WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 February 1919, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

PARTY UiNRESi, . ■ .. [ DISSATISFIED MEMBERS OF j PAliUAMltN'i'. (Special Correspondent.^ ' Wellington, Feb. a. The rank and file of tiie two old political parties no lunger trouble to disguise their dissatisfaction with ttie present political situation. Reform and Liberal members of the House discuss .together their grievances against tlie National Government quite frankly and join in good resolutions to reaasert tiie authority of Parliament at tiie earliest possible moment. Many wembws on both sides of politics have been fretting under tlie party truce from the very first, but it was not till last session they fully realised how impotent they had become under the rule of a Coalition Ministry. The private member, they complain, has been reduced to a legislative nonentity, a mere marionette in the National Government's scheme of things, and yet he has to pose before the country as a representative of the people and accept a measure of responsibility for legislation and administration of which he may entirely disapprove. THE ONLY CURE. A member who was returned to the House as a supporter of Mr Massey wid whose independence never has gone beyond loyalty to his party, chatting over the position to-day declared that nothing sliort of a general election could cure he torpid condition into which Parliament had fallen. He did not think the Reformers and the Liberals were any nearer to amalgamation than they were five years ago, but whether Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward would remain in the positions of leadership or whether they would make way for younger and more daring men would depend very largely upon tiie use they made of their last' opportunity. The country would not stand still. Unless tlie old leaders were prepared to interpret the lessons of the war with some imagination and with much conception and understanding they would fail ignobly in the great task that lay before the Dominion. This authority, a political veteran with many years of service to his credit, se«s no peril in the activities of the extremists, democrats and socialists, but he fears much from the sloth and indifference of Hie mass of' the electors. Though what is known as the Efficiency Board's licensing poll is now only two months or so away the general public appears to be taking very little in-tero-t in the issues to be decided The meetings held bv the contending parties, tho prohibitionists and the moderates, are well attended and resolutions favorable to the views of the particular party in possession of the platform are carried with apparent enthusiasm; hut the prospects of the referendum have ceased to be a subject of general discussion. Both parties are a little disturbed by the si]»ncp of the great body of voters. The prohibitionists admit that the electors actually within their organisation are comparatively few and that without the assistance of the unpledged voter they iV'll have little chance of success. Th» moderates on their part are nervous their half-hearted sympathisers should allow the poll to go largely by default. T'nless a bomb drons from somewhere this very easily may happen. ARMY SUPPLIES. Amidst reports of waste and extravagance in tlie equipment and administration of the Defence Department it is re'assuring to have a statement from the Hon. A- M. Myers, tlie Minister of Munitions and Supplies, to the effect that the lio\eminent ims made no loss in connection with the various contracts for supplies that had to be suddenly terminated upon the conclusion of the war. At that time contracts involving an expenditure of half a million were in existence, but the Government had taken the precaution of inserting in all its later agreements a clause sproviding for such a contingency as arose when the German resistance collapsed. Commitments under the forage and food contracts, for instance, reached some £43,000. but owing to tlie foresight of the Minister the amount payable by wav of compensation did not exceed £B7. *The business head in politics again has been justified by results.