WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160712, 27 July 1920, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

NEW TAXES STIFF POSTAL AND TELEGRAPH CHARGES. (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, July 26. "When in his first War Budget Sir Joseph, Ward raised the postal rates by one halfpenny a packet all round and the telegraphic charges in a corresponding ratio, he expressed a hope that the increases would be only temporary. Even in 1915 we had not quite realised that winning the war was gomg-to be a long business, and Sir Joseph, as the author of penny postage in this country, naturally was reluctant to abandon the jrinoiples he laid down so emphatically twenty years before. But the war dragged on and involved the Dominion in such an enormous burden of debt that every source of revenue now has to be exploited, and probably the National Government, had it remained in office, would have been compelled to do what the Reform Government is doing now. THE LIMIT. Many business people are inclined to think, however, that the increases m poet and telegraph rates announced this morning are just about the limit, arc so high, that is, that they will force all classes of the community into economies that were rot practised when the last increases were made. Individuals and firms, they contend, who were accustomed to paying only a penny for a fcur-car.ce letter will hesitate about paying twopence for a two-ounce letter and will out down their correspondence accordingly. Telegraphing will became a luxiiry. The twenty words that used to cost a shilling will now cost Is Bd, rnd cm Sundays and holidays the charge will be 3s 4-d. Lati fees will be simply* prohibitive, and we all shall be bound to keep up to time. OUT OF WORK. ’ There was another slump in the House of Representatives on Friday night when members hurried the whole of the business through at suck a rate that the evening sitting lasted less than an hour, and at 8.20 the Prime Minister took tho adjournment for the week-end'. The Opposition, good-humouredly is chaffing the Prime Minister for having complained of the waste of time during the early part of the session, and now being unable to keep the wheels going round for four hours a day. The Prime Minister’* friends are retorting that the Opposition is not playing the game by allowing business to go ahead at such a pace, and that no one could have foreseen that Monday's Order Paper with the subsequent additions would be practically exhausted by Friday afternoon. However, everyone is glad to have the decks clear for the delivery of the Financial Statement on Tuesday. THE OPPOSITION ATTITUDE. The Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald strongly resents the suggestion, “even if it were made in jest,” that the Opposition is neglecting its duty by facilitating the work of the House. He made it perfectly clear before Parliament met, he says, that this would be the policy of the Liberal Party, and his determination was in no way affected by what happened during the first weeks of the session. The “want-of-confidenc'e” motions did not aspire to ousting the Government from office, but to getting a better definition of parties, and this end was undoubtedly achieved. The Financial Statement wai what the country and the representative* of a majority of the electors wanted to see, and he did not think the Government would have any occasion to complain of tho attention -the Opposition would devote to the -document.