WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 September 1919, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

COST OP LIVING. >' M (from Our Special Corrupoolaft,)f Jfl Wellington, Sept. In the House yesterday tbr r«nnig|H debate on the second reading of 'IH jioard of Trade Bill maintained high note. Though the speaker* ramj obviously anxious to dissociate thnpfj"! selves from the Government's failw»|£iß deal effectively with the cost of IM|E|| problem earlier, they inade no atte|3H| to manufacture party capital" ostl|S9 what had been done and what MJ|H9 left undone. They were , unanimous in their approval of iIMnH . which is, of course, the measuri Mt InBI hind by the Hon. W. D. S. when be retired from office, very ltfnujjjs| modified)in cne or two respect* AyitlßH successor. Mr. J. P. Lake, Wellington, regretted the Bill hid been passed four years before, iw Anstey and others described it Mi'.ff sadly belated measure; but erea wi critics had words of praise for th* tmtp done by the Board of Trade undef trttjf great difficulties. ' iu PRICES AND PROFITEERBW. fjl The speech of the sitting wa» flconi delivered by Mr. W. D. Stewart* tit* member for Dunedin Wait, who h|4 tba happy knack of speaking with fußjfMHiV knowledge without being pedanttt 'tfjfl gearisome. He present* the of the university in the simple laqgnag* of '«the home and the mart, and wtoii! understanding as well as attention Hawarned the House last nighl ifffcMTl imagining that the additional powwiit'was propoaedi to give to the Board 'of « Trade would enable that body to «f«o1; a drastic reduction in prices. Itnj was great virtue in publicity, however/ 1 and more might be accomplished bt tkaft' means than was possible by legislation,*:; He had been told by an expert that the j price of goods was doubled between the. ; ship's side and the shop counter, and If,: that was so a remedy would bo well. 1 ! within the reach of the Board. ' -j THE LABOR TJIATMEHfI '-'j

Mr. H. E, Holland, who entered Par« .J liament with a very high Teputation uH| a public speaker, and even as an oratoft I has proved a great disappointment this respect to the critics Of the Prwa'lj Gallery and the members of tbe Houm- 1 staff—particularly to those who rtmcßk- J ber many of the "great talkers" of by* | gone days. Last session Mr. Holland ■: spoke very rarely, and his lack of « and impressiveness, when he did apeak, J was attributed to the strangenau of'vjj his surroundings and to a certain atrrij vousness which did not seem ible with his emotional temperamiDt, a But this session, as leader of tho Labor ' Party, he has spoken fairly frequently, ■:!£ and his critics havo decided that neither jl as a talker nor as a debater is he to ba j compared with his colleagues Mr. Robert Ti Semplo and Mr. Peter Fraser, On oha ;] or two occasions he has been detested re- ;| delivering to the House long passage! ,jj from speeches he has recited toSeSon-i® day night audiences, asd this in the eye* <'4 of the old messengers, of course, is an J unpardonable sin. As a parliamentary; | speaker he is a pronounced failure. |j