WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 February 1917, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

MINISTERS' BURDENS ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, Feb. 9. The Order- in-Council fixing the maximum prices of wheat and flour differs in one very material respect from previous regulations issued under the legislation dealing with the cost of living Hitherto the Minister of Industries anu Commerce has been given the necessary authority to set the machinery of the law in motion, but in this instance the responsibility of initiating proceedings has been east upon the Minister of Agriculture. As it happens, Mr. W. I). S. Mac Donald, in addition to being ActingMbister of Industries and Commerce, is also Minister of Agriculture, and so long as he is filling the two offices the wording of the Order-in-Council will be 01 little consequence; but when Mr. Massey returns to the Dominion and resumes charge of the Industries and Commerce Department he will find it shorn of one of its most important functions. Probably he will be glad enough, however, to be relieved of one of the numerous burdens he has tnlcen upon himself and to allow Mr. Mac Donald to continue his persistent efforts to give effect to the Olovernments' good intentions.

THE WEAKENED MINISTRY. It seems now to be taken for granted, though no definite announcement on tlw subject has been made, that Mr. Masscy avil Sir Ooseph Ward will not be back in Wellington before the end of May oi the beginning of June, and naturallysome curiosity is being felt here as to how the Ministry will get along in the meantime. Dr. McNab's death will throw a good deal of additional work upon Ministers whose hands already are more than full, and the demands upon them are not likely to grow less during (he next three or four months. If twelve Mmistr-s were necessary to cope with the business of the country eighteen months ago, twenty would not be too many to-day, and yet the number has been reduced to nine, and two of these arc honorary members of the Cabinet, who ought not to be expected to give up the whole of their time to the public service. That Sir Francis Hell and Mr. Flauan are doing excellent work in spite of their anomalous positions everyone knows, but it is about time the public bewail to realise that the circumstances being what they are Ministers cannot be at the beck and call of every individual who has a request to prefer or a grievance to air.

THE LIBERAL LEADERSHIP. _ A more delicate, but less serious question is the Liberal leadership during Sir Joseph Ward's absence. Precedence, or scriority or whatever else distinguishes one junior Minister from another, is not of much moment when the leader of the party is present, but when he is away it is quite another matter. Dr. McNab made an ideal locum tenens for his chief, in that he was-scrupulously loyal to the spirit of the party truce and possessed the. entire confidence of the leaders on the other side. There is much speculation as to his successor. If seniority is to decide the matter, as presumably it did in the case of Dr. McNab himself, tlir. choice will fall upon Mr. G. W. Russell; but it is an open secret that either Mr. MacDonahl or Mr. Myers would be mere acceptable to a majority of the Cabinet, and, of course, at the' moment, flic Acting-Minister of Finance is holding Sir Joseph Ward's most important portfolio. People who see significance in the fact that Mr. Russell rode with Mr. Alien and Mr. Hemes ahead of his Liberal colleagues nt the ceremony in connection with Dr. MeNab's futiera'l are straining after signs and portends. The appointment will have io be made from London.

PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION. Mr. Russell's statement that no Commission will be set up to define the new electoral boundaries till after the next session of Parliament ban revived tho hopes of the proportional representationists that the Government is seriously considering the adoption of their cure for the political ills of the country. The Minister's own explanation of- the delay —that it is undesirable the new boundaries should be made known while there are two sessions of the present Parliament ahead—will carry conviction to no one. In war time it is necessary to Withhold from the public information that would be of value, to the enemy, but the readjustment of the peoples' representation can hardly be included in this category. Nor would Mr. Russell or anyone else think of suggesting that a member's zeal on behalf of bis constituents would be lessened by tho know, ledge that he might not require the assistance of some of them at the next general election. Then, if the Governineivt really has proportional representation in contemplation, it ought to let the electors know as early as possible so that they might have an opportunity to discuss the proposal in all its phases before its submission to Parliament. Supprise legislation on a question of this Fort would be utterly inexcusable.