WELLINGTON TOPICS.
THE PARTY LEADER'S. ; THEIR RETURN. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, Juno 2'7. The home-coming of 'Mr. Massey and j Sir Joseph Ward was marked by no stage-managed ceremonial and by no dis- • play of popular enthusiasm. A bedraggled flag here and there, a group of • Ministers, members of Parliament and , officials at the railway station and a i little crowd olf rather listless spectators outside the (barrier, simply these and nothing more, distinguished the wet afternoon of yesterday from many another wet afternoon that has tried the patience ■ of the rain-weary city during the last month or two. But the Wellington public is not a demonstrative jpulblic so far as Ministers of the Crcuwn are concerned, whatever the occasion or whatever the weather, and there is no sinister inference to be drawn from the fact that the Prim© Minister and his colleague were allowed to go about their 'business without being embarrassed 'by triumphal arches or addresses of welcome. THEIR MESSAGE. Both the party leaders have made speeches since their return and have been eagerly interviewed by the reporters. But they both have acquired to perfection the art of talking in generalities and (50 far their words have been more stimulating to the imagination than satisfying to the thirst for information. Their references, to the (business of the Imperial War Conference and the Imperial War Cabinet have been vague in the extreme, scarcely indicating the difference between the constitutions and functions olf the two 'bodies, and audiences and reporters have gone empty away. However, Mr. Massey has •promised to be more communioative to Parliament at the proper time and meanwhile he and Sir Josepji are delivering a message of good cheer in connection with the war and the conditions that will prevail after the war. The end may not come this year, nor even next year, ■but of the ultimate result there can be no doubt, and after that there will toe enduring peace and continued prosperity for New Zealand. THE SESSION. Speaking only «. few hours after their return to the' Dominion naturally the Ministers' references to the business of ' the approaching session have been even more general than the rest of their generalities. It has not passed unnoticed that at Auckland Sir Joseph Ward, after paving a tribute to the integrity and ability of the late Dr. McNab, congratulated Sir James Allen and Mr. Myers upon the success of their administration during the Prime Minister's absence tout he has not been betraveiJ into suggesting who really has been leader of the IJberal Partv since the death of the gentleman he left in charge. His only direr-* allusions to matters come before Parliament have been an endorsement of Mr. Myers' statement that the impending war loan will 'be ft large one and a hint that no tariff wall must Ibe erected against the United Stiates. IMPERIAL FEDERATION. Though the Prime Minister is unable to tafke the public into his confidence in regard to the matter it is evident his mind is full of a scheme by which "seventeen million Anglo-Saxons resident in the overseas Dominions' are to have , some voice in the management of the affairs of the Empire, even to the length of assisting in shaping its foreign policy " From what he is reported to have said at Auckland it might Ibe assumed that an Imperial Cabinet containing representatives from the Dominions is already grafted on to the Constitution, but from his later utterances it would appear that the final step in this direction, whatever its nature may be, will be delaved till the conclusion" of the war has brought leisure, the proper perspective and the suitable environment to the men who •will be entrusted with the completion of the scheme. This is as it should be, i Empire, building is necessarily a slow process and no stone in the great edifice of the British Etopire should 'be laid ' while the minds of its scattered people ' are distracted by a struggle for their ' national existence.
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Taranaki Daily News, 2 July 1917, Page 7
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668WELLINGTON TOPICS. Taranaki Daily News, 2 July 1917, Page 7
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