WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 September 1921, Page 8

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE PARLIAMENTARY SESSION OPENS SEPTEMBER 22. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, August 29. The opening of Parliament having been definitely fixed for Thursday, September 22, a little more than three weeks hence, public interest in the session has quickened and .speculation as to its duration and character taken a more precise shape. It still is thought by a majority of the people best posted in such matters that the session will : run over the Christmas holidays. Ministers imply that if members of the House apply themselves earnestly to the. business in hand and refra ; n from superfluous talking and factious obstrucjlion there will be no need to keep them lin Wellington for more than three i months. But that, of course, is always I the view of the occupants of the TreaLsury Benches, whatever their political ’ color. Let us have our own way, they i say, in effect, to their supporters and their opponents, and you shall be kept away from your homes for as short a time, as possible. But things have hapI pened during the past twelve months which, while giving the Government’s opponents many opportunities for speaking will not allow its supporters to remain altogether silent.

BONES OF CONTENTION. < t It is expected that Mr. Massey will i arrive in time to take his seat in the a House nine or ten days after the open- i ing. and that in the interval, the House will have disposed of the Address-in- < Reply and other preliminaries. Then in addition to the long-deferred revision of the Customs tariff, which will occupy at 1 least a month, there will be Bills dealing various phases of finance, taxation, land settlement, defence, public works, legislative reform and. perhaps, 1 electoral reform. There is bound to be 1 in addition a big crop of private mem- f bers’ Bills, but these are so easily thrust 1 aside they need not add very materially to the length of the session. The debate-on the Budget, however, is sure ' to run into several weeks. Finance is ! going to he the question of questions • during the session and few members : ; will care to confess by silence their igI norance of the subject. Mr. Massey ' may be trusted to return to the fray j well equipped at every point, but some ! of his colleagues have not enhanced their ' reputations during his absence and the ! candid friend is certain to be much in evidence. RETIRING CIVIL SERVANTS. It is now announced some 100 members of the Civil Service have been officially informed that the time for their retirement has arrived and that • the special grace, shown them by the ! Government, against the advice of heads ; of departments, can he continued no ■ longer. There will be sytnpathy everv i where for the officers who are compelled in these difficult times to exchange a' living wage for a superannuation pittance, hut the Government cannot be reproached with having acted harshly towards the sufferers. On the contrary, Ministers have strained both the regulations of the Service and their own anthorily in delaying the operation of a rule which was intended to promote, efficiency and to facilitate promotion. It has been notorious in M ellington for some years past that high positions II have been hold by officers no longer capable of bearing their responsibilities and that in several cases of tins kind the results have been extremely unfortunate. Another effect of the interP ference with ’the regulations has been to create very widespread dissatisfaction ihronghout the service.

ABLE TO SAY NO. The Hon. J. C. Coates again has shown his ability to say “no'’ when it would he much pleasanter to say “yes” by returning an unfavorable answer to the promoters of the Putaruru railway scheme. The Minister of Public Works indeed has been displaying a great deal more "back-bone” iq this respect than did the majority of his predecessors in office. A very huge proportion of the railways constructed in this country, including most of the branch lines that persistently fail to pay their way. were brought into existence by the pressure and agitation of interested people. But Mr. Coates is not going to tolerate this kind of thing. He would have the Public Works Department, the Railway Department, and the Agriculture Depart incut ieport upon every proposed line before it wore placed upon the building schedule, and he would undertake no expenditure on the mere representations' of deputations whether they came from the districts immediately concerned or from Parliament. This sounds almost too good to be true, but Mr. Coated is a young man with ideals and he proved his grit at the front.

THE PRESSING ’PROBLEM. Though there is a slightly less depressed feeling in Wellington to-day concerning the financial and trade prospects of the Dominion than there was a month or two ago. no one imagines that the country is yet hall way through its troubles. Bui ter and cheese again seem assured of a good market, which will benefit many others than those immediately interested in their production: hut. 1 wool and meat remain at price®; which I must spell ruin to many farmers. who • have no other resources. There, are large I areas of land in the Wftirarapa district. I for instan.ee, which could not -be turned to dairying, even if herds of cows and dozens of butter and cheese factories could bo brought into existence by the wave of a. fairy’s wand, and the unfortunate people occupying them are in The direst straits. This all is making for a big decline in the- public revenue by en forcing upon the Government the need for a large reduction in the public p.x- -| penditure. The pressing problem for Mr. Massey and his colleagues is not so much where to begin as it is where to end.