WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 September 1919, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THEORY AND PRACTICE. (From Our Qwn Correspondent.) * Wellington, Sept. 18. The Public Trustee's renunciation — bne might almost say denunciation—of eommigisoner control of the Civil Ser- 4 vice has revived recollections of the strenuous fight Mr. Masaey and his political friends made for the constitution of this system eight years ago. Mr. Robert Trigga, who now has confessed to the failure, and worss than failure, of the system in its application to his avpt Department, was then employed by one of the Australian States and was supposed to be largely responsible for the strength of the case arrayed against Ministerial control in this country. At any rate, le was selected as one of the three commissioners to administer the new system End till big promotion to the office of public Trustee lilbored most sedulously Juul capably to secure its success. , 'j WITH RIPE EXPERIENCE. But having seen his theories in practice at close quarters, he has changed his „ view. After via few months at the Public ITrust Office be wrote in bis first annual report that the conditions essential to the well-being of the Department couta not be realised while the provisions oi |the Public Service Act controlled the , employment of officers. In bis report presented to Parliament the other day, ie emphasised this point. The Board, . lie writes, regards the machinery of the lAct as wholly unsuitable in its application to a business office. It seriously impairs the efficiency of control, and; 1 gives rise to evils which must be ap-1 parent to any reasonably minded person ' who. has had experience in the business management of a commercial undertaking. Aa every Department of State should be on the lines Mr. Triggs has laid, down for his own, the (system in its present shape stands congunned irrevocably. PTEEE GENERAL ELECTION'S. J EARLY IN DECEMBER. r Wellington, Sept. 19. Sir Joseph Ward succeeded yesterday Sn obtaining from the Prime Minister a (fairly close indication of the date of the general election. So far as he could - judge, Mr. Massey said in reply to a direct question, the election would be lield in either the first or second week . In December. Pressed by Sir Joseph to give an assurance that the election .Ifould not take place before the first , I*eek in December, the Minister supplemented his previous statement by saying he expected the session to last till the mid of. October or the beginning of tsoveuser and that his idea was that there should be an interval of five weeks feetween the end of the session and tus flection. This is generally accepted as ttn assurance that the- polling will not • (fake place till December 10th or 12th., irhich has been about the ustol date for many years past. This will allow the Bouse to sit for a full three months and give the Government an opportunity to introduce the policy Bills on which it jlfill fight the election. * LiSND. AND INCOME TAX. y Though the Land and Income Tax Bill Introduced by the Minister of Finance yesterday was the old familiar measure . which has been slipipng through the Souse since the beginning of the war without debate, it brought quite a number of members to their feet on this occasion- The war was over and the tongue of every critic was loosened. The chief complaint was against the backwardness of the long valuations, even Mr. R. IfcCaUum, the member for Wairau, who does not talk at large on such subjects, declaring that the grievance of landless people were being aggravated by the fact that thousands of large ■ land owners were escaping their fair share of taxation because of out-of-date valuations. The Hon. G. W. Russell : went to the length of moving that the debate should be adjourned in o{der that the* Government might reconstruct its , • taxation policy, but he , found no seconder and ultimately, of course, the BUI got through all its stages without l . amendment, the House being rewarded its compliance by an early rising. ; 1 f WOMEN'S RIGHTS. r The Women's Parliamentary Rights Extension Bill, introduced by Mr. Massey in fulfilment of the promise he gave to the House last session, was circulated yesterday. It has only one operative ■clause which provides that women shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from being appointed or elected as members of the Legislative Council or of the House of Representatives, or from fitting or voting as members of either House.' The measure seems to be arous- . ing little enthusiasm here, either inside or outside of Parliament, and though it is being taken for granted it will pass through the iflouse with a substantial majority its friends are by no means confident of it faring so well in the Council. The whispers of a quick , . dispatch awaiting it in the Upper Chember still are current, but no definite information concerning their reliability is available. ELECTIVE EXECUTIVE. The Farmers' Union Conference gave short shrift to the Elective Executive v proposal yesterday, but several of the delegates seized upon the opportunity to say frank things about the politicians produced by the present system of government. Mr. H. D. Vavasour, for instance, a gentleman free from party bias and full of long-suffering charity, insisted that party government was the curse of NelP Zealand. Statesmen at Home Were coming tc the opinion that party government was a failure and were looking about for some, better means of enlisting the best brains in the service of the country. "But here, unfortunately," the gentleman from Marlborough concluded with a sigh of despair, "we have no statesmen—we have only party politicians." The majority of the speakers expressed themselves in much the same terms, but they saw no hope for improvement in an Elective Executive and decisively voted the remit out. - This is the way in which public opinic| towards the proposal is now tending.