WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 January 1917, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Th 3 Farmers and ihe War. Prices and Frofits. (Our Special Oorraspcnlent.) Wellington, Jan 5 1 An aootymous correspondent of one 1 of the local papers, writing over a 1 nomde plume which implies he is one i of th 9 injured individual*, protests i again it the vary general assumption 5 that the farmers are making enormous profits out of the war. He claims t that by the-end of the currant tinan- < cial year the farmers, in addition to 1 paying the heavy land and iceome rtaxes and Castoms .duties imposed t upon them by Parliament, will have E contributed, direcily or indirectly, e over eight millions sterling to the public revenue or for the public welfare during the twelve mouths. He sets out his figures with impressive precision. The commandeer, ing of meat, wool and cheese wi‘l have ( cost them £5,996,990, the butter-fat s levy £308,309 aud the war tax of 45 j per cent on the excess value of their . products £2.000,000 a total of | £8,305,299. The figures mean, of course, that if the farmers were allowed to fix their - own prices they coaid make£,6305,299 more out of the New Zealand publio , and the British Government than thny , will obtain under the present arrangement. But the correspondent makes no mention of the foot that even as things are the farmers are receiving higher prices than they ever have re-' ceived before or of the still more relevant fact that it is the supremacy of the British Navy, maintained by the effort of tha whale nation, that enables them to reach their profitable market. " . STATE CONTROL The cablegrams published during the last few days suggesting that State Control of the liquor traffic is . one of the reforms the Imperial Government haa in contemplation have , excited a great deal of inlere d; here ( among people who are not prepared to go to the whole ‘length of prohibition and yet despair of getting satisfactory results from the present licensing system. Mr Massey has pronounced definite- , ly against State Cent ol aud though hia trip Home and his intercourse with more d&ring politicians may ( lead him to revise his attitude to- , wards many social questions he is hardly likely to signal his return by renouncing the profession’ of faith he made in the House only Dst session. Bat Sir Josoph Ward members of the National Cabinet are warm supporters of State Control, and if the Prohibitionists would withdraw their illogical opposition to the reform it almost certainly could he carried through the present Parliament. The objection of the oxtremiatu ia

the tempo;o ca pvt.- : o ay hmg in .the shape of a j-iinprom sa is that it would divert votes from their own particular care for the evils of the t drink traffic, but ihe refounsrs main--5 tain that the adoption of State Con--3 trol instead of prejudicing the Pro- ' hibitiociats’ cu<3u would really help it ‘ by getting rid of the proprietary in--1 terest that bring 3ao many guns into 1 action at polling time, 1 EDUCATION BOARDS. * The annual confer nca of the New Zealand Educational Institute, which 1 has been cailjd, not improperly, the teachers’ Parliament, handled the Education Boards very roughly at its Bit ing on Wednesday and finally passed a remit celling upon the Government to abolish tk9 Boards and sst up a National Board of Education in their place. The gentleman who moved the remit declared that the Boards were a hindrance rather thau a help towards the efficiency of the education system end that tb3 administration was very unwise and often wasteful, while the gentleman who seconded it supplemented this very grave indictment by saying that during the last twenty years they had “acted injudiciously, waatefully aud even corruptly.” This extravagant language has provoked - the kio(l of comment that might have bean expected. It ;8 being stated that ;he Minister’s advisers are anxious to get rid of the Boards in order that the whole management of the education system may fall into their own hands aud that they are makiDg use of disappointed and disgruntled teachers towards achieving their end, The conference was by no means unanimous on the subject, there being thirty-eight voles in favour of the remit and twenty-four against it, and the fiienoo of the Boards are urgingj apparently with somo reason, that it is rather lor the school committees, as the representatives of the publio, than for the teachers to determine the fate of the local administrative bodies. THE WATERBIDERS. Since the troubles of 1913 the waterside workers have considerably strengthened their position in th 3 Labour world and to-day they probably are the biggest factor in determining between industrial peace and industrial strife. Their agreement with',the employers, which gave them a substantial improvement in wages and conditions, expired two or three weeks ago—on December 18, to be precise—and it ia mainly uncertainty in regard to their freah demands that is causing the talk concerning an impending strike. Tba members of the Onion held a meeting last night, at which somo 1,2U0 were present, and adopted the new proposals it is intended to submit to the employers. These for the moat 1 part are in the direction of removing 1 an'-malies and ambiquitie?. bat prob. 1 ably it will be shown by the men’s 1 representatives that the increase in < the cost of living sincß the last agree. 1 ment was male would justify a oor- i responding increase in the rates of ( pay- j If the workers are not in the spirit , the employers displayed at the last - conference there will be no difficulty in reaching a satisfactory settlement. * They are not looking for trouble and they are hoping to obtain the concessions they are seeking by a frank i statement of the facts. .