WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 January 1917, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

The War and Politics. Activities at Home (Our Speoial Correspondent.)

Wellington, Jan 19 The statement by toe “Diiiy Chronicle ” in regard to the recommendations for electoral reform made by the joint committee of the House of Lords and House of Commons, cabled to the evening papers on Tbuis* day, got sufficient siart of tbe contra, diction of tha Pies* Biroau to set people here drawing oomparkons between the attitude of the Imperial Government aud the attitude of the New Zealand Government towards domestio legislation.

Members of Parliament on both •ides of the House, as well as a much larger number of outsiders are still t expecting the statement of the “ Daily Chronicle” to prove very near the truth and to find the Imperial Government dealing with electoral reform, including proportional representation, without waiting for the con•luaion of the war. In any case an effort will bs made here to have the subject considered on non-party lines dnriug the Eext aecsion of the Dominion Parliament, On this point a number of members have expressed themselves as quite doterminad.

THI TWO MAJOR-GENERALS An artiole appears in the “New Zealand Times” this morning drawing a somewhat invidious comparison between the services aadthe rewards of Sir Alexander Ras:e!l and Sir A. Robin. The writer insists that the spirit of justioe, etriot, impartial and clear-sighted, obould always animate the system of promotions and rewards, and then implies that this haa not been the case in the distinctions conferred -upon these two officers. The one, he says, has gained every Btep and honor on the battlefield and the other was not fortunate enough to be sent to the front and, therefore, - has had no battle service and no campaign service.

. The oritioism is not likely to attract much attention outside of Wellington, but it seems only fair to Sir A. Robin to say for wide publication that be- has nsed every effort military discipline will permit to get to the front, and baa been detained in New Zsaland only by the desire of the Minister to bave hi 3 assistance in getting through tbe vast amount of military work that has to be done in the Dominion. POPULATION AND REPRESENTATION.

The number of teats in the House of Representatives that will be lost by the South Island and gained by the North Island, as a result of the census is still the subject of some discussion here. When the figures were first an* nonnoed the Minister stated that the North Island probably would gain four seats and possibly five, and he has not yet amended his calculation; but a closer examination suggests that the exchange of seats will not be more than two.

The North haß increased its preponderance by 75,495 souls and apparently by dividing, this number by the probable electoral quota Mr Russell has reached the estimate of four or five seats.

But the little earn does not work out in exactly that way and in 1911, when the North increased its preponderance by 54,087, the transfer was only one seat. Of course, the transfer of two seats from one island to another would make a relative difference of four, the North gaining two and the South losing two, and perhaps that was the point in the Minister’s mind. RIVAL DEPARTMENTS. Among the aftermath of. the holidays is the usual number of complaints from travellers concerning the confusion created by two Government Departments connecting for the tourist traffic. v

Intending holiday makers go to the railway booking office under the impression it is the Tourist Bureau, or to the Tourist Bureau under the impression it is the railway booking office and when half way through their trip they discover that some concession or convenience they might have obtained from one institution is not inclnded in the ticket they lave pnrohased from the other. This naturally is very annoying to the individual and as both institutions seem about equally to blame State control is roundly denounced and the business drifts away to private enterprise. * From the public point of view there is the still more serious aspect that work costing £2,000 or £3,000 a year in one office might be done in the other, a couple of hundred yards away without a penny of expense