WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 June 1921, Page 12

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

. TITULAR DISTINCTION. THEN AND NOW. (Special Correspondent.) ■Wellington, June 6. Sir John Luke’s knighthood came as a surprise to no one here, and if titular distinctions are to be conferred for purely municipal services it is an ehtirely appropriate recognition of duty well done. Sir John directed the affairs of the capital city through eigh»‘ strenuous years and on the whole acquitted himself very creditably, considering all the circumstances, which included a shortage of money for local works and heavy social demands upon the occupant of the mayoral chair. But looking back and counting the nftmber of knighthoods that have come to New Zealand during the last eight or nine years it is very entertainingtto recall the broad fun Mr. Massey poked at his political opponents for their lavish creation of what he called with biting derision “colonial gentlemen.” The present Prime Minister was comparatively young in politics in 1911, and wholly inexperienced in office, but since then he has put up the record of having distributed more knightjjoods than did all the Liberal Governments put together. UNEMPLOYMENT. The volume of unemployment is steadily mounting up the city and rural districts with the progress of the winter, and the authorities are not finding it egsy to provide work for all the idle hands. Sir Francis Bell, speaking, of course, on behalf of the Government, says the statement that men are being dismissed wholesale from the public departments is not true. There have been re-arrangements and some re-organisa-tion with a view to effecting economies, but there has been no dismissal of permanent hands. This statement leaves room for the suggestion that numbers of temporary hands are being cast adrift, but here again the Minister maintains that nothing of tlje kind is happening. The Government is doing its best to span over the winter months with the funds at its disposal, but the measure of its success must depend largely upon the co-operation of private employers and the honest service of the men employed. A QUESTION OF WAGES.

The various labor organisations are continuing to protest against the rates of pay on the works undertaken for the relief of the unemployed. These rates are His a day for single men and 12s a day for married men, and the labor organisations are quoting an agreement with the Public Works Department for an all round payment of 14s a day. Ministers answer to this that the men are being given employment on special ■works authorised for the particular purpose of providing wages for those who cannot find employment elsewhere. The Government has not reduced wages in the public service and there has been no change in the pay of the men employed by the Public Works Department on ordinary works. These facts have been easily substantiated and Sir Francis Bell’s reply to the iteration of. the complaints is that the Government does not, wish any man to remain on relief works a day after he can obtain work- elsewhere. This seems to be final. THE BOOKMAKERS.

As was generally expected from the attitude of the acting-Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice towards the deputation that came up from Christchurch last week with a petition bearing ten thousand signatures praying for a modification of the sentence passed by Mr. Justice Herdman on the bookmaker William Whitta, the Cabinet has decided not to interfere with the course of the law. It is unforunate, perhaps, for Whitta that he was tried in Christchurch, where juries appear to take a more serious view of the law than do those in Wellington and Auckland, but even here the idea of the Government over-riding the decision of the Judge found no favor, except, of course, among those who are anxious to save the bookmaker from absolute extinction. Ministers have not only refused to release Whitta or to modify hjs sentence, but they also have determined to take more strenuous action against his fellows. If they hold to their present good intentions the bookmakers will find it very hard indeed to continue in business after the defects of the existing law have been repaired.