WELLINGTON TOPICS

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 November 1920, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS

,1 I ‘CO"STp'OF‘LIVING.‘,‘ ‘PRIME _l'\/lINIS'IN'ER -OPTIMISTI-0. -(Special'Correspondent.) T__ 1 : , W__ELLING~TON,' November 'B. - ' Mr. Massey isiinoit always optimistic in}t_lle'se:"difficult_ dlays; Once ‘o'l-“twice lately‘ he has‘. struck dolorous V notes concerning the’ finances “ of theUcoun—'try and 'l're:luently has warned the public tllatiexp'eilditure'must not 'go onpmounting up as it has been doing in‘ the recent past. * * In‘ the House "of Representatives on Friday, however, he expressed quite ’a. cheerful view in regard to the -cost of-living—'—cheerful, thatr is, in comparison’ witlrthe actual experience of'm‘any a. sorely perplexed housewife. -' He thought that the cost of livinghad reached its maximum and that in the near future ’there would be an appreciable decline, Potatoes were down and tea. was down. The bottom had fallen out of the hides market and there was fan oversupply of wool. ‘Consequently there must be a drop in the prices of" boots and in the prices of clothes. A ‘ V

. coLD~coMFoRT. ‘ These statements were received in the House without any great outb'urst of enthusiasm. So few _nlembers pretend to know anything about high finance or obstruse questions of (mono mics that the Prime Minister’s little ‘e».\jcursions aflong these lines 'l'ane‘-11-y )provoke any discussion. Outside Parliament, however, ‘there are scoffers who refuse to believe the decline in the price of potatoes and in the price of tea is going to be of any material advantage to people who really need relief. They say that even on Mr. Massey’s own figures the saving to a family of three _or four will not be more than a shilling a week and will not nearly counter-balance the increased cost of butter. Then, they say, there is sure to be dearer bread and dearer milk and no immediate reduction in the prices of either boots or clothes. . PERILOUS POLITICS. The division in the House of Representatives on the Legislative Councifs amendment to the Marriage Bill is attracting more attention than has any other incident during the present session. The question seems to nave been decided on strictly party lilies and people are refusing to believe that practically all the 'Reformers honestly felt one way and practically all the liberal‘ and Labour members honestly feltitho other way. The alternative is the assumption that a very considerable proportion of the members. on both sides wereswayed less by their concern for the marriage law than by their experiences during the election campaign. It would appear from what was said in the House that the Protestant Political Association took a very active part in the campaign and that in doing so revived in the politics of the country a. very perilous element most people had supposed to be dead.

TOTALISATOR FRACTIONS. It is eigiected that Mr. l\lassey’s proposal to “collar” the totalisator fractions for public purposes will lead to the racing clubs paying out the exact amounts of the dividends and so avoiding, the creation of and surplus. This, it is understood, was done by the Queensland racing clubs under similar circumstances and proved a satisfactory solution of the difficulty. Of bourse, strictly speaking, the money belongs to the investors, but so far they have been quite content that it should remain with the clubs to be ap. ‘plied to the purposes of the sport. No one obtains any personal advantage from the present arrangement because proprietary clubs are strictly prohibited by law in this country, but if a new arrangement is to be made it would seem only fair to give the investors a voice in the disposition of their money.