POLITICAL NOTES.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15341, 2 October 1917, Page 5

POLITICAL NOTES.

(From Our Parliamentary Special.) WELLINGTON, Septqfnber 30. This week’s proceedings in Parliament will have several interesting r. features. TJie Sale of Liquor Restriction Bill, wit,h the 6 o’clock alosing clause, is to make its appear-* ance again .in the Legislative Couhcil after passing through the hands of the Statutes Revision Committee. The Cost of Living Committee is to make its report, and the 'consideration M the War Pensions Bill is to be resuiried in committee. The House is likely have a further opportunity of debating -thp Expeditionary Forces Bill, ufhich proposes the' of clergy. The business of’the Statutes Revision Committee, ~'in dealing with the Liquor Bill, has been to devise a fair method of re-adjusting rents as between' licensed and view of the reduction of trade/ owingto early closing. The financial position qf many of the hotela. is qufte extraordinarily owing to the presence \)f sub-lessees, the payment of premiums, and qo forth, and the selection -at\ a proper" tribunal is likely to prove difficult. The report of Ih© Cost, of Living Committee. may produce legislation. Th© committee has heard a great deal of evidence from all parts of New Zealand, and its members ought by this time, to know something more of the causes Underlying high prices than they did when they began their investigation. But it is a safe prediction that they will not devise any scheme for bringing the cost of living down materially at this stage of th<j war. New Zealand, as a matter of fact, is better off than most other parts of the world as far as the prices of necessaries are concerned. Th© sectarian issue ,loome largely ip connection with the .exemption for . clergy proposed in the Expeditionary Forces Bilf It has been something of a revelation to discover how" much of the, old sectarian bitterness exists ,'f/seix within the walls of Parliament, Cabinet discussed war pensions on Saturday, and although Ministers state that they have reached no .definite coil-, elusions, there is reason to believe that they will make some improvementsvin directions that have been suggested to them by members and by the Second Division League. The League has made ,a n impression on Parliament. Whether that fact is due to the. ..weight of its arguments, or to a consciousness on the part of members that it represents in some degree over 200,000 husbands and wives, all voters, iq a nice question for students of politics to answer. / Some people are failing to realise that the crux of the pension problem is the wide variation of, the wages and salaries that : families have beeip.-'accuehorned to enjoy.' 'The average wage of the New Zealand worker does not exceed «£3 per week spread over the whole year. . The wife of th© worker, if her husband falls at the front, will receive £2 a week for herself and 7s 6d for each child. Obviously a woman with two schtldretp. will be better off financially than before her husbaiyi enlisted, since a substantial/ portion of the J33 went to feed and clothe the husband. Byt the position is quite different when on© comes to deal with the woman whose husband used “to earn from ~£s to .£lO per week. The pension rat© represents sacrifice to her. The same'argument applies to the ques-' tion of allowances,-as anybody may die-cover-by a little calculation. !