WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 October 1918, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

NEW PARLIAMENTARY BUILDINGS. HASTY PREPARATION. (Special Covresepondent.) Wellington, Oct. 23. Ministerial preparations for the approaching session of Parliament are well forward. The Governor's speech received its finishing touches yesterday, ami, is now in the hands of his Excellency ready for delivery to-morrow afternoon- It is of the usual colorless, non-committal character—only a little more" so—indicating very briefly the more important measures to come gefore Parliament and reiterating the sentiments proper to such occasions. After the two Houses have disposed of purely formal business and passed the customary resolutions relating to ex-members of'the Legislature who have passed away during the recess, they will adjourn tilt the following day, the Council probably to a later (late, and members will be free to studv at their leisure the various problems that w,ll confront them when the serious work of the session begins next week.

THE LIQUOR REFERENDUM,

A number of. members from a distance already are in Wellington, and most of them are bearing more or less weighty petitions urging one view or the otber of the liquo'r referendum. From what can be gathered from ihese early arrivals, the petition of the New Zealand Alliance praying for the submission of the simple issue suggested by the Efuciency Board—continuance or national prohibition—will bear a huge number ov signatures when it is pieced together. It is rumored, too, that this is the issue most favored by a majority of the members of the Cabinet, and that Mr. Massey, supported by Sir Joseph Ward, will give the House a lead in this direction. The Prime Minister has not fibsolutelv committed himself on the point, but the Minister of Finance is understood to have endorsed the Efficiency Board's proposal. SESSION AND ELECTION. If the brave talk of some of the members now on the spot is to be trusted, Ministers and their'administration will be much more freely criticised during the approaching session than they have been during any otlier session since the formation of the National Cabinet. The brightened war outlook, the results of the by-elections, and, perhaps, the possibility of a general' 1 election in the near future, have inspired members of independent tendencies with many heroic resolutions, and if their courage does not fail them, they may give Ministers quite a lively time. It is tolerably safe to say, however, that a majority of the private members are not anxious to precipitate a general election, and that the prospect of going to the polls with the partv truce still in existence would readily bring them to heel. THE NEW BUILDINGS. The new Parliament Buildings, which are to be occupied for the first time tomorrow, still are in a state of flagrant unreadiness' To-day the chamber and lobbies and the rest of the sacred precincts are occupied by an army of workmen striving to evolve some sort of order out of ths most hopeless disorder Carpets and matting, old furniture and new. papers-and books, telef "hones and typewriters, encumber every floor, and the odor of paint and varnish and we'e plaste-; pervade the whole place. Probablv £4OOO or £SOOO hie been spent on keeping the Ministers' promise that Parliament should meet in the building thtj year, and yet it is doubtful if the change will contribute a great deal to members' comfort. It may sue-wst minor change in construction, hnvovov which would have been more difficult in pffnet with the building completed. That comfort is left to the economist