WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 31 May 1920, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS

WHEAT SUPPLIES.; ' CRITICAL SITUATION, (By Telegraph.—Special Correspond^^^ Wellington, May Though Mr. Massey has been by well-informed people that a ally larger area of land in the Island will be sown with wheat than was the case last year, hj« a little uneasy over the cereals that have to carry the on till the end of February the earliest of the new crop will able. Between 000,000 and 800,000 els of the last Australian purchase have to be delivered, but with supplies on hand in Melbourne riey and a drought devastating the wheat-growing districts, some danger of the Commonwealth eminent being unable to contract. Mr. Ma-ssey is in tion with the Wheat Board in the matter and this morning is of the supplies absolutely New Zealand being forthcoming, N WELLINGTON SLUMS. Wellington is still trying to itself it has no slums, but Mr. Hunt, who accompanied a engaged on Monday in taking a moving pictures, must have last prop from its his account of what he saw during tour. ."We went into one atreat,"f|M told the Hataitai Electors' "and there chanced to be two or children playing about. One was a ttuH girl carrying a baby. The girl hnufl had sores all over her face and her were running. The baby was an abwjufl bag of bones; starvation was over it Next to the girl was* a lttsß boy, and he was an idiot. A still aaiufl er child had only a singlet on and #aß covered with filth and dirt." And thlf 11 the capital city of the Dominion) ' fl HOVELS. - ; ■ Nor was this all Mr. Hunt, .who in iifl teresting himself in town-plaasfawj schemes, had to report. He and hit OOBm panions, lie went on to "T ''Hl* fjfflTtfflj absolute hovels, houses 10ft Wldt ]jf (til long, that had been standing for .thirty on forty years, and in one of them A T#a turned soldier with his wife *nd chOdMu was living and paying 14s a week ninfe Sucli conditions were breeding dheiwfr' and vice and making rebels. could not lie expected to remain loyal living in sucli surroundings. Apart* UtOr gcthcr from humanitarian co'-.siaerfttlaßC' —and this, of course, must take place—no one could doabt it would bftj good business and good patriotism Holt nvc these shocking conditions and men and women and children given - an opportunity to become uwfol citi-',l Siena. -fra THE RAILWAY DISPUTE. . , \ A report was current in the city y«i« < terday to the effect that the negotiations : between the representatives of the B*lll' way Department and the repreMntativs*, of the A.S.R.S, were at a standstill u^. : that the prospect of an amicable agne-, ment being reached was extremely temote. It seems tlhat the only gewud for.this gloomy view of the situation was the fact that yesterday the representatives of the partfcs were 6itUng separately, each considering the proposal! >f and counter-proposals from their own ? point of view. This does not necessarily mean any disagreement upon vital qwi« tions and it is officially stated to-day that nothing in the nature of a breach of ; negotiations has occurred. It i« still < hoped that a satisfactory settlement it f in sight. ; .1 PUBLIC ACCOUNTS. THE YEAR'S SURPLUS. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, May 28ji The long-expected statement of the public accounts for the year ended on "' March 31 made its appearance in the Gazette last night, and is chiefly remarkable for tllie immensity of its figures. Roughly, the revenue for . the - year amounted to £26,000,000, and the expenditure to £23,700,000, leaving & balance of revenue over expenditure in precise terms, of £2,209,415. This exceed* Sir James Allen's estimate of £478,108 by no less than £1,821,307, and in itself . is satisfactory Qjiough, but the enormous growth of the expenditure over and above the growth of the revenue does not present so gratifying a spectacle. .The ; Dominion emphasises the gravity of l the position by pointing out that wdiile, the permanent appropriations during the five years between 1910 and 1918 increased by only £!)!>0,768, the permanent appropriations during the five years between 1015 and 1920 increased by £6,884,284. This is additional unproductive expenditure that has been met by additional taxation. , UP AGAINST IT. 7 ' This is the term Mr. Massey used yesterday in announcing to the conference of meat producers held here that th? Imperial Government had positively defined to extend the commandeer. "We are up : against it," he said, "and it is just as well to know what the position is: The commandeer ends on June 30, and thqre , is not the slightest chance of it being re-' newed. It is just as well to know it, so that the best arrangements can be made, and I liopo the best arrangements will be made." New Zealand, Mr. Massey went on to say, would now have to get back to the pre-war methods of doing business, and would have to conduct its own nil airs. His advice to tthe producers would bB to set up* a finance committee that could go into the whole mattef, and let tile Government know exactly what they required. The representatives of the shipping companies attended the conference and gave an assurance that there would be space for over ten million freight carcases during the year, a number substantially above the normal production of the Dominion.