WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 August 1916, Page 8

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

-■ THE RE-ARRAXOED CABINET, | rARTIES AXD PERSONS. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, August 2j. The temporary distribution of Mr. Massey's and Sir Joseph Ward's portfolios among their colleagues, which ig now definitely announced, will naturally lead to the assumption that the two party leaders have left the country, hut this is a subject the newspapers are not permitted to mention. There are no startling surprises in the re-arrangement of offices, though it was hoped by many people that Mr. Mac Donald would be given charge of the Lands Department during the absence of the '.Prime Minister, and that the jUUior portfolio would be entrusted to one of the Liberal Ministers. Mr. Myers wjjt have congenial work at the Treasury, he made the most of his opportunities Spur jears ago, and Dr. McXab will keep the Post and Telegraph Department running smoothly, with the assistance of some of the most capable executive officers to be found in the public service. Mr. Allen's appointment as acting-Prime Minister is viewed with some trepidation even by his political friends, but happily t'here b no chance of Parliament 'being called together during the absence of the two party leaders, and in his purely administrative capacity the Minister of Defence is not likely to give offence to any of his colleagues. THE PARTY ELEMENT. That the party element, though very properly kept in subjection, has not altogether disappeared from the National Cabinet, is shown by the fact tliat Mr. Allen and Sir Francis Bell have been appointed to look after the interests of the Reform Party during the absence of Mr. Massey, and Dr. MeXab and Mr. Myers to watch the interests of the Liberal Party during the absence of Sir Joseph Ward. Of course, this Ls no new development and no indication that the relations between tho members of the Cabinet are less cordial now than they have been in the past; hut it suggests that both parties are keeping an eye on the future and that the postponement of tihe next general election till the end of 191S has not, as many people predicted it would, stopped all their permissible activities. It is whispered abroad, by the way, that much of the support given to the postponement proposal waa obtained by .Ministers assuring their followers that if the war were at an end b> the close of the year the legislation of last session would be repealed and the elections taken at the usual time. I? this really was the ease, it is a pity Ministers did not make more widely known what was in their minda.

| COST OF LIVING. * j Late accounts of what is happening in the Old Country and in the Australian States have revived in a mild sort of way the local agitation for some practical steps towards the reduction of the cost of living. The debate in the House of Commons seems to have led to no very definite conclusion, but it at least | showed the Imperial Government is /doing more than the New Zealand Government i 3 to keep prices within reasonable bounds. In the Commonwealth, of course, a: great deal has been accomplished, particularly in New South Wales and Queensland, to prove that Australian .statesmen are attacking this problem with a great deal more courage than Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward have yet displayed. The Labor Government in Queensland, perhaps with less concern for the interests of the fanners than Mr. Massey usually exhibits, has handled the meat question so effectually that the cost of living in the northern State is lower than it is in any other part of the Island Continent. In New South Wales the Commodities Commission, laboring under mucli less favorable conditions than ought to exist here, are regulating the prices of a score of articles without ruining either the producers or the importers, and with immense advantage to the consumers. It is to be hoped that Mr. Mac Donald has been left in charge of the Industries and Commerce Department here with a free enough hand to give effect to the recommendations of the Board of Trade.

UNFAIR PREFERENCE A story comes from the bush districts of the Bay of Plenty which has astonished people here who have imagined that preferential rates on the railways helping individuals and companies against other individuals and companies engaged in the same line of business were unknown and, indeed, impossible in New Zealand. It appears that .some thirty years ago a special concession was made to certain sawmillcrs in the Auckland, Westlaml and Southland districts, in order to encourage the milling nnd export of white pine. The reduction of rates was made only in these special districts, not in the whole of the country, with the result that mills in l!he Bay of Plenty which during the last few years have been laying lip stocks of white pine in readiness for the railway, which would enable them to get rid of their supplies, find they are mow handicapped by an extra charge which places them at a. very grave disadvantage in competition with their favored rivals. One would have thought that a disability of this kind would have been removed without any demur at all from the authorities, but during the last year or two the Bay of Plenty millers have been making fruitless representations to the Minister of Railways, and now they are told they must wait till the war is over, when, according to the Minister, the concession "probably will be withdrawn." The aggrieved parties 'have, no serious objection to the .withdrawal of the concession, if the needs of the country justify this course, but. they lvavc a very strong objection to being singled out for taxation which their rivals escape. Surely, if their representations are correct, and on that point there seems to be no room for doubt, they will not be left to endure this injustice for an indefinite period—till after the war»-