WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 January 1917, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

The Absent Ministers. Rumours and Speculations. (Our Special Correspondent.) Wbllington, Jan 22 The prospect of the meeting of the Imperial Conference not taking place till the middle of March has S9t in circulation a fresh crop of rumourß concerning the movements of Mr MasBey and Sir Joseph Ward. It is reported now, on what seems to be fairly good authority, that Sir Joseph will come out in advance of his colleague and that on his arrival here be will assume,'by virtue of his office and seniority, the position of Acting Prime Minister. The alternative to this arrangement would be for both Ministers to attend the Conference on behalf of New Zealand, exercising, of course* only one vote, and for the meeting of Parliament to be postponed to such time ae their absence might make necessary.

Tbe general feeling is, however, that Sir Joseph would prefer resuming his work here to unnecessarily prolonging his Btay in Londou, and that this division of labour and responsibility would be more in the inteiests of lh9 dominion than would dual representation at the Conference. It might be a great advantage to the Minister remaining behind indeed to have his oolleague in New Zealand conferring with the other members ot the Cabinet aDd advising him as to the local developments of sentiment and opinion.

SUCCESSFUL CONCILIATION The acting Minister of L?.bour was confronted last week with a muoh more difficult and delicate problem th«n the one he had to handle in connection with the Drivers’ dispute a month or two ago. An Admiralty collier had arrived here with a cargo of coal which the waterside workers, under tbe impression that it bad been loaded for strike breaking purposes, refused to tonob. Representations through the usual offioial channels having failed to move them from their determination, Mr Herries decided to make a personal appeal to their good sense. This he did on Friday, addressing several hundreds of them in their own waiting room on the Queen’s Wharf, and with sueh admirable effect that on the following morning the coal was being poured oat of the vessel with a right good will.

The Minister assured the men they were mistaken as to the character of the cargo, which was required to enable the Government to keep its engagements with the Imperial authorities, and promised them an extra sixpence an hour on account of the dusty nature of the coal. The conclusion of the incident was entirely creditable to both parties, particularly to the Minister whose frank statement of the position appealed no less to the men’s sporting instinct -than did his ready good humor to their sense of fair play. WAR AND RACING.

Enquiries from a number of prominent sportsmen attending the Wellington Racing Club’s Summer Meeting have produced a fairly representative expression of opinion from one section of the community on the propriety of racing in war time. Almost without exception they prefaced their remarks with the assurance that if the curtailment of racing or its suspension altogether would appreciably assist the Empire in the present crisis they would throw in their lot heartily with the abolitionists. But they could not see that this would be the case. Racing itself was making very substantial coti ba nns to the Pnblio Revenue, and lacing men were not among the least generous supporters of Patriotic FuntJ#. As for the cap-

ply of men, sportsmen as a class had not been backward in volunteering, and the Military Service Act, whether raoing w,ere continued or not, would reach every man fitted to take his place at the front. His appearance there would not be hastened a single day by throwing him out of a job. OieoHhe gentlemen interviewed, a large North Island owner snegi sled that the racing clubs should be iequir9d to furnish a return she wing tho amount of their payments to the Treasury and the number of owners of military age and of trainers, jockeys and stable hands residing within their districts. From this return, he contended, the Government could decide if abolition were necessary or desirable.

NAITONAL ORGANISATION. Although Ministers declined to give any definite information on the eub* jeot, they do not discourage the prevalent idea that lately they have been discussing a scheme of national organisation cf some kind or another. Just what is on the board it is impossible to disoover.

A member of the Cabinet, replying to a direct question put to him yesterday, hinted that an announcement of some couaequence might be made in tho course of a few day 3, but beyond this he refused to commit himself. Probably it will be found Ministers never have entertained sueh heroic measures as are being attributed to them by their sanguine friends. In ilie absence of the Party leaders their colleagues collectively are not displaying a great deal of daring in grasping the various social and industrial problems arising out of the waz-, and it may be doubted if Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward, judging from what the publio has been permitted to learn of their attitude towards such questions as have been submitted to them weald prove much more courageous if they were on the spot. Mr W. D. S. MacDonald, with the assistance of the Board of Trade, has Bucceeded in staying tbe upward tendency in the prices of certain commodities, but beyond this the Govern-

ment has done very little to meet the exceptional conditiono by which it is confronted.