WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 December 1920, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE CHRISTMAS SEASON., A NEW CONCEPTION. ' (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, Dec. 2D. The last days of the expiring yeflr find the capital city, for the most part, keeping high holiday festival. The Christmas trade turned out better than was expected. Though people did not spend so much as they had done in previous years in flimsy toys and trivial nick-nacks, they spent more on useful articles for themselves and for their friends. The change, shrewd shopkeepers are saying, is as much due to the improved taste of the public as it is to its necessities. The tendency towards utilitarfan gifts was noticeable before the war and has been accentuated by the increased cost of living. It is economically sound, and to the great majority, of grown folk entirely acceptable. The children still will have their' toys and their pretences, but their elders are making unmistakably for a saner conception of the Christmas spirit, EXPENDITURE AND PROSPERITY.

Probably quite as much money has been spent on presents and holidays and recreations during the present Christmas season as during any Christmas season that has preceded it. The politicians and the financial experts for months past have been preaching economy as the first essential towards the salvation of the Dominion, and the public has given its silent acquiescence to the general principle; but never before have the trams and trains and steamers been so crowded, the holiday resorts so densely thronged, the race meetings so largely patronised and the places of amusement so closely packed. No one seems to know exactly what the decline in the purchasing power of the sovereign means | —perhaps because in these days so few people catch a glimpse of a gold coinbut there is evidence everywhere that there is plenty of money in the country.

THE NEEDS OF THE TREASURY. But with all the funds available for holiday-making and amusement of every kind, the Minister of Finance still is appealing for the last million of his soldiers' settlement loan. It looks at the moment as if lie would have to exercise the compulsory powers with which he is endowed to obtain what he wants, and though this might result in a more equitable distribution of the burden than would be obtained from voluntary subscriptions it would not open up a very encouraging prospect for the future. The pessimists, hastening to meet trouble half way, are suggesting that the huge decline in the price of wool and the insecure position of some .other products have seriously impaired the resources of many of tKe "big" men and that their failure to subscribe to the loan is not due to lack of will but to lack of ability. CHANGING HORSES.

On the top of this "disconcerting suggestion comes the rumor that there will be a further reconstruction of the Ministry shortly, made necessary by the reof Sir Francis Bell and Sir William' Herries, the t\vo strong men among his colleagues to whom Mr. Mas•ey always can turn for sage advice on inancial matters. Sir Francis Bell, in particular, is a tower of strength to the (lovernment in this respect and his absence from the Cabinet table itt the present juncture would be a national as well as a party calamity. It is to be sincerely hoped his services will be retained till the Dominion readies smoother water. The early retirement of Sir William Herries, for personal reasons, seems to be inevitable, and with labor difficulties perplexing the Administration and a revision of the Customs tariff in contemplation it will be, to say the least of it, particularly inopportune.