GOVERNMENT'S TASKS.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 January 1920, Page 7

GOVERNMENT'S TASKS.

THE COAL QUESTION. THE HOUSING SCHEME. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Jan. 6. Mi* Afassey has returned to Wellington after a holiday in the Auckland district, and otlier members of the Ministry are assembling. 'Hie first Cabinet meeting of the New YeiV 1 - will be held this week, Slid a start will then be made with the work that awaits the attention of the Government. Cabinet matters have been pretty much at a standstill since the early part of December, when Ministers entered the election campaign. The appointment of new Ministers will ]be undertaken in the near future. Mr. Massey is not yet ready to make any statement on this subject. The Hon. J. B. Hine, who lost his seat at the election, is still holding the portfolio of Internal Affairs, pending the appointment of his successor. It is rumored that Sir James Allen will go to London with Ministerial rank, under the arrangement made by the last Imperial Conference, but there is no definite information on that point. One of the matters that will require J the attention of the Government at once is the coal dispute, The miners have been going slo\v for several months now and a crisis appears to be approaching. The officers of the Miners' Federation have reason to know that the miners' unions are getting tired of reduced frages, while on the other hand the mine owners feel that they cannot tolerate the indefinite continuance of present conditions. The miners have threatened to reduce their output still further with the object of forcing a settlement of the kind they desire, and the mine owners are prepared, in that, event, to close the mines until normal methods of work are resumed. The parties to the dispute do not appear to be moving towa.Js a settlement, and" the Government may be forced to take action of some kind.

The applications that have been received for housing loans will como before Cabinet shortly. The Government is quite unable to find all the money that local bodies in various parts of New Zealand are wishing to borrow. The housing scheme as approved by Parliament last session provides for the expenditure of £1,000,000 annually by tha Government itself on the erection of houses, and for the raising of another million for loans to local bodies. There is further provision for loans to the extent of £250,000 annually to employers for housing purposes. But the applications that have been received and that are known to be in contemplation far exceed the money available. The Christchurch City Council alone is asking for £200,000. Cabinet may require to make a pro rata allocation among the local bodies, having consideration to the needs of the districts and the amount of money available. The date of the session is a matter for future consideration. The first session of the new Parliament is expected to be a long one, and Mr. Massey expects the opening date to be earlier than usual But the projected visit of members of Parliament to Samoa is regarded as important, in view of the administrative problems that the Stunoan mandate has created for New Zealand, and Parliament cannot assemble until the members who make the trip have returned.