WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 November 1920, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

SIR THOMAS MACKENZIE RETURN TO NEW ZEALAND. . (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, Nov. 17. After an absence of seven and a half years, Sir Thomas Mackenzie, accompanied by Lady Mackenzie, returned to the Dominion by the Remuera lauding here last night late enough to escape lengthy interviews, or any organised reception. The late High Commissioner is in the'best of health and spirits, his seven years of hard work having left him rather younger looking than he was when he went away, and he expressed himself as highly delighted to he '-home again." He has kept in close touch with the commercial and political affairs of the Dominion during his absence, but is not prepared just yet to discuss them for publication or to give any indication of his intentions for the future. It is fairly eaay to gather, however, that he ■would like to remain in New Zealand and that he still regards this country as one of the much favored, parts of the Empire. WOOL PRICES The sharp decline in prices at the Christelnireh wool sales has set bankers and other business men, as well as the producers, thinking, and at the moment their reflections are not very cheerful. The business men agree with I the Prime Minister that there is no [occasion for panic, but they admit the [gravity of the situation aiid the great need for the utmost caution. Bankers interviewed to-day simply stated they were waiting development's in which the action of the Government would be the most interesting and important factor, The Government had taken authority from Parliament to guarantee up to a certain amount advances made by the hanks against wool, but the value of this provision would depend upon the margin of security demanded which conceivably might be iso high as to afford the producers no relief at all. ' INSPECTION OF MEAT. It seems likely now that Mr. H. E. Holland will get his way in regard to the appointment of a "commission to inquire into his allegations concerning tho condition of meat being exported from the Dominion. The Minister of Agriculture made a very lame reply to Mr. Holland's statements in the House, merely 'meeting assertion with assertion, and still leaving room for the sus pieion that the system of inspection was not all it should be. The Prime Minister recognises the vital importjance of clearing the matter up beyond ;all shadow of doubt, and has practically arranged for an inquiry that will | sift the allegations to the bottom. It | is expected that the residue will be one ! or two isolated cases in which damaged i carcases have got on ship-board without their condition being discovered, but j however this may. be, Mr. Massey is ibent upon a searching investigation. | THE TOTALISATOR COMMISSION. I | Though it is unlikely the Totalisatpr | Commission will commence its serious I labours till the beginning of .the new year, the racing clubs are not allowing the grass to grow under their feet. The Minister of Internal Affairs still is being deluged with applications for permits, and even if the Commission grants the whole thirty indicated in the legislation of the last session the number will not be nearly .large enough to go round. Mr. Anderson still clings to the idea that the distribution of permits, old as well as new, should be on a population basis, and if he has his way some of the old established clubs, carrying on in the less populous districts may find their j-aeing days very considerably curtailed. The "general opinion is, however, that 'the commission will take other considerations than population into account in framino- its recommendations. ° THE FARMERS' OUTLOOK. SIR THOMAS MACKENZIE'S VIEWS. Wellington, Nov. 19. Sir Thomas Mackenzie has returned from his strenuous seven- or eight years' hard work in London as much an optimist as ever he was in regard to the future of New Zealand, but he is not attempting to disguise the fact that the Dominion must hear its share of the world's war burden. He has been talking frankly to the newspapers, and, it may be presumed, still more frankly to the head of the Government, and much of what he has had to say is of vital interest to the farm'ers. He arrived just as the community was beginning' to realise the gravity of the wool "slump," and, without waiting for the assurance i»f other authorities, expressed the [opinion that the position would not prove .so serious as it might appear at first sight. Already this prediction is being realised to some extent, and his cheery words stand to his credit. CARRYING OVER.' But it may he inferred from what the late High Commissioner left unsaid in regard to the Government's proposals for "carrying over" this season's wool clip, rather than from what he said, that he does not view this scheme with any enthusiasm. He described it as a new undertaking, upon vviiich he was not fully informed, and he preferred to withhold his opinion meanwhile, tnis, practically, is the attitude of the bankers and other business men. who, if not altogether disinterested authorities, are scarcely less concerned for the welfare of the primary producers than they are for the special interests they represent. It still lias to be ascertained whether other wool-growing countries will "hold off," and whether the Imperial Government will join in the scheme for feeding the London market according to Its power of absorption. MEAT. - ' With regard to frown meat Sir Thomas speaks with no reservation. The producers and the shippers have to face the extremely unpleasant fact that, owing to the conditions prevailing during and after the war, the reputation of Now Zealand meat in the English market lias suffered verv severely. There would be no profit now. as f?ii" Thomas says, in casting the blame for what has happened upon the Imperial authorities, who held mutton in store until it had sadly deteriorated and then put it on the market in a most uncondition., Kut tuujnus of

the producers, Hie shippers, and the people who handle the meat at the other end, is to re-establish the reputation New Zealand mutton previously enjoyed, and towards this end nothing eould he more efficacious than the appointment of a Trade Commissioner in London with wide powers to supervise and regulate supplies. THE PRODUCERS. Of the general outlook, while recognising that mueli depends upon the efforts of the producers themselves and upon the efforts of the business men who serve them, Sir Thomas takes the rosiest view. , Dairy products, he contends, will command good prices for years to come, wool will recover when anything like normal conditions are restored in Europe, and meat will always he in demand. America is eager to become one of the Dominion's big customers, and its markets already have been successfully tested. The farmers, Sir Thomas says, have jevery reason for going forward in .good heart. They have the finest country in the world, they have a sympathetic public, and whatever Government may be in office during the next twenty years its first duty must, be to encourage and stimulate production.