WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 March 1922, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE PRIME MINISTER. EAST COAST TOUR. i (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, March 13. Mr. Massey has returned to Wellington from his tour through the East Coast districts of the North Island much impressed by the hospitality of the people he met, by the high quality ol the land they occupy and by their need for road and bridges. It was the first time many of the settlers had seen a Prime Minister of the Dominion and Mr. Massey, while accepting much of their hospitality as a tribute to his office, feels that during his travels he made numbers of new personal friends. The people who are straggling to establish themselves on the land are by no means extravagant in their demands, realising that the time is inopportune for a large expenditure upon public, works; but they are insistent upon the need for better means of communication and here the Government must make an effort to meet them. The East Coast is destined to became one of the greatest producing districts in the country and every day by which the Government can hasten this consummation will be so much added to the wealth of the whole community. THE POOL AND THE FARMERS. The Prime Minister took every opportunity that came his way during his tour to impress upon the settler*- the great advantages to the public at large and to the men on the land in particular, to be obtained from the meat pool. He assured a large meeting at Whakatane, where the disposal of the settlers’ meat is a specially burning question, that the pool was going to be a great success. Already, he said, it had had beneficial results. The outlook for beef was not so bright as that for butter and la*mb; but the pool undoubtedly would improve matters. New Zealand lamb, he said, never should be selling at less than Is per pound and he believed this price would be within the reach of the farmers when their organisation was fully established. The improvement in the position of the producers would be reflected in the general finance of the Dominion and would, make it possible for the Government to proceed actively with necessary development works. All this was very cheering to the settlers and they will be keeping a close eye upon the activitiaa of the Minister for Public Works.

STATE AND MUNICIPAL TRADING. An article concerning State and Municipal trading undertakings which appeared in a number of leading newspapers a week or two ago is promising to produce an interesting controversy here. The publication of the departmental accounts, though the figures are presented in a taost confusing fashion, has brought home to a number of people, who had not given much consideration to the subject before, that the tax-payers are being loaded with the cost of State undertakings and experiments which in their present shape serve no useful purpose. The rabid Socialists, of course continue to place their faith in the State monopoly implied by the nationalisation of th® means of production, distribution and exchange, but more responsible people who do not expect to reach the millenium during the present decade are urging that State and municipal undertakings which enter into competition with, private enterprise should pay the same taxation and bear the same business responsibilities as do their rivals. 1 ormal reresentations on the subject wilt be made to the Prime Minister shortly, and it is expected from hints he already has let drop, that his attitude will not be unfavorable. THE RAILWAYS. The statement made by Mr. C. A. Humphries, the general manager of the Australian Provincial Assurance Association, in regard to the New Zealand railways is not likely to escape the attention of the Minister in charge of the lines and his colleagues. Indignant members of the public are taking care it shall not by forwarding reports of Mr. Humphries’ remarks to the Prime I Minister, the Hon. D. H. Guthrie and I the general manager. These gentlemen scarcely can fail to be impressed. “I had previously thought,” the visitor (said at the conclusion of his journey between Wellington and Auckland, “that the line from Perth to Kalgoorli® was easily the worst in the world, but 1 no longer give it that distinction.” This is an odious comparison with a vengeance and it seems to be deserved. The complaints of local travellers, however. are not directed so much against the “bumps and jolts” that discomfited Mr. Humphreys, as they are against the scanty services and the exorbitant charges. These continue to drive an in- * creasing number of, travellers to the ‘motor cars and the road*. _ .