WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 9 January 1920, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS

COAL SHORTAGE. APPROACHING FAMINE. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, Jan. 7. The coal shortage in Wellington has reached an extremely acute stage, the stage of famine indeed, and there is no prospect of relief in view. Suppließ are being doled out to dealers in five, ten and fifteen tons lots, at long and irregular intervals, and these, again, are distributed, as far as they will go, in quarter bags and half bag parcels, the cartage in many cases costing as much as the coal itself. It is safe to say flhat not half the. homes in the city at the present time have a week's supply of fuel on hand and that many of the other half are little better off. So far, the gas-cooker has saved the situation in many households, but the Gas Company has let it be known that the supply may bo reduced at any time, and if this should occur the housewives' troubles would be greatly aggravated. GOING SLOW AND GOING SHORT.

The main cause of the trouble ia, of course, the limited supplies coming forward from the Wast Coast, and the cause of the limited supplies is the "goslow" policy adopted by the miners there. This, at any rate, is the opinion of ninety-nine out of every hundred people in Wellington, and the feeling of resentment against the men is becoming very strong. The public understands pretty well the nature of the quarrel between the miners and their employers and its disposition is to sympathise with the men whose work is known to be arduous and perilous and entitled to very generous remuneration. But the public realises there are constitutional methods of settling the differences between the parties, and contends there is no legitimate excuse for making it a chopping block, so to speak, in this wrangle between Capital and Labor, LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL REFORM. The Gazette notice that the Legislative Council Act, suspended during the "party truce" and the existence of the National Cabinet, is to be brought into force at the expiration of the prescribed period, so far has attracted little attention. The effect of the Act as it stands would be to make the Legislative Council gradually elective under the present franchise and by a system of proportional representation. When it was passed through Parliament in 1914 its nature was not fully understood by the Reform major; ity, nor, it would seem, by the Ministers that promoted it, and Mr. Massey already has indicated there will be material alterations in its character before it comes into actual operation. The most important of these, it is said, will be a simpler method of dealing with the transferable votes and better provision for settling deadlocks between the two branches of the Legislature. THE HOUSING PROBLEM

The housing problem, of which there was much talk on all sides of politics during the recent election campaign, is threatening to require much more money for its solution than was expected to be the case when the legislation of last session bearing on the subject was placed on the Statute Book. This legislation provides that the Government may spend £1,000,000 on its own housing schemes, may advance up to £250,000 a year to employers for a similar purpose, and £1,000,000 a year to local bodies. The Government already is practically committed to the expenditure of the sum it will control itself, and the local bodies have applied for amounts which, taken together, would absorb another million several times over. The Christchurch City Council, to take one instance of local enterprise, wants £200,000, and several other bodies are eager to operate on the 6ame scale.