WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 June 1916, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

TIIE FINANCIAL STATEMENT. O .ST OF LIVING. (From o,ir Own Correspondent.) Wellington, June lfi. The references to the cost of living and to the Uoiud of Trade in the Financial Statement were both timely ard sitfiii.icunt. There lias been a disposition even anion;- people who ought to ■ave specially welcomed Sir Joseph's aid's efforts to deal effectively with the prices question to scoff at the Board and to encourage the idea that it htul been s»t tip merely to aet as a buffer between the Government and its critics the Minister of Finance himself has been-unable to deal with the matter because the Cost of Living Act which lie placed on the Statute Book last session is being administered by Mr. Miisscv in Ins capacity of Minister of Industries and Commerce and the amenities of Cabinet rule, rather emphasised than otherwise by the existence of a National Government, do not allow one Minister to interfere with the prerogatives of another. What has happened in the Cabinet Room in regard to the cost of liviiir problem the outsider is not permitted to know, but it is shrewdly suspected that something very like a "crisis" was threatened there just before the appointment of the Board of Trade The Prime Minister is franklv sceptical over the possibility of regulating prices and only the other day he told a deputation that waited upon him in connection with an aHogptlipr different subject, that ' no power on earth" could do nnv. thing that would be really useful in this direction.

| THK HOARD OF TRADE. The allusion to the subject in the I'inaneial Statement lias opened the way ■ to freer discussion than has heen permissible hitherto and probably Hie tieI hate on the Statement, which is to open on rnosda.y evening. will throw additional light on the prohlem. Tn the meantime it has heen gathered from unofficial sources that the Board of Trade has come to a verv satisfactory arrangement with the Colonial Sugar Company by which the price of sugar in New Zealand will be kept down to P'2l a ton for another year. This in itself is a notable ielurvcme.it, considering th,it the price of sugar in Australia is £29 a ton. and 111 London £4l a ton. and whether (lie main part of the credit for what has been done is due to the Government or to the Board it is certain the members ot the Board have conducted the negotiations with \a great deal of tac f an(l "nility. Then-it is fair tn nssmnp from the onquiry conducted by flip 80/ ml in Canterbury nearly a couple of months ago that it has made a recommendation to the Minister in regard to the prices of (lour and bread which would sav/ (he community a very substantial sum if it were put into operation. It is fairlv obvious, indeed, that, the Board has been doing very excellent work since it was appointed and that the critics would be belter employed in insisting upon the production of its reports than'in sneerin« at its constitution. ° AGGREGATION AYD ADMINISTRATION. The debate on the second readin" of the Soldiers' Land Settlement Bill wani red over the whole face of the land 'Hiestion, but was marked by an earnest desire on the part of all the speakers to make generous provision for the men who had offered their lives to the Kmpire. There was a gratifying absence of parochialism from the speeches, the South Island members cheerfully conceding there were wider opportunities for settlement in the North Island than there were m their own part of the Dominion, but Mr. George Witty called the attention of the Minister of the aggregation that was going on even in Canterbury the very home of close settlement, and Mr. Massey promised to see if any of the aggregated estates could be made available to soldiers. Strangely enough it was Mr. Guthrie, the senior Reform W hip. who first voiced (he suggestion that department should )><■' created to take over the work contemplated bv the Bill and that its administration should be entrusted to a Minister with more leisure than Mr. Massey can e.vpcct to have during (lie continuance of the war. The suggestion was warml> taken up by Mr. Forbes and Mr. Craigie and other members with practical knowledge of the needs of the position, and as Mr. MaeDonald. the Minister of Agriculture, has exceptional qualifications "for this special work it is not unlikely it . will be handed over to him in the near future.-.' No one doubts Mr Ma=scy's zeal on behalf of the returned soldiers, but with growing responsibilities it is highly desirable he should obtain relief somewhere. STATE ENTERPRISES. When the Estimates come up for discussion in the House, as .they probably will in the course of a week or two, members will have a good deal to say about State enterprises of various kinds and may talk more frankly than they have done on some former occasions. The competition between the Railway Department and the Tourist Department, which is costing the taxpayers a few odd thousands a venr without producing anv adequate results, is one subject that will be discussed, and the lack of enterprise in the State Fire Insurance Office, which seems to have grown even less progressive than the proprietary companies, is another. The State coal mines, too, arc bound to come in for some measure of criticism, as they did on Wednesday from the member for Mataura; but here Mr. P. C. Webb is prepared with a reply which will appeal to ninny housewives, however it may strike the unsympathetic taxpayer. The member for Grey claims ! that the States mines already save consumers some £50,000 a year and that they would save them ten times this amount if they were developed as they | should be. When questioned upon the matter in the House yesterday Mr. MacDonald said that while the private dealers had raised their prices from 5s to 8s a ton since the beginning of the war, the State depots had made no increase at all. It was on this statement that Mr. 'Webb based his calculations.