WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 March 1922, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE HOUSING PROBLEM. , FROM BAD TO WORSE. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, March 22. The Wellington Central Progress League does not exist merely for the purpose of booming the capital city. It does not hesitate to discuss frankly, even with brutal candour, the seamy side of the city’s social conditions, and in its latest report it has a good deal to about the local housing problem. It Has collected a fresh set of “horrid examples” of overcrowding and unwholesome conditions which seem to bear a strong resemblance to those to be found in the great cities of the older countries. There are, it is alleged, a man, wife and five children living in two roqms without conveniences; a man, wife and four children in one room; and two families of five and three respectively “in a wretdhed hove] of two rooms with a kitchen scullery.” Conditions of this sort have been long known in Wellington, and now and again have formed the subject of violent protests. But still they remain, and probably the day of their removal is not yet. BRAINS IN PARLIAMENT. The approach of another general election is being signalled in the correspondence columns of the local newspapers by a reiterated demand for “brains in Parliament.” In last night’s Post Mr. Stuart Wilson, who has travelled and observed, puts forth a view which 'seems to epitomise a growing volume of ; public opinion. “New Zealand, with a population of a million and a quarter,” he writes, “has a House of eighty representatives and a Legislative Council of t forty members. If the sum paid to these hundred and twenty persons was limited to a House of twenty members and a Legislative Revising Committee of, say, 1 six members, there would not be the complaining which one hears everywhere to- ■ day about the dearth of business brains in Parliament.” Mr. Wilson implies that better pay is required to induce business men of the right type to offer themselves as candidates for Parliament, and no doubt this is the case to a certain extent. but the business man’s own explanation of the position is that the constituents never have shown any particular desire for their services. EFFORT AND EFFICIENCY. Inquiries made in Wellington lately have revealed the fact that there has ■ been a distinct improvement in the efI fort and z efficiency of the great body ot ' workers since the beginning of the year. This is generally attributed to the increased number of hands available and the keener competition for jobs. During the war labor was scarce and dear, and the conditions from the employers’ point of view did not improve greatly till the I work of repatriation was completed. But 1 during the last year there has been a j considerable amount of immigration, I and the “slump,” among its other untoI ward results, has driven an increasing number of men into the city. Local emiployers, it may be said to their credit, i have shown no feverish anxiety to re!duce wages, but they are insisting upon ; better service than they were getting some time back. Carpenters, during the ; “boom” years, were obtaining 3s an 'hour, and not hustling themselves a great j deal in earning the money; but now they . are receiving 2/6 an hour and giving much better service for the reduced wage. In other trades and occupations the° same sort of thing is happening. THE LIBERAL-LABOR CAMPAIGN.

The local papers are not giving much prominence to Mr. Wilford’s organisation in the South Island, but private information received here is to the effect that the leader of the new-old party is well satisfied with the progress he is making. He has had no difficulty, it is said, in arousing renewed interest in the Seddonian f rm of Liberalism and in finding suitable candidates to carry the standard of the party at the general election. One of his difficulties, indeed, seems to be a superfluity of aspirants for Parliamentary honors, but here he is going to leave the final choice to the local people, with the proviso that the candidate selected must subscribe to the •'general principles of the party’s programme. So far Wellington has not been i taken into the inner confidence of the new party, and really the city knows very little about its intentions, but it is understood that shortly after Mr. Wilford’s return the local campaign will be formally launched and then vigorously maintained.