CURRENT TOPICS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7140, 30 May 1910, Page 7

CURRENT TOPICS

TUB WEST COAST. TUo Priiuo Minister, .spuaking t<* a '*Timtio" representative la.-rt uigut, mentioned an uitm-eatirig fact lu connection with railway ULvedopnu'uC on tho West Coa*t. “1 lot GpjyiiiuulU/’ ho Kaid, ‘'at tho ordinaly time, 7.1. 1 ' a.m. <;a Saturday, and rcaonod Wellington 7.-0 turn. uu Sunday. From <Juhs down to Broken River I I ravelled on Hie ballast (pain, but thm portion of th<* line? is ex* peeled to bo ready for traffic iu about Tour or iivo month.*, which will then enable people from VWliington to reach 4ho West Coast in very quick time. At jjrecent the track of the unfinished po tioa nun only take a- ballast vngin© and hut they are getting on with tho work remarkably well, and within tho next l' (, w months people will he able to got from Wellington to Unymouth lu twenly-four hours. ami vice versa, a journey that \i*cd to occupy at least three days, t I'ound tiling- on tbo W e.st Coast generally prosperous. ul pl material progress has beta made .since my visit there two years ago. The only industry that doo 1 * not appear to bo doin" well at tho moment is the timber industry, duo to minced output from various cau-ns, and attributed by the mill-owners to the importation of Oregon pi no, and the restriction of building operations caused a little while back by tho financial stringency. However, I found businovri pdople <>n tho Coast in good heart. Activ> mining development is going on by the various companies.* Frenh capital 14 coming iu. and this is helping to galvanise the industry couMdorably.” THE CROAKERS. - Speaking at Owaka on Friday night, tho Uon. T. Mackenzie said Regarding the future, he would say to those croakers wli.i alleged Hint Uu* public debt was inctvaCng -ami the cost of adn. inUtrarion swilling that it did not much matter what was borrowed so long as tho method by which the money was spent was right.—(Applause). Tho future was full of hope, and tho outlook was encouraging. Tor a time New Zealand hud suffered ns the* result of the great financial crisis. The British mar-' kets wore depressed, and money was scarce. Then America —the cans© of tho trouble—was backed up, Britain recovered itself, industry was stimulated, and the markets gradually and steadily improved,. and the effect improvement was apparent in New Zealand today. Ife was sure thero was great: prosperity ahead, and ho repeated the cry ni a Government supporter: “Only give ns a chance," No Government had over eet it sol £ so determinedly to work to make the public service efficient, curtail unnecessary expenditure, and improve the position of the Dominion 'as this Government had done and was doing. Therefore, he thought the Government should have more credit and less censure. AN ANOMALY OF THE LAW. Whoa tho Hon. J. A. Miliar was at Tirnaru on Thursday (says tho “Herald’b, .Messrs J. Mcßao and J. Lillico (proprietors of tho Tirnaru Woollen AHLhs) waited on him as Minister of Labour, and put before him tho ridiculous position iu which thev have been placed through the local labour agent calling upon them to close their mill on Thursday afternoons insFehd of on Saturday afternoons, as in tho past. They pointed out that it was impossible to run woollen mills with a break in the middle of tho week, as a stoppage meant spoiling so much stuff, ana they also stated that in no part of tho world did woollen mills give the half-holiday on. any day but Saturday. Tho Minister said ho sympathised, with thorn, for ho know that a woollen mill, to be run,* successfully, must have an unbroken !run for at least five days of the week; but the law said that in towns where* tho people had decided in favour of tho Thursday half-holiday, factories, like other places, must cloeo on that day, and under those circumstances ho could do nothing. Ho mentioned, however, that an amendment of the Act would bo introduced next session, with a view to getting ov er tho difficulty. On Monday next the South Canterbury Woollen Company will bo prosecuted on. a charge of not giving tho half-holiday on tho Thursday. - They give it on the Saturday, and always have done so, unconscious of any breach of the law. THE STRENGTH OF LABOUR. . Writing from Lyttelton under date 27th Inst, a correspondent saysj—'“To those who say that tho Labour party is going t:> scoop Now Zealand tho following is in tercsting ; Yesterday an election took Place at Lyttelton for a member to represent the town cn tho Harbour Board. Three candidates stood for the vacancy—a former Mayor, who own? a largo number of houses; a retired business man. and tho secretary of the Stevedores' Union. Tho latter was the Labour candidate, and Mr T. E. Taylor came down to speak for him. Tho secretaries of various unions were all working for Turn, and tho Trades and Labour Council lan him with all its strength. Mr McLaren, M.P., had a month before urged the electors to run Labour men for all local bodies. In addition to that, the ■candidate himself is a man of first-class and good ability. It was a splendid chance for the purely Labour man. Lyttelton is a town of worker* The franchise was wide enough, every householder and wife having a vote. The result of tho election was'an eyeopener. Tho former Mayor polled 427 votes tho retired tradesman 285, while tho Labour candidate only secured 182 votes; that is, the Labour candidate in an ‘ ’essentially labouring town, under most favourable circumstances, secured barely one vote out of every five cast, and not one-tenth of tho householders entitled to vote supported him."

iTHB AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT i The Minister of Agriculture, in his _Owaka speech, referred to what had ■been done by the Agricultural Department, and how that department had far ,more than justified its existence and icost. The sum of .1180,000 had been spent ‘■in improving their system of grading fond export, and in consequence the outUnit had improved by .£3,000,000. This i year 35,000 calves had been inoculated togainst disease, and great areas of lands i'infested with noxious weeds had been hand had been experimented (with, and many men and women had been shown how to make a livelihood by growing fruit. Attention had been .given to the export of fruit and better * prices received. Attention bad been given to the question of making the lauds at present useless highly productive. They were improving the dairy herds and providing methods of checking the disease now frequently carried by milk and whey. The utility of the Agricultural Department was, he thought they would acknowledge, of the Highest order indeed.