcely attracted passing notice amidst the din and dust of party wrangling, hut to-day they are quoted with- bated breach as startling examples o f the recurrence of the old party habit.' The incident-* were deplorable enough, of course, hut they are not rankling in the minds of the parties, and tliev are not going to a fleet the stability of the Xatipnnl Cabinet, which becomes more assured for the period of the war every dav.

COMPrT.SiIRY SERVICE. The vital principle of tlie Military Service Hill, though very widely reniovoil from tlie public opinion of a couple of years ago. will not meet with any serious opposition in Parliament. Events litive been paving tlie way for its easy passage. Individuals here and there may declaim against "conscription," and one or two member* of the House may talk at large about the conscription of wealth simultaneously with the conscription of human flesh and blood, but the needs of the situation are recognised by all sohei thinking people, and the country will have little patience with cheap 'heroics at such a time as this. The chief fear of honest critics of the Bill has been that the Government would not insist upon

equality.of sacrifice among the classes in the matter of service, but Ministers ■have given assurances -in this respect which cannot lie doubted or misunderstood. The most complete provision has been made for distributing the burden fairly, and no room has been left for favor or partiality in the administration of the measure. The duty ot every fit man of military age will be brought home to him automatically, and'no reproach jr disability will be cast upon those who take it up in a patriotic spirit. The door is kept wide open for the volunteer, and there will be no danger of his being confused with the shirker. The Hill is the result of the most careful deliberation by the members of the Cabinet, by eonscriptors and ant'-conscriptors alike, and among its staunched supporters in the House will be former opponents of compulsion who have been forced by the stern logic of facts to waive their preconceived notions in regard to the limit that should be placed upon a man's obligations to the State. The spirit of the Bill is, in short, to indicate to the man in doubt tke precise time at which his services are required.