WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14047, 18 July 1916, Page 8

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

A RAPID PASSAGE^. THE HAPPY FAMILY. (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, July 14. Sir- Joseph Ward's readiness to accept what;";lie regarded .as reasonable amendments m the Finance Bill ensured ah easy passage for the measure through committee, and a few minutes after 2 o'clock this morning it Was reported m its much improved form to the House. The Minister's tactful piloting of the Bill during its later stages, without the assistance of Mr Massey and Mr Allen, who ai*o still kept away 'from the House by influenza, has" made amends for the somewhat' crude shape m which it was first introduced. Sir Joseph did 'hoi wait for members t-y quibble and haggle over the various a'auses m committee, ' but dealt himself -with tlie various amendments suggested during the second reading debate, accepting those he thought desirable and firmly rejecting those he could not entertain, with the result that the critics wena left with little inclination and less excuse for obstruction. He . indicated m those dulcet tones he invariably eniplbyV'whfen he' has 7 made up his mind to a sat purpose that he wished the Bill to go through committee at pUe sitting, and to the mild astonishment of a House which twelve hours before had expected the discussion to occupy a week, he a*ot his way. .It was a fine example of felicitous leadership. '■<■■> NATIVE LANDS. 7 .-;■ lands' do not m these days occupy the attention of the House so dlten as they should, but the presentation of the annual report of the Native' Lands Department yesterday afternoon gave several members an opportunity to relieve their pent-up feelings on the subject. , Mr Jennings, the member for Ta*umarunui, told of a transaction m the-On-garue district, where, ne alleged, within, the last three years a man ■ liad been allowed to* acquire 13,000 acres of Maori land for purely speculative purposes ih defiance of tlie .first pirinciple cC all the recent land legislation" of the country. Mr Horasby reiterated His' protest against the "Native Minister's siipineness m deal, ing with .wliat "he called "a land swindle," a 'transaction tojiich affected the reputation of -'''a great profession and- 'a great public, •■'depaHment.*'" ••;:.^itfry^XL pointed to tlie danger lurking in.'tfe3aSv. providing for Ehropeanisiiig 'Maoris^ which, he said; Avas' more['3ike]y/.*to be used In robbing the Natives' than' 'iii • benefiting them. : Mr Parata'; the -t^pre-* sehtitive. of '^liei'SoutKern.. .Maori 'district,*' fi*alraed his, indifetmejit jof the'adJrainistra r lion o$ the^D'epkrtirieht on mdjbe geiieral grounds..' 7He asserted that ■s&tive£jtikd been 7 wrongfully .i^einoved .."JfiwhTt-- their laij{jt[j,'by the iate Government', ■a'iid' that many of them had been rSifticetl to abject poverty. Tlie Minister's reply 'was not quite so reassuring as ..Ms "friends would, .have . liked. , it., to be. He .^ould make^iquiries concerning * Mi* ' Jennings' . aU^a&oh, and he would .consult. , the At^Tftey-General about' the' Kerehbma affair, but the only comfort he could offer to the House at the moment was his own belief that "fifty years'.-- 'hence the Mam-is will have become completely merged with the pakeh&y, and:- there will be no need for different laws for the two races." Unfortunately, the Minis- - ter's, remarks .VT&ft cut . short by phe, fiy.etn^'^./'adjonrhmeni, and *he oei-taihl'*/ shjflid-be invited to return to .tlie subject. What he did say was calculated raTfier to aggravate than to allay the prevalent feeling ol; dissatisfaction. "NHNISTERTAt'RIin^ITb^S.;' s, Jjir-'an ••-••• article commenting upon a speech delivered by Mr Russell :at- a lnn^gjjM*"**.; given to the officers of the Japanese warsliips m Auckland, the New ZealSfijd Times pokes.; more or less point-ed-fun- at the Minister of Internal AffaiKa. for having told the country's .distinguished* guests of the harmony prevailing between ,the members ... of ..-^he.. National Cabinet. Perhaps tlie subject is -not -one of any great public interest, the average person taking it ►"or gwanted that both the Liberal and the Reform Ministers are observing the 'compact -with which- they entered the Cabinet; i but some people are industriously spreading stories of Ministerial dissensions .wliich are as unfair to' the gentlemen immedi-. ately concerned as they ar© discreditable to their authors. There, are differences of. opinion m Cabinet, of course— "-very marked differences — and the' -.prospect- of a permanent coalition between Liberals an'd-*Re*formQr3 is .eyen mtore i*emote than it was' when they were strenuously fighting the 'Bay of Islands and Taumarunui second elections, f . But the purpose for which the. two rpar ties joined forces is just as urgent to-day as it was a year ago, and Ministers, recognising this tfact, are scrupulously observing the spirit of the party truce. ( This, of course, involves the sacrifice of : "principles" on both' sides, and the Finance Bill in' its first . crude shape was a very good example of the kind of legislation suoh compromises must produce. . , Sir Joseph Ward, eyen if , the parties had riot been equally- divided m the Cabinet, would ihdt' have beeii justified in7 semn^ih'eopportunity to promote purely Liberal taxation. His obvious .duty was to take ; the line_of least resistance— -to got the money lie wanted m a plain business-like way without favoring the "views" of one side or the other — and that is exactly what he"did. : To talk of a Minister re-t-igning during li crisis like this simply because he cannot' get all liie own way, is^Jtp^Jalk nonsense. Perhaps loyal sellf-restraint rather than harmony is the "term Mr Russell should navej_employed, but the occasion was not oiie ron. which he was required to make any Academic distinction between cause anid- effect. " * CHFJAP "^BEAT.--Although the Prime Minister is still pßerehted by illness frojth.'; faking his 'pl"stcV"in the House, he was able to attaelv^iis name to some of the -written rej-^fc; to questions given m 7the House yesterday att^rioon. ,, vQne of- these was fa tKe # jeff ect.^ha^ he, ( was., m y cpmmunicaMinister of the Ctorahionweaith in regard to'a cablegraj£|*rccelved.' fr<mr 'gyTdney last week', stating thaf while tile 1 ' price of wheat' for" export lla^Tbeeri fixed m "New South Wales- at 5a l^d , . the; tprice. . of . wheat for the hmniifacture of export flour had 1 been fixed at 4s 10£ d f.0.b.. It would be ih-