WELLINGTON ITEMS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7267, 30 November 1901, Page 4

WELLINGTON ITEMS.

[From Our Correspondent.] WELLINGTON, Nov. 30. The Opposition Press here is straining I every nerve to make capital out of the reI ported dismissal of 800 men from tb.9 northern railway works Ifc matters nothing that there were not 800 . men on the I works to dismiss. A trifle like that does not prevent t-ke Opposition rumorisb from . dismissing that number without recourse. He wouU have dismissed 20,000 had it bjen necessary. But there is one-'' thing even move wonderful than- that. It is the discovery that the dismissal of thesemen has conclusively proved- that ihe Treasury is bankrupt. This discovery has been made several times every 'year since this Government has been in office. In 1831, the Government having been one week in office, the Colonial Treasurer was, in spite of all precaution*, heardi to sneaae, and at ones the discovery was announced that the Government was galloping to a deficit. It galloped, on the contrary, to u> I surplus, but that did not keep it out of the bankruptcy court maint3.fiE.ed by tifce Opposition for the east igat ion of its sins. The surplus developed into an unexampled; series, but the immediate consequence was : a. series of prnphetic bankruptcies. '. The Government paid a sum over from revende to Public Works and t&ere never' was, ' according to the opposition, a surer sign of bankruptcy. The transfer became chronic, swelled 1 up to over two millions sterling, and the Opposition faid there never wais go awfully depleted a Treasury. The consistency of the Opposition critics is simply wonderful, and woneirfully worthy of a better cause. Thus it happens that a rumour comes along of the usual exaggerated Auckland complexion about dismissals in some mythical rart of the north, [ and at once we are gravely requested not to wnit for connrraation, bxit- to buy ths " Mercantile Gazette " for the particulars of the total -collapse of the Government. j The plain fact, of course, is that nothing like £00 men bav? b?en dismissed. Some hundred or two have been disturbed, and some dispensed with, and some merely shifted. The wonderful' thing is that in the very hour of the successful floating of a million and a half loan (now positively assured) any critic should have been so forgetful of his reputation as to bark i:p the old familiar wrong tree of financial drought. In the matter of the Flour Tru?t and the baker?-, I append a letter appearing in the *' Kvening Pest " from a recalcitrant baker, which is interesting in a degree : — " Regarding the matter between the Master Baleen? and Millers' Associations and their monopoly of the bread and flour trade, or their desire of monopoly, I was rather surprised to find when I went to some of .the merchants yesterday afternoon that- some of the agents or principals had been before ni3 and 1 warned them that if they supplied me with flour the great combination would not supply them. ■ I should most likely 1 have let t'hern take their own way and I min&, and wot- said ranch about it; but since they have interfered with my business I think I have just cause of complaint. The Master Bakers' Association Pfiy this agreement with the millers is not to* raise the price, of bread or flour, but I say that it is for no other purpose] and any business man wiho knows anything about business will come to the same conclusion. The very fact of trying to s'lmt up those who are 'selling bread at 2^d per 21b lo:if will undoubtedly prove it. Why raise the price °f bread to 3d at all when flour rose only 10?, or at the most 15s, per Ion? But the Bakers' Association put the bread up nearly £3 per ton. They complain of the wages they have to pay. I 'have to give 'ths same* rates, and 1 I say without fear of contradiction that 2£d: per 21b loaf for cash will pay me and them better than 3d booked for* you don't- know how long. But when these large bakeries get- the small ones to come to their price, it is really feeding them at the expense of the small bakeries." One gho^t evoked by th& success of the system, of unimproved values lias been succesii-ffilly laid. The City Solicitor has infoimed the Council that the hanging of the* proposal to rate on the unimproved vahu dues' not affect the liability of any per.' on to pay rates. It means that all nut-s are to be levied on the land values, ar.'.l il::it the Corporation tenants must still pay rates. The scare on this score may now be regarded as over.