WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 September 1921, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE .ARBITRATION COURT, MR. MeCULLOUGH’S RESIGNATION. Correspondent.) - Wellington, Sept. 9. Mr. J. A. McCullough’s resignation of his position as the representative of the workers in the Arbitration Court has created something like a sensation both inside and. outside the ranks of organised Labor here. Twenty odd years ago Mr. McCullough was in the.very forefront of the later day Labor movement, a fervid speaker, an incisive writer and a veritable firebrand in the eyes of people who would have left the solution of the more intricate social and industrial problems to the tedious processes of time. But even at that stage in his own evolution he commanded, by hi-s .sincerity,’his candor, and his unbounding concern for iiis fellows, the respect of every section of the community. He always was for building up, never for pulling down. Public opinion, largely unconsciously, had swung far towards his point of view when he was elected to the Arbitration Court some ten years later, and generally applauded his elevation to the Labor bench. Now he has broken away from the traditions, denounced the judicial attitude of his colleagues, and appealed to the public for judgment. This, of cours°, must await the statement from the other side.

LABOR AND UNEMPLOYED. The deputation from the Labor organisations that waited upon the ActingPrime Minister this morning with a demand for further and continued reliet for the unemployed was able to count confidently upon a sympathetic hearing from the head of the Government. Whether Sir Francis Bell has handled the unemployment difficulty wisely or not is a question on which the partisans probably will disagree, but there can be no doubt at all of the Minister’s desire to do everything possible to ameliorate the condition of the men out of work. He has strained the finances the country towards this end by putting public works in hand that were not really required, and by delaying the retirement of the State employees whose appearance on the labor market would have aggravated the trouble. In the circumstances certain members of the deputation might have modified their insistent tone without any loss of force or dighity. Labor is not wholly responsible for the added d ; fficulties of the present crisis, and its leaders’ frank recognition of this fact would do more to restore normal conditions than would hours of heated disputation.

* THE OPPOSITION. According to the irresponsible gossip which always precedes the meeting of Parliament, ijipre are to be five Oppositions during the approaching session. The first, of course, will be the official Liberal Opposition, led T. M. Wilford, which has the imprimatur of the Speaker and a vote on the Estimates for the salary of its leader’s secretary. Then there will be the unofficial Liberal Opposition. which does not acknowledge Mr. Walford’s leadership, and finds its chief I spokesman in Mr. George Witty and Mr. R. McCallum. Next will iome the Progressive Liberal and Moderate. Labor Opposition owning allegiance to M r . C. E. "Statham, and inspired by ideals rominiscent ot. the lighting days of the LiberalLabor combination. Following will Iconic the Independent Liberal and Sane : Labor Opposition, consisting of unat-tached-Progressives and Moderates who I subscribe in a general way to Mr. Sta- | tham's platform, but disapprove of the i strings being pulled by jieople outside I Parliament. Finally there will be the official Labor Opposition, probably numI erica 11 y the strongest of the lot, but 'hopelessly kept in the wilderness by tie quality of its leadership. Surely in the multitude of oppositions will come the Government’s continued safety.

SAMOA AGAIN. People here in some measure acquainted with Samoa and the Samoans arc not disposed to make light of the criticism that comes from Sydney of Now Zealand's administration of the affairs of its Pacific ‘dependency.” On the contrary, they are inclined to agree with the special commissioner of the Herald that the Dominion has not readily adapted itself to its new responsibilities. It has not given to the direction of Samoan affairs the air of dignity and distinction which appeals so strongly to the imagination of the Pacific races. It has asked the Natives to accept forthwith a form of democratic Government, which surrounds them with a number* of capable civil servants but does nothing to emphasise the beneficence and might of the British Empire. “The native races,” the Dominion says this morning, “hedge their chiefs with a divinity of their own, and in the white man who comes as a ruler they look for one who commands as though born to it.” That is the point the Government has missed.