WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 October 1917, Page 1

WELLINGTON NOTES.

SECOND DIVISION. THE FIRST BALLOT. (Our Special Correspondent) Wellington, Oct 26 It was announced some weeks ago that the first Second Division ballot would be held on October 29 and apparently this arrangement still stands good. The Second Division, it may be of interest to re.call, is divided into six classes, class A consisting of married men without children, class B of married men with one child, class C with two children, class D with three children, class Ewith four children and class F with five or more child - ren. The classes will be called up in their alphabetic order and according to a computation made by the Government Statistician a month ago class A contains 20,331 men, class B 21,907, class C 24,823, class D 17,253, class E 10,498 and class F 11,320. It is expected that with the accretions of First Division men reaching military age each of the first three classes will be sufficient for three ballots and if this is the case the turn of the men with two children will not come at the earliest till the middle of next year. PENSIONS AND ALLOWANCES. The prospect of tlie first draft of married reservists being called up on Monday next, to go "into camp, it is understood, at the beginning of the new year, has given additional point and purpose to the protests that are being made against tlie Government’s failure to accede to all the demands of the Second Division League in regard to pensions and allowances. But Ministers are showing no disposition to reconsider fftefr decision. They claim to have gone as far as the finances of the country will justify them in going, and a fully informed Parliament having endorsed their contention there is little more for the outsider to say on the matter. But if the report that the Supplementary .Estimates are going* to make provision for the payment of another war bonus to Civil Servants should prove to be true, a large section of the public certainly will want to know why the men staying at home are being treated more generously than the dependents of the men fighting at the front. THE RAILWAYS.

The statement made by the Hon \\ r . H. Herries in the House of Representatives on Wednesday night concerning the management of the State railways has not satisfied the Minister’s critics that the curtailment of train services is helping j in winning the war. Apparently Mr ITerries would have the public believe that the services have been cut down in order to meet the demands of the Defence Department for men and supplies, but as a matter of plain fact the withdrawal of certain travelling* facilities has not increased the military efficiency of the country by a single man. What it has done is to involve the State in a very grave financial loss. With abundance cf labour available, with miles of rolling-stock lyingidle, and without rhyme or reason, it has turned thousands of pounds worth of business away and put the community to endless inconvenience and expense. To attempt to make a virtue out of stupidity of this sort is not worth) 7 of a Minister of Mr Herries’s standing. WATERED DOWN. Tlu* report of the Cost of Living Com mitteo has keen watered down to suit the sensitive, palates of the party leaders and its amended form is not likely to occasion much perturbation 111 the ranks of the. exploiters. The Food | Controller remains as part of the Com- | mittee’s scheme, but be is to have no “plenary, powers” and he is not to engage in State trading. He is to bo simply an advisory official, privileged to report to tlie .Minister of Industries and Commerce and perhaps to offer him suggestions; but on no account must lie commit the Government to anything or complain when his ad wee is ignored. A. majority of the Committee would have clothed him with union greater authority and perhaps would have made him independent of Ministerial control, but the party leaders would hear of nothing of this kind and now the report may make. its way into soniei departmental pigeon-hole without serious loss to anyone. TEACHERS AND PREACHERS. As Sir James Allen, the author of tlie measure, put it last night, there was nothing contentious in the Expeditionary Forces Amendment Bill except the clauses affecting teachers and preachers. The Rill proposed to leave the clergy and the member# »f Hht 11 teaching profession to he dealt with by tbo Military Service Boards in the ordinary way and it was around this proposal tlie discussion in me House resolved. Final;)* Sir Joscpn Ward, who had explained his own 'dews very clearly in u?ie of the nest speeches lie has delivered this session, moved for the exemption of all tea chars, including the Marist Brothers. The division which followed was almost entirely on party lines, thirtytwo members of the old Opposition Party and three Reformers voting “aye ’ with Sir .Joseph Ward, and twenty-eight- members of the old Government Party and three Libera Is voting “no” with Mr Massey. The deflate which preceded ifhn division, though sometimes approaching perilous ground, was marked by die utmost good feeling and it i s hopej a, fruitful bone of contention is now safe I v out of the wav.