WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 August 1921, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE RAILWAYS. REDUCED SERVICES. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, August 26. The railway “cut,” which is now in| operation, affects chiefly the South Island, where the Christchurch-Invercar-* ; gill express is running only three days a week and the services on many of the branch lines are much reduced. The Christchurch-Invercargill service, it ia said, has been costing £3 000 a week: and it is expected to save £70,000 ai year by halving the number of trains** This, of course, is only a paper estimate and the authorities, though they admit no doubt of the accuracy of their figures, do not facilitate any close examination of them by outsiders. The material for comparisons is not. easily available, but there is a very widespread* opinion here that the last increase in fares and freights has rather leasenedi than increased the net returns. The reductions in suburban and branch line services are certain to divert a goat deal of traffic from the railways to thej roads and this will not be a develops ment welcomed by the local bodies cons cerned. A more important matter ia that a very large number of country children will be ent off from the schools i they have been attending.

) THE PERIL OF APATHY. j The Welfare League, which Las been ' striving for months past to arouse I greater interest in national ptfairi. con- • tinues to deplore the suicidal apathy of • the great mass of the people. It adi mits the Justice of Lord Bryce’s coni elusion that the public men of the Do* I minion, speaking generally, ore mediocre in intellect, lacking in vision and devoid! of enterprise, but it is les ccnc'rnedi by the limitations of the average noli-( [ tician than it is by the in-difference au£ complacency of his constituents. “Aj I people who are apathetic and indoieaw lor wholly engrossed in money-inaking or pleasure.” it says, “cannot expect tot have representatives of great ability and I high ideals. The reprrfentatives will be like those they represent.” This, oa course, is nn old axiom of popular gov* eminent, expressed in a hundred differs i ent ways, but losing norther in point nofl in force by the passage of the years. AS constituency gets just the representa* tion it deserves in Parliament, and if the Welfare League is to be accepted as an authority the deserts of the Dornin-', ion, as a whole, at the last general election were not high. TARDY RETRENCHMENT. .Sir Francis Bell, the Acting Minister of Finance, has not yet had anythin# very illuminative to say in regard to the attacks that have been marie during the last week or two upon his adminis-* tration of the Treasury. He has beeri taken to task strongly, not only by hi# political opponents, but also by his polwtical friends, for having allowed thdL departmental expenditure to mount up, from month to month without making any serious attempt to check the in* crease. Apparently he cannot effect any considerable savings without reducing staffs or reducing salaries, and he he«U fates to do either on account of tliddanger of adding to the unemployment difficulty. ' The simplest way to reduc,< expenditure would be to amalownale a 1 number of the exiting such as the Tourist Department and thei Railway Department, but as this would involve the retirement of a number of officers the Government probably wilK cast the onus of making any movement of the kind upon Parliament. In thflf circumstances it is not surprising pwH, pie are recalling Mr. Massey’s dedanH tion iu the House that if became necessary Ministers’ and menw. bers’ salaries would have to be THE ABSENT PRIME MINISTER. When both Houses of Parliament ex 4 pressed approval of Mr. Massey’s going) Home to attend the Imperial they doubtless expected the proceedings at the great gathering in London to be( of far more importance than the passing affairs of New Zealand would be during his absence. But as things have turned out, the Prime Minister has been sadly missed in the Dominion during the last few months. A one man Government may bo quite unobjectionable so long as the one man remains at his post, but when the one man goes abroad the disadvantage of having all the authority and initiative of the Cabinet under one hat becomes painfully apparent. There have been scores of things in the Do- " minion requiring Mr. Massey’s personal attention during the last three or four ' months, and the inconvenience and low occasioned by his absence well may set people asking if representation at the Conference under existing conditions is worth while. The Dominion desires to be associated with the other pafts of the Empirft in this faiflily gathering, but it does not wish to have its internal affairs disorganised every second year