WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 September 1921, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT. GOVERNOR-GENERAL’S SPEECH. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, Sept. 23. The opening of the session yesterday was a rather dull proceeding, and nothing of a spectacle. The personal popularity of the Governor-General rather I than any appreciation of the importance of the occasion drew such crowds as I gathered to see what could be seen from outside Parliament Buildings. The speech put into the mouth of His Excellency by his resopnsible advisers was reasonably brief and studiously noncommittal. Obviously the policy of the Government is to be disclosed later on and developed as the session moves along. This was inevitable in the absence of Mr. Massey. But the Prime Minisi ters colleagues indicated plainly enough that matters of very grave consequence were awaiting the attention of both Houses and that the session would be an arduous as well as a long one. The question with members now is not whether they will get away before Christmas, but whether they will be released by the beginning of February. To-day they are engaged with purely formal matters, including the payment of tributes to former members who passed away during the recess, and they will not get down to serious business beroie Tuesday. THE NEW PARTY. i Whatever else may be said of Mr. C. ' E. Statham’s schemes for reforming the whole fabric of the country, it must be admitted that the leader of the Progressive Liberal and Moderate Labor i Party since he took the platform a few : weeks ago has done much to revive pub- , lie interest in questions of vast importj ance to the Dominion. Strong men of j the type of Mr. Massey, severely ma- , terialistic and not ai all imaginative, [live so tensely in the present they are 'apt to overlook the possibilities and [even the needs of the future. Mr. ScdI don, the strongest of N .-.. Z- .t’ .nJ.'j strong politicians, always w.i. reach ‘v I admit that ho owed the n ,<>.i ~«f | many of his Fig acliievem/ru» to the ' inspiration of flic reformin g .. .iiists .>! bis day. The left wing” of the Liberal which he crushed almost at it.-. : birth, assisted in this fashion in mouldi ing much of his subsequent legislation. In the same way'Mr. Statham and his i party, if they do nothing more, may manage to persuade Mr. Massey that the country is ready for the progressive and i moderate measures they are advocating. THE LIQUOR PROBLEM. Among the Prime Minister’s promises for this session is an undertaking to sot up a commission to inquire into the liquor problem with a view to reporting to Parliament a year hence, on the eve of the next licensing poll. Just how much consideration Mr. Massey gave to the matter before committing himself to this obligation has not been [ but there appears to be a pretty general tceling among the members of the House that the commission would cost a great deal more money than its report would be worth. Moderates and Prohibitionists are practically agreed on this point. They contend that the liquor question has been discussed and rediscussed in all its aspects till tghere is not a new word to be said about it from either side, and that at the present time the country can ill afford to pay even .£4.000 or £5,000 for the reiteration of statements with which it already is familiar. There will be no serious reproaches from the House, at any rate, if the Government elects to tackle the question without assistance from a commission. RAILWAYS AND ECONOMY. It was very natural, of course, that the Masterton Chamber of Commerce should have hesitated to endorse the resolution of the Wellington Chamber deprecating political and private interference with the efforts of the Railway Department to effect savings in its expenditure. The railway service in the Wairarapa. district is so notoriously inadequate, largely owing to the difficulties of the Rimutaka climb, that local opinion inevitably inclines towards the view that economy which makes for inefficiency is no economy at all. But the Wellington Chamber has the satisfaction of knowing that its general appeal for a. reduction of expenditure in the public service was cordially supported by its Masterton contemporary and its activities towards this end warmly approved. The, business men of the city feel that the success of their campaign must depend largely upon the goodwill and co-operation of the. producers, who would gain at least as much as would any other section of the community from insistence upon full value in tangible service being received for every penny of public money expended.