WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1922, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE MEAT POOL. COMMITTEE AT WORK. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, Jan. 13. The committee appointed by the producers’ conference on Tuesday to prepare the w’ay for the establishment of the proposed meat pool is now face to face wit'h the intricacies of its task. At its meeting with the representatives of the freezing companies yesterday it was arranged that meanwhile there should be no interference with current business, and that the companies should carry on as if no pool were in contemplation. It is too early yet to forecast the developments of the next few weeks, but there is a growing feeling among the friends of the scheme that it cannot possibly be brought into operation during t'he current season. It is recognised on all hands that the London board will be the most important part of the whole organisation, and it is unlikely this will be appointed within the next two or. three months. In the meantime there will be a great deal to do at this end, and a large number of details to be arranged. SURPLUS WOOL PROFITS. Mr. W. Milne, of Oamaru, has been striving for some time past to induce New Zealand growers to assert their rights in connection with surplus wool profits, alleged to be in the hands of the Imperial authorities, and seems at last to have satisfied a section of the Farmers’ Union that an enquiry into the facts is desirable. At a meeting of the executive of the union, held here on Wednesday, a letter from Mr. Milne suggested that a friendly action should be instit'.bed- against the Imperial Government in order to settle the rights and wrongs of the matter, was read. During the discussion which followed, allusion was made to the Prime Minister’s significant silence on the subject since his return from England, but a majority of members of the executive were disinclined to carry the dispute into the law courts. Finally it was decided that the president should look into the position and report to the next meeting of the executive. THE SESSION. Judging from the Order Paper ajnpe, one might easily suppose the session would r.un on for another two or three months. But so far members have shown none of the disposition to prolong the proceedings that was expected from them after their return from the holidays, and, of course, if they choose to let the Government have its way, they will not be kept in Wellington an unnecessary hour. The appearance of the “Washing-up” Bill usually is a signal of the approach of the very near end. but its production on Wednesday probably was a bit of Ministerial bluff. It is a record measure in length, and contains a number of controversial clauses which, in the old days of party activity, would have kept the House sitting through many long nights. But all that sort of thing is changed in these days, for better or for worse, and at the moment it looks as if the end of the session might be reached within three weeks. THE RAILWAYS. Tn his review of finance accompanying the Railway Statement, laid on the table of the House yesterday, the General Manager is* at great pains to show that the lines jof many other countries have suffered much more than those of New Zealand from the conditions following upon the war. Mr. McVilly has presented his’ease very adroitly, and no one denies that during the last few years he has been working the railways of the Dominion under great difficulties; but there is a growing feeling in the House that a wrong .policy is being pursued by attempting to make good the decline* in earnings by simply raising freights and fares. Up to a certain point, members admit, this policy may be effective, but beyond that point, they contend, the inevitable result is a still further decline. Quite a number of them profess to feel strongly on this question, but apparently none of them are sufficiently in earnest to insist upon its discussion during the present session.