WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 137, 11 June 1926, Page 12

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE PRIME MINISTER. BACK FOR THE SESSION. | (By Telegraph.—Pres« Association.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. The Prime Minister returned from his ; Northern trip yesterday, and imniedi- ■ ately applied himself to preparations for , the opening of the session of Parlia- : ment next week. He was not particu- ! larly communicative to the reporters who waited upon him for "copy" during the day. His Department, officially ' known as the Prime Minister's Department, of which Mr. If. D. Thomson is ; the permanent head, has now taken up ■ its quarters on the ground floor of the ; new portion of Parliament House, and ■ the corridors leading to the "holy of ■ holies" is to be partitioned off so that . casual visitors will not be allowed to i "blow in" upon the Minister in the free j and easy fashion that had been in vogue ; since the days of Bell and .Sewell and i Fox down to those of Seddon, Ward and j Massey. This arrangement, it is hoped j by those immediately concerned, will j enable the Prime Minister and his staff I to carry out their work with far fewer i interruptions than has been the case in | the past. It is announced afresh that a special officer is to be appointed to attend to Imperial and external affairs arising out of communications and consultations between the British and New Zealand Governments, but apparently Mr. F. D. Thomson cannot be spared from the Minister's right hand to fill this important office. Licensing Matters. At the annual meeting of the Wellington Licensing Committee yesterday several matters of more than passing interest were mentioned in the customary police report and commented upon by the chairman. The report referred to the fact that in some of the city hotels a certain amount of drirrking by women was going on, and the committee expressed the opinion that although licensees were entitled to serve women with a reasonable quantity of liquor, they should discourage drinking , by women in hotels as far as possible. The committee did not indicate the form the discouragement should take. After | mentioning two particularly striking instances the report stated there were i other hotels "fairly old and to some extent dilapidated." As the city grows, the report continued, it was essential that adequate public accommodation be provided, but that would probably only be carried out when the Licensing Act had been brought up-to-date. Possibly something might be done -this year by Parliament. The chairman referring to this suggestion said he under- j stood that an amending Licensing Act would be submitted to Parliament during the approaching session, with a view to removing some of the existing dif- | ficulties. This is being accepted as I further confirmation of the current story that amendments of a far-reaching nature are to be made in the licensing law thia year. As We See Others. A letter received by the Maunganui to-day from a New Zealander now on a holiday visit to Sydney gives a doleful account of the condition of affairs in New South Wales. "Politics here," - a paragraph reads, "are .in % ' deplorable state, and there is a perfect orgy of borrowing and spending. While the Commonwealth is over two millions ahead of its expenditure for the year, New South Wales is nearly two millions behind, and still wants to borrow another twenty millions. This is leaving it to posterity with a vengeance. There will be a washing-up some day, and then this State will be bankrupt. Although the strike for a 44-hour week has been practically settled in the men's favour, the engineers and metal-workers have not yet returned to-worlc, as they do not like the terms, while the T building tradesmen are now clamouring for a 40-hour week. The corruption in both public departments and private firms is simply awful and most barefaced. New Zealand is pure by comparison. Building is going on at a very rapid rate, and most of the big houses are either putting up new premises or extending their old ones skyward. The accommodation for' shipping is decidedly behind that of Wellington. The tran? service with nearly 4000 cars 'cannot cope with the traffic- and with the opposition of over 3000 buses." All this, it must be remembered, is through New Zealand eyes. A Taste of Absolute Control. Mr. George R. Northcroft, of Matainui, South Westland, writing in the "New Zealand Times" this morning, gives a discouraging account of the result of the application of absolute control, to his honey crop. "For years," he saysj "I exported my honey though a Dominion company, and was more than satisfied with the attention and results obtained. On account of other producers using Tooley Street firms and not returning j sufficient to cover the cost of production, I, with others, was compelled this season to ship through the Control Board.' Through the Dominion company the charges amounted to only 14 per cent on honey that realised 78/ per cwt, returning to mc 7Jd f.o.b. When shipment was made, I obtained a liberal advance, the honey was sold, and the surplus paid over within three months from date, of shipment. I was compelled, however, to send my shipment this season through the Honey Control Board in September, J 1925, eight months ago, and have not. yet received any advice or returns of it being sold." One of Mr. Northcroft's neighbours, however, has received account sales for his shipment last June, and baa found the returns to work out at s}d f.0.b., but he has not yet received his surplus. Through the Dominion i company Mr. Northcroft's charges amounted to 14 per cent; through the Control Board his neighbour's charges amounted to 30 per cent.