POLITICAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8493, 24 July 1907, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

!(From Our Parliamentary Correspondent.) ! WELLINGTON Tuesday. . Saturdays and Mondays are days of/ tribulation to the specianParliaraentary correspondent who is expected to> provide the usual budget- of political i information without regards tfc the fact that on these days there is no information to be gathered—no notes obtainable upon which to make comments. When the House rises about. midnight on Friday members consider they;;.have done their duty forthe week to their constituents, and. have fully earned the pay which a* Liberal Government has sanctioned' and a still more liberal- body of electors has approved. They (the members) go*home to sleep, and the time intervening between their awakening, and Tuesday afternoon is devoted 4 to personal business or enjoyment, or' to Parliamentary excursions ostensibly to see how things are progressing in one or other of the back-blocks but in reality to have a real good time. Last Saturday and Monday very few members were to be seen about the Parliamentary lobbies, and' none of them were greatly inclined to discuss politics. The general opinion among them is that the Budget debate will last a fortnight at least, if it does not conclude when; the House rises to-night, by which time the chiefs of the parties will have spoken. My own impression is that the discussion will not be limited to the chiefs, but that most of the members will be anxious to put on record their views on the taxation and land proposals notwithstanding; they will have the fullest opportunity for doing this when the measures are brought definitely before the House. There is naturally much growling over the tariff, but it is of the same character as that which has occurred over every tariff that has been submitted. Every manufacturer wants protection beyond anything that is proposed, while purchasers and consumers are quite as eager that everything they buy should be relieved of Customs duties. So far as members; of the House are concerned there isalmost a consensus of opinion that a; great and valuable work has [been accomplished in the revision of the tariff, though there are admittedly many serious defects in its composition. The two points in ifc which secure almost entire approbation are, first, the removal of the duty upon and, secondly, the substitution of a fixed duty of £1 per ton upon potatoes for the former ad valorem duty. The relief in the matter of sugar will extend far beyond the mere freedom of that article in connection with its ordinary domestic use. It will cheapen many manufactured articles which are household necessities—jams, preserves, and 'a. multiplicity of other commodities. The loss of £200,000 to the revenue on this one item alone is enormous in a small country like New Zealand, but in view of the continued record surpluses with which the colony has become familiar for years past, the reduction is considered warranted, especially as it will mean a direct and substantia! gain to those classes of the commu'iicy who have long been suffering from the excessive cost of living. The abolition of the ad valorem duty upon potatoes is viewed with great satisfaction because the potato disease which has ravaged the crops in the colony for the past two or three years placed potatoes in the category of high-class luxuries in the average home. The moderate fixed duty should enable potatoes to be procured at a reasonable price in the future. It .vill be a relief to the members of Parliament generally to know that

there is no possibility of an amending Licensing Bill coming down this session. This information was given by the Premier to a deputation representing the licensed victuallers' interests which waited upon him this week. There is no subject that creates so much turmoil or is productive of so much hypocrisy as the liquor question, and neither the Government nor House wants to see Licensing Bill brought forward this Parliament. A phase of the liquor traffic question will, however, be placed before Parliament this session in the shape of a measure to regulate the setting up of breweries and beer vending establishments outside the boundaries of no-license districts. The no-license people think that under present circumstances the facilities for getting beer into prohibited districts are too great, and an attempt will be made to met their remonstrance on the subject. The discussion' upon this will doubtless raise many other points in regard to the liquor traffic, for where the Prohibitionists are concerned, they are certain to call for an ell if they get an inch; but the Government is firmly determined not to go beyond its present proposal.