WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 February 1923, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

AGRICULTURAL BANKS. . MR. POLSON’S PROPOSALS' (Special Corespondent.) Wellington, Jan. 29. Mr. W. T. Polson, the very live Dominion President of the Farmers’ Union continues to urge the establishment of agricultural banks as the sovereign remedy for all the ills from which the rural communities are suffering. He ridicules the Rural Credit Associations Act, providing facilities for farmers banding together for the purpose of lending money to one another, which was passed through Parliament last session, and he scoffs at the professors of economies who cast cold water upon his own scheme at the recent Science Congress. Mr. Polson’s proposals will be placed before the next quarterly meeting of the Executive of the Farmers’ Union, in the shape of a Bill drafted for submission to Parliament, and meanwhile the Dominion President claims to have the sympathy of a great majority of the producers in the efforts he is making to lighten their burdens. But the representatives of the producers in the House are not at all likely to find the Government disposed to pledge the credit of the State to an unlimited amount in order that the farmers may obtain money at a lower rate of interest and with a smaller margin of security. THE GOVERNMENT’S ATTITUDE. The Prime Minister wqs perfectly frank upon this point when explaining in the House last session the provisions of fiis Rural Credit Bill. He was quite prepared to provide every possible facility for the farmers helping themselves, but he could not ask the House to give financial guarantees to an undertaking it would not control. In financial and business circles this stand was entirely approved and still is approved, and Mr. Massey himself has shown no disposition to weaken on the point. The mere fact of this suggestion being made, indeed, 'brought forth so many suggestions of a similar character that the Prime Minister must see now more clearly than ever the peril of embarking upon such an enterprise. In his draft Bill Mr. Polson very judiciously keeps the Government's association with the scheme in the background, but he has not attempted to disguise a clause which provides that “payment of the moneys due by the bank shall be guaranteed by the State.” This is the essence of the whole matter. Other clauses might reduce the risk of the State to a minimum, but experts here hold that, in any circumstances the acceptance of Mr. Polson’s proposals would amount to a grave misuse of the public, credit. THE MAYORAL OFFICE.

Many good citizens of Wellington are sadly perturbed at the possibility of a Labour candidate succeeding Mr. R. A. Wright in the occupancy of the mayoral chair. Labour is the only party with any sort of municipal organisation in the city and its success at the. Parliamentary election has seriously alarmed its opponents. They declare that with a Labour representative in the chair the rates' would be quickly increased and the well-considered policy of the City Council thrown out of gear. These arc not altogether gratuitous assumptions, since Labour has been talking wildly for some time past of the revolutions it is going to bring about when it lays its hands on the municipal governing machine; but they do not seem to take into account the brake that can be applied by a vigilant Council to the chariot wheels of l an over-zealous mayor. The chief magistrate enjoys administrative privileges of his own, but his spending powers are restrained by the will of the constituted advisers. However, the . scare will do no harm if it brings about a more rational . system of electing mayors. Preferential voting is the protection from feather-brained administration, many of the municipal electors here are urging.

POLITICAL POSITION. The local newspapers have ceased to make speculations concerning the political position and the party leaders remain equally reticent on this all-im-portant question. It fell to the lot of Mr. Wilford on Saturday, as member of the district, to welcome Mr. Massey at the opening of the Eastborne Carnival, and they sustained the roles of host and guest with perfect propriety, suggestive of nothing but warm personal regard and goodwill. It. is understood, however, that Mr. Massey, while assured of sufficient support in the House to defeat any no-confidence motion with which the Labour Party may be associated, is not over-pleased by the prospects of. being kept in office by the votes of four or five disgruntled Liberals. If he is to carry on, he will insist upon having a sufficiently strong force at his back to pass such measures as he may think desirable in the interests of the country, and to administer them effectively. He has made his determination in this respect known, not only to his pledged supporters, -but also to those members of the Liberal Party who are prepared to assist him in resisting the encroachment of extreme Labour.