WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 96, 24 April 1926, Page 18

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE WHEAT MUDDLE. ANOTHER DEPUTATION TO MINISTER. ? (By Telegraph.—Special to "S'nr.") 'WELLINGTON, April'-22. The announcement that another Canterbury deputation is coming to Wellington to urge the Government to increase the duty on imported flour in order that the millers may be able to pay the farmers a still higher price for their wheat has provoked some caustic observations from both merchants and consumers. It would he a mistake to ajssume that the North Island is adverse to reasonable encouragement being given to the South.lsland to grow sufficient wheat each year for the requirements of the Dominion. That is, not the case at all. The North concedes readily that the principle urged by the Canterbury A. and P. Association and the Canterbury., Chamber of Commerce, that the duty on the manufactured article should be greater than the duty on the equivalent • raw material used in its manufacture, is sound. It is axiomatic mall countries that seek to protect their local industries, through their Customs tariff. But it is a common belief iii the North that the millers already are enjoying this advantage, and that a higher duty on imported flour would mean simply an additional subsidy to the producers and the manufacturers and a further tax upon, consumers. Hitherto successive Ministers '-of Agriculture have accepted without any sufficient investigation an arbitrary commutation of the quantity of wheat required to make a ton of flour, and it is- more than merely suggested that they already have all the protection to which they are entitled in the 10/ per ton to the duty on flour a year or so ago. Prudence and Top-dressing.

In addressing- the Wellington Chamber of Commerce yesterday, the Hon. W. Xosworthy. the retiring Minister of Finance, struck a more optimistic note than he has allowed himself -for many a long day. He took the million odd surplus for the .year just'closed as an indication not only of the prudence of the Government, but also .pf the prosperity of the country. It is true he deplored so large a proportion of the surplus was derived from increased Customs revenue, which meant, he feared, the public was not concerning itself sufficiently over the maintenance of the balance of trade. But this was only a passing : warning'that the value of the imports of the. Dominion again was showing a dispo'srti'dn to creep' Up to the value of : its exports. This liaturally is a sympton that disturbs every Minister of Finance, whether at the beginning or at the end of his term of office. Mr. Xosworthy. pins his hope for the future upon top-dressing. "We must remember," he told the gathering of business men, "that"for sixty year's we have been taking the good out of the land all the time and putting nothing back. I believe that by general topdressing we could double the production of thisr<country in a few years, if only we Went about it in the right way." This is another, tribute to'the gospel of intensive farming which the Hon. WPember Reeves, with • his knowledge of what other countries are doing, revived during his recent tour of the Dominion. Non-paying Railways.

The "Dominion" this morning is at some pains to explain to its readers that the policy of the Prime Minister in charging the loss on non-paying lines to the Consolidated Fund, and not to the Railway Account, is in keeping with fchj principle laid down by Sir Henry Thornton in dealing with a similar "problem in Canada. In the sister Dominion the annual loss on non-paying lines amounts to rather /more than ten millions. In New Zealand it is still well under half a million, but it is showing no tendency to decline. No one L.cquainted with all the circumstances ever has thought it unfair or impolitic to charge the losses on non-paying Jines to the Consolidated Fund. A generation long past is responsible for the construction of the great majority of these lines, and it obviously would be inequitable to specially-tax the users of the'lines today for the -blunders of a former age. Mr. -Coates is facing the position philosophically. "A close study of the question, he says, "shows that it is practically impossible for the railways to materially increase the volume of traffic from agricultural and pastoral Country. Any addition to the tariff rates or reduction in the services would drive a considerable; amount of business on to the roads. The only alternative is to endeavour to reduce operating expenditure:" Probably the Minister will come to realise by and by that the'substitution of good roads for the non-paying railways is the only satisfactory solution of the problem.

The Lesson of Eden. Dr. \y. A. Chappie, who for many years has advocated a reform in the electoral systems that would avert the worst, evils of vote-splitting, wants the Prime Minister to explain what lesson he"< wishes- the people of the Dominion to learn from the Eden by-election. "Is it," he asks, "that a party caucus should deprive a constituency of a free and a wide choice of sending a member to Parliament? Is it that a woman must be boycotted and picketed and dragooned if she dare offer her services? Is it that all. public-minded /citizens, who think they could serve the general good by being in the Parliament of the country, must be' ignominiously branded as 'vote-splitters,' ; and be deterred by a parity caucus holding them up to public odium?" Dr. Chappie answers his own question. He maintains that it is none of these., and proceeds to explain that the "alternatives vote" system would have prevented .all the difficulties that arose during the Eden campaign, and would, have, given the candidate towards which the preferences of a majority of the .voters tended the seat. Dr. Chappie very rightly declares that the present system of voting is a negation of liberty and democracy alike, but by insisting upon ; the voter attaching a preference number to all the names on the ballot paper, "however numerous," lie keeps on: perpetuating an objection to the system which has • done much to retard its .adoption in this Country. Surely with-a-dozen offering themselves for election it Would be ■unnecessary for a voter to give preferences to all his political opponents as .well as; to all his political friends.