WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1921, Page 10

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE BUDGET DEBATE. PREMIER’S. SPEECH HELD UP. (Special Correspondent.) ~, . Wellington, Nov. 18. Ihe galleries of the House were crowded last night in expectation of the "important speech” with which the Prime Minister, according to the papers and the prophets, was to close the Budget debate. But the responsible Ministers propose and the irresponsible private members dispose. Mr. Massey was m his seat when the speaker took the chair, surrounded by all the material necessary for an exposition of the financial position of the Dominion and with his secretaries in attendance; but his time was not yet- "First one private member and then another was seized with a belated desire to get into Hansard and so the debate ran on till past 11 o’clock when Mr. Massey, naturally more anxious to get into the. morning papers than into Hansard, gathered up his material and deferred the delivery of his speech to another occasion. The galleries were disappointed, but not altogether without consolation. Mr. Hawken, the member for Egmont, pronoun- 3 ced a eulogy upon Mr. Massey as the poor man's friend, Mr. Kellett, the member for Dunedin North, provided some delightful unconscious humor and Mr. P. Fraser, the member for Wellington South, talked temperately of the aspirations of Labor. Between them ..they made the evening distinctly entertaining. THE REVISED TARIFF. Members, almost without exception, continue to receive many protests against the incidence of the new Customs tariff, and are passing them on to Ministers and to the House at large as opportunity offers. The duty on kerosene, which, of course, already being collected in anticipation of the approval of Parliament, is threatening at the moment to produce something like a crisis. It was stated in the lobbies last night that a score or so of his ' own supporters had represented to Mr. Massey that their duty to their constituents would not’ allow them to support this imposition and it is not improbable that a large majority of the Opposition will be troubled with similar conscientious scruples. The Liberal and Labor parties are very jealous for the welfare of the workers and the settlers and these, they contend, are the sections of the community that would suffer most from a permanent rise in the price of the household oil. There is a story in circulation to-day that Mr.. Massey has determined to spare the poor man’s light and fuel, but so far there is no definite indiction of his intention and he is not given to precipitately abandoning his proposals. A COUNTRY PARTY.

In the course of his speech in the Budget debate last night Mr. Robert Masters, the member for Stratford, had something to say about the Country Party whicll lUtely has appeared on the political horizon. The representative of a rural constituency himself, he saw a good deal of significance in the fact that the new party put in the forefront of its platform a demand for the better representation and the more considerate treatment of the farmers. Here, die maintained, was proof positive that many of the producers of the country were beginning to realise that the Government was- sincere, or, at any rate, not wise in its devotion to the interests of the men on the land. Reformers who had followed Air. Massey through long years of adversity, even Reformers who had served under him in Parliament, were now starting out on a campaign for sounder legislation and more capable administration than he had given them. No one in the House, save Mr. Masters himself, seemed to know much about the new party, but there evidently, was a disposition on the part of a number of members to take it sdriously. Mr- Massey is now so desperately over-burdened it is impossible for him to give the personal attention to details lie formerly did and perhaps his own organisation has grown a little slack in consequence. RAILWAY RETURNS.

The railway returns for ’the period between April 1 and October 15. published this morning, tell the same old story of almost stationary revenue and largely increased expenditure. The revenue for the six months compared with that for the corresponding period of last year showed an increase from .-€3,399,146 to .£’3,479,000, and the expenditure tin increase from £2,864,099 to £3,534,987, the expenditure thus exceeding the revenue by £55,978 as against the balance of £535,047 on the other side of the ledger last year. The North Island lines showed an excess of revenue^ over expenditure, of £117,729 and the South Island lines an excess of expenditure over revenue of £173,707. All this surely means that the policy of restricted services has failed, but cynical politicians and business men are predicting that the authorities will apply still more restriction. That, they is the way of tlie Railway Department in these days.