WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 July 1922, Page 11

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE LIGHTER SIDE OF POLITICS.

THE PRIME MINISTER IN HOLIDAY MOUD. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, July 10. Between races at Trent!)am on Saturday, Mr. Massey, whose new-born interest in racing is probably official rather than personal, chatted interestingly on the lighter side of politics. He had a good joke against himself. The leader of the Opposition had introduced to him on the steward’s stand a prosperous looking gentleman who claimed to have been working for him for several years. He could not recall the faee, though he thought he had a good memory for hie old employees and did not like to let any of them slip out of his recollection. He felt his way warily, speaking of his farm, public works, political contests, and so forth; all to no purpose. No shadow of a cue was forthcoming. Ultimately, however, the prosperous looking gentleman, with a twinkle in his eye, helped him out of his difficulty. He was an owner of racehorses in a small way, and all the money he had made out of them, and a little more, had gone into the State Treasury in the shape of taxation. The Prime Minister wished, that every taxpayer might go just as cheerily about his job.

OPTIMISM. Mr. Massey regards optimism as the very salt of life, and cultivates it as he might any of the other cardinal virtues. It was optimism that sustained him through the long years he spent in Opposition, and it is optimism that is making his occupancy of the Treasury ■benches tolerable now. He admits that could he have foreseen twenty years ago the task in which he is engaged to-day he would have hesitated to follow the bent of his political aspirations. But being in it he deems it his duty to look out for the bright side of things and to make the best possible of the dark side. This is a comforting philosophy, endorsed by all the sages, and in his holiday mood Mr. Massey would apply it to the present Opposition. It is a very good Opposition, he says, good in that it provides Parliament with many points of view and does not embarrass the Government by insisting upon any of them. In this respect it is entitled to much credit and in others it discharges its constitutional duties very well.

SOLDIER SETTLEMENT. THE GOVERNMENT’S TASK. Speaking at the Soldiers’ Carnival at Levin Sir Andrew Russell, who has been named as the Independent Reform candidate for the Hawke’s Bay seat at the general election, gave some indication of the candour with which he will criticise the Government when he is fairly established within the four walls of the House of Representatives. He did not blame Mr. Massey and his colleagues for having acceded to the popular - clamour for soldier settlement on the easiest •possible terms; he did not dwell on the fact that they had paid extravagant prices for much of the land they purchased on behalf of the returned men; •but by implication, at any rate, he soundly rated the authorities for having placed the men on costly land without any practical training and without any serious regard to their adaptability to the rural life. To these grave omissions he atti nites the failure of many of the soldier settlers and the precarious position of many more. The amends he demanded were the immediate revaluation of the soldier settlers’ sections and the remission of the rent they obviously were unable to pay.

CASE FOR THE GOVERNMENT. The Dominion, taking up the cudgels on behalf of the Government, without any particular reference to Sir Andrew Rustsell’s remarks at Levin, scores a point against the critics by pointing out that they themselves have provided, a strong reason for delay in making a readjustment -by emphasising the fact that the worst difficulties of the soldier settlers are due to the poor returns obtained in a period of abnormal depression. “It cannot seriously be suggested,” it contends not unreasonably, “that land in process of being purchased by the settlers, or held on long leases, should be revalued with reference to these temporary conditions.” The Dominion’s first step towards the solution of the admittedly difficult problem would be to set up a small expert committee to determine the conditions of immediate relief, which in many cases is sorely needed. But Mr. Massey is not particularly anxious at the moment to instal yet another committee, and he thinks the public and the soldier settlers should be satisfied meanwhile with the assurance of himself and his colleagues that every case will be considered on its mertis and with an earnest desire to give all the relief the circumstances will allow.