WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 April 1922, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE POST AND TELEGRAPH REVOLT. GOVERNMENT MAY INTERVENE. (Special Correspondent.)

Wellington. April 7. The determination of the Post and Telegraph Officers* Association to join forces with the Alliance of Labor —the One Big Union—is still the talk of the town. The local newspapers are unanimous in denouncing the action of a majority of the members, and in urging the Government to intervene. Rarely have they been in such cordial agreement on any national topic. The Dominion likens the designs of the Alliance of Labor to those of the Russian Communists, and consigns them to the same inevitable failure and disaster. The New Zealand Times declares that “no Government worthy to be called a Government can accept the situation created by this very ill-advised, most rash ballot,” but it is willing to allow the Prime Minister and his colleagues a little time to think over the matter. The Prime Minister, grateful, no doubt, for the days of grace, is thinking the matter over very seriously, and probably will make an official announcement in the course of a day or two. He at least realises the gravity of the situation as fully as do his many advisers. A DIFFICULT POSITION. The position is made all the more difficult for the Government by the fact that before the ballot Ministers were urging every member of the association to record his vote. This did not necessarily imply that they approved of the question being submitted to the members of the association, or that they were prepared to accept the verdict whichever way it might go. But the friends of the Alliance of Labor are putting it that way. and arguing, plausibly enough, that the Government has no right to interfere now. On the other hand, there are individuals and organisations insisting that the Government. having failed to pronroit the ballot, must make amends for its negligence by prohibiting the affiliation. But Mr. Massey cannot afford to move in this fashion without being sure of his ground. Ho could not have prohibited the ballot, and it is very doubtful if he could prohibit, the affiliation. What he could do would be to let the members of the association unoerstand quite plainly that the public, through its constitutional representatives, remains its master, and that no* outside interference of any kind will be tolerated for a single moment.

SHADOW OF ELECTION. The approaching general election is foreshadowed by the elaborate arrangements being made for the preparation of the rolls. The Electoral Department is thq chief agency in this activity, but during the next six* or seven months it will be making big demands upon other departments, particularly the post office, for assistance. It is certain now that Parliament will open at the usual time in June, and that the session will run into at least four months. This will leave members little more than a month to woo their on the spot, even if they are lucky enough to get away so early, and as there are bound to be a number of new candidates in the field, the sitting members may be sure of a strenuous campaign. The Reform Party ta its organisation well in hand, and Labor, of course, is always on the alert; but the Liberals do not yet appear to have made much progress towards effective consolidation. Mr. Wilford may have something to say on. the subject shortly, but at the moment he is not seeking undue publicity. BOOKMAKERS’ PETITION.

The bookmakers, whose calling Parliament has solemnly denounced to be criminal, are out in the open with a petition solemnly asking the same Parliament to put them on-side with the law again. “It is common knowledge,” they say in one of their advertisements appealing for signatures to their petition, “that the suppression of the bookmaker .has been more or less of a farce.” In this there is a good deal of truth, but the fact remains that there is gambling and gambling, and that the variety encouraged by the great majority of bookmakers in New Zealand is not good for society or for the State. However, that is not the point for discussion just here. A matter of more immediate consequence is that numbers of people are signing the bookmakers’ petition under the impression it is being promoted by the Sports Protection League. a body subsidised by the racing clubs and other sporting bodies for the protection or their interests, and entirely opposed to Ua of bookmakers.