WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 157, 4 July 1921, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

POSTAL REFORM BY SMALL DEGREES. (Special to "Star.") WELLINGTON, July 1. When the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, a week or two ago, took the Post Office authorities to task for the irregularity of the oversea mails, and the unnecessarily early closing of the interprovincial mails, the local papers Jin (i npvpr n, "word lo s<iv in support of the business man's protest. Such is the way of the Press of the capital city. The politician is legitimate game for poignant criticism; but the public servant in his thousands must not bi> touched by sacrilegious hands. But really individually and collectively the public servant is quite amenable to the reason of plain facts. The Chamber of Commerce overlooked the most flagrant of all the incongruities in the service, the closing of the southern mail at 0.15 p.m. to catch a boat leaving the Ferry Wharf, 300 or 400 yards from the Post Office, an hour and a-half later, but the association in these columns of this long-standing grievance with the complaints of the chamber has led to the extension of the closing hour to 0.45 p.m., ajid to much consequent rejoicing among the users of this pari ticular mail.

I SAYING THE RATES. ' It looked for a time as if no one would raise a voice against the "Saving the Rates"' policy propounded by the new Mayor in his dolorous statement concerning the financial straits of the city. Mr. Wright had gloried in being of the old school which required every man to pay for his own recreation, and every municipal service to be conducted on a strictly commercial basis. But at last the "Dominion" having ■ taken thought, rallies Mr. Wright upon his antiquated notions of civic government and its responsibilities. "In a modern city,"" its says, "areas devoted to openair sport and recreation are just as necessary as streets, and the ruling aim ought to be to make them available on as liberal a scale and on as liberal terms as resources will permit." And then, unkindest cut of all, this champion of j the newer school suggests to the adIherent of the old t:mt what Wellington I needs is not cheese-paring economies, but closer, and more intelligent attention to the management of its various trading enterprises. I I~N-EMttX>YMENT. 1 In a statement i<sue<l this morning, ' the Minister of Labour remains optimistic in regard to the unemployment question. The position is not growing worse, the Labour Department reports, and Mr. Anderson accepts this as an indication that the steps taken by the Government are sufficient to meet all the immediate necessities of the men out of regular work. But the Labour organisations are taking scarcely the same view af the situation. They allege, rather vaguely, it muftt be confessed, that Jthere are hundreds of men out of employment, nno will accept the lower pay offered by the Government only as a last resort and who in the meantime are rapidly exhausting their little savings. If this is really the case the needs of these idle hundreds are not being brought under the , notice of private employers. That there are men ■out of work and that their number is

likely to increase during the next month or two is obvious to everyone, but it is incorrect to say the city is crowded with willing -workers uTiable to find employment. Statements to this effect are quite unjustified.

SOLDIER SETTLERS. The Government and the Land Boards still are being delugeo <vith applications from soldier settlers for reductions in rent, and in the capital valuation of their sections. The Minister of Lands is meeting these applications iv a generous spirit, wherever good cause for consideration can be shown, b'lt he has no authority to make permanent reductions in rent or in capital valuation, and the most he has been able to do so far is to authorise the Land Boards to postpone the payment of rent up to two years without charging interest. But while this gives the men temporary relief, and to this extent is very acceptable to many a struggling settler, it does not lessen their ultimate obligation, and there now j s a growing agitation for the revaluation of all soldier settlement land. This aims at an amendment of the law which would shift the loss entailed by the decline in values from the shoulders of the settler jto the shoulders of the State, and there is a pretty general feeling in politk-al circles here that the agitation will succeed.