WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 August 1919, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

H.M.S., NEW ZEALAND. , ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION. (Special Correspondent) Wellington, August 20. Sir Josr-wh Ward scored over Hi* Worship the Mayor to-day and holiday or no holiday Wellington has closed its tho\>s and offices, put on its 'b«st clothes :md gone act to welcome Admiral Jellicce and HM S. New Zealand. The elements havi, conspired with the man who d.ired, righily or wrongly, to give !...• 'jig ship to the Imperial Government without consulting Parliament T.he <>un, which had been hidden for weeks tm end, was shining out brightly when the Dominion's contribution to the EmI .'re's navy steamed into the harbor this morning, the wind was still and the atmosphere and the delightful flavor of returning spring. The great cruiser .ould not have returned to the land of her birth under more auspicious circumstances and the crowds caught the spirit of the occasion and gave her a light royal reception. PARTIES AND POLITICS. The Priae Minister entertained his colleagues ?.t dinner last night and people who have been watching the course of events closely since the return of the forty loaders from the Peace Conference are discovering much significance iu the event Mr Massey, they say, is not much given to this form of hospitality, bomg a simple homely man with a strong distaste for the more f .-ratal observance of society. This being so, it is argued, he would not "dine" his colleagues in state were it not for the purpose of marking the approach of some material change in their relations. The conclusion reached by a process of deduction, which need not be set out here, is that the dissolution of the Na'..onal Cabinet is imminent and that by the time Parliament meets there will be a Reform Government and a Liberal Opposition. . THE PROBABILITIES.

Whether or not this conclusion is justified only time can tell, but to-day there s a feeling of unrest abroad and curiosity is on the very tip-toe of expectation. Naturally- Mr Massey decline* to be drawn on the subject, and Sir Joseph Ward, still more punctilious in the observance of the etiquette of the situation, refuser; to utter a word even to the most intimate of his personal irlenda, Tt is known, however, that members of both parties are anxious to have the position clearly defined before the opening of the session. They complain that during the last four years they have Veen reduced to the status of political Tionentities by their fidelity to the party truce and that they have appeared in an extremely unfair light' before their constituents. A TANGLED PROBLEM. Even people with some knowledge of the working of the constitution and the methods of Parliament are puzzled to know how the administrative machine will be kept running in the event of Sir Joseph Ward and his colleagues retiring from the Cabinet. This would mean that the all-important offices of Minister of Finance, Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Customs, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Education, and Minister of Justice, to say nothing of the numerous smaller portfolios held by the Liberal Ministers, would become vacant, and that Mr Massey would be required to fill them from a field of self ction that offers no very wide choice. Half the members of his own party are inclined to take up a much more independent att.tude than they have hitherto occupied, and the other half, so far as an outsider can judge, contains no more than its share of the talent of the party.