WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 August 1922, Page 10

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE RAILWAYS. STILL LOSING MONEY, (Special Correspondent). Wellington, August 12. The statement made by the Hon. D. H. Guthrie in the House on Friday to the effect that the daily loss on the operation of the railways had been reduced from £4,770 to £2,1'60 did not arouse any particular jubilation even among the Minister s political friends. They. like other observant people, realise that the saving is due to a reduction of services at great inconvenience and loss to the community. On the revenue side of the account the earnings for the year show a decrease everywhere, in the North Island amounting to £110,465, and in the South Island to £13,067, which means that the public is not using the lines to the extent it did. twelve months ago, Tind is turning to other means of transit and transport where ever possible. The extent to which the railways are being deserted for the roads may be judged from the report that sheep are being carried by motor lorries, running side by side with the. lines, from Palmerston North to parts of the Taranaki district, a distance of some 150 miles. Savings that drive traffic from the railways cannot be economically sound.

MR. MeCOMBS’ INDISCRETION. Mr. McCombs’ assertion that the Commission which adjusts the electoral boundaries every sixth year had been guilty of gross impropriety was mentioned in the House again on Friday afternoon, when Mr. David Jones protested strongly against gross imputations being launched against the members of the Commission under the cover of “privi-. lege,” without the support of a tittle of evidence, and challenged the member for Lyttelton to repeat his statements outside the House and “to put up sufficient cash behind him to ,make it worth while,’ so that the Commissioners might obtain at the hands of the law such redress as was due to them. Mr. Jones’s indignation at the suggestion that the boundaries of his constituency had been “gerrymandered” for the purpose of assisting the Reform candidate at the approaching general election was quite natural, but the member for Kaiapoi bordered on the ridiculous when he implied that the negotiations between the Liberal party and the Labour party to prevent vote-splitting were just as heinous as woulctjjave been such a grave impropriety a£,.J£r. McCombs had attributed to the Commission. These politicians sometimes betray a strongly distorted sense of proportion. SUPERANNUATION More than once lately the Prime Minister has expressed himself as concerned in regard to. the actuarial soundness of the various superannuation funds. Of course he has not suggested for a single moment that there is any danger of the State being unable to discharge its obligations to its retired servants, but he has emphasised the need of overhauling the whole system of superannuation so that it may be placed on an equitable and sound basis. The subject was brought up again in the House on Friday, perhaps by arrangement, when Sir John Luke asked for a statement showing the position of all the funds. The Minister of Education, whose Department had been pointedly mentioned, said he was satisfied a further contribution of £25,000 or £30.006 a year would be required frbm the Government to place the E acation fund in a satisfactory position. Subsequently the Prime Minister stated that all the funds were in a similar plight, and that the problem would have to be faced sooner or later. The time was not opportune for a further large grant, but the matter would be kept in mind and handled later on.

THE ELECTIONS. Through the chances of the various sections of His Majesty’s Opposition materially improving their position in the House at the approaching general election do not appear, at tne moment to ■be very rosy, their respective leaders appear to have no difficulty in finding candidates of a good type ready to enter the fray. Mr. Wi-I ford, the leader of the Libera! section has been singularly fortunate in this respect—assuming the announcements, published in the papers to be correct-—and it looks as if he would be able to put into the field a team of forty or so not unworthy of the brighter traditions of the party. Whether or not Sir Joseph Ward will be a candidate is a question still unanswered, but if he should decide to again offer his services to the country it probably will be through the medium of

one of the city constituencies... His presence in tho House would not necessarily embarrass the present LiberalLabour organisation, and it would be warmly welcomed by a groat number of people who do not see eye to eye. with him on minor political questions.