WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 March 1922, Page 8

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE MEAT POOL. ELECTION OF CONTROLLING BODY. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, March 27. Mr. Massey assured the representatives of the newspapers on Saturday that the members of the Dominion executive of the Farmers’ Union who had accused him of interfering with the election of the Meat Export Control Board were entirely mistaken in their assumptions. One of these gentlemen had asserted that the election was “a hole-and-corner business”, another had declared that the voting was “fixed up in advance”, and a third had denounced the board as a “Government body”. The accusations did not seem so very grave to people taking only a casual interest in the meat pool, since everyone realises that the Government, as the custodian of the people’s interests, must exercise a very large measure of control over the operations of the board, and see that it lands the country into no serious liability. But the disgruntled unionists seem to have thought that the whole business should have been handed over to a board representative of the farmers alone, and that the Government’s interference should have been restricted to the labor and cost of floating the scheme, and the privilege of footing the bill in the event of its finances going wrong. A FARMERS’ BOARD. As a matter of fact, the board, whatever its critics may say about it, is much more of a farmers’ board than anyone expected it would be. When the Bill making provision for its constitution was before Parliament Mr. Massey said there was no reason why all those selected should be farmers, and, intentionally or not, he conveyed to many of his hearers an impression that he would like to see a leaven of business men on the board. But when five farmers had been elected by the combined Producers’ and Parliamentary Committees, he forthwith proceeded to nominate two farmers a? the Government’s representatives, and as Mr. W. D. Hunt, the nominee of the stock and station agents, is a successful farmer as well as a business man, the whole board may be described as representative of the producers’ interests. Whether this is desirable or not remains to be seen, but meanwhile it will be satisfactory to the public to know that no extensive operations are likely to be undertaken this season, and that the Government has the power of veto when the interests of the country are directly concerned. OFFENDED TEACHERS. The Minister for Education, with all his good intentions and his genuine concern for the public welfare, has an unhappy knack of getting on the nerves of people. His exaction of an oath of allegiance from school teachers is arousing more merriment than indignation among the members of the profession, but there is a serious-minded person here and there that looas upon the demand as a personal affront and a reflection upon his loyalty. The really disloyal person, of course, would take the oath with mental reservations and go merrily on his way; but the conscientious person, unable to reconcile himself to the new order, might find grave difficulty in making so sordid an expression of his devotion to the Crown and Constitution. That, at any rate, is the view that quite a number of the coerced teachers are taking. They are loyal to the core, they declare, and have demonstrated the fact again and again, but they object to being treated as aliens and saddled with the suspicion of insincerity. LIBERAL-LABOR PARTY. Mr. T. M. Wiiford returned yesterday to Wellington from his organising tour in the South Island, well satisfied with the reception accorded him everywhere and the support promised the new Liberal-Labor alliance. He had been actually embarrassed, he said, in the course of a hurried chat this morning, by the number of people that mid ottered their active assistance in the approaching campaign. There certainly would be no lack of local workers when the proper time came. The Reform papers along his route had demanded that he should deliver speeches, but talking was not the purpose of his tour, and he was not disputing Mr. Massey’s right of precedence in this respect. He had noticed that during his absence from Wellington insidious suggestions had been put about to the effect that the new party was making overtures to extreme Labor. This was utterly contrary to fact, and it was not fair fighting. Mr. Wiiford will start out on a visit to the east coast of the North Island shortly, and hopes to complete his preliminary organising tour by the end of next month.