WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 4 January 1921, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE HOLIDAYS. IDEAL WEATHER. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, Dec. 31. ■Wellington province has enjoyed ideal weather for the holidays, the rain on Tuesday morning having been insufficient to interfere seriously eVen with out-door gatherings, and it has let itself “loose, ’ as the saying goes, as it has not done for many years past. Business has been practically suspended, so far as the city is concerned, for though the banks and shops have been open three days this week they have had few customers, and no one would have grumbled had /they been closed altogether. The rough win ter and late spring have been succeeded by a bright, sunny summer and the crowds at race meetings, sports gatherings and holiday resorts have constituted records everywhere. THE CROAKERS The gloomy souls in the community do not, of course, view this effervescense of gaiety with approval. They particularly deplore the big attendances at the race meetings and the enormous amounts passed through the totalisator. They regard these as indications of the careless, reckless spirit abroad that takes no thought for the morrow and eats and drinks and is merry in fax;e of impending disaster. But even for racing and the totalisator it may be said that they make very substantial contributions to the public exchequer and take the people out of doors where they come to less harm than they might in the cityFor the packing of the holiday resorts there is much to be said and it is being said emphatically. POLITICS ON HOLIDAY. Two things particularly noticeable in Wellington at this season of the year is the- absence of politicians and the consequent cessation of political discussions. The Prime Minister was in town for the early part of the holidays, but no one took any notice of his movements and the- poor man was free even from the infliction of deputations. The other Ministers early found business in their own constituencies and at their own homes and for a week or so the local newspapers had nothing to say of their doings, thus giving Wellington a brief taste of the unruffled atmosphere of a provincial centre. It is an experience for which the denizens of the capital are unfeignedly thankful. BUSINESS PATRIOTISM. A passing visitor to Wellington, Mr. T. L. Elliott, the head of a big Birmingham hardware firm, is reminding New Zealanders not inopportunely of the need for business patriotism. “People out here,” he said this morning, “do not seem to realise that by purchasing from the United States thy are helping to appreciate the dollar and depreciate the sovereign, yet such is the case. If ever there was a time when the overseas Dominions should buy British goods it is the present- By buying goods frojn the United States they are helping to maintain the adverse rate of exchange so that action is not only unpatriotic, but also uneconomical.*’ Mr. Elliott may not be an unbiased witness, but the truth he proclaims canno* be too insistently reiterated.