WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 74, 27 March 1916, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE WAR. SPECIAL SESSION. (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, March 24. Few people here are so frankly optimistic over the conclusion of the war as the Mayor of Bakdntha proclaimed himself to be the other day, but there is a very general feeling in both political and military circles that the approaching northern summer will see the Allies definitely victorious. Two or three months ago when the outlook 'was much less encouraging than it is to-day Ministers, who may bo supposed to have better information than is available to the

average newspaper, reader, spoke confidently of the German resistance being broken before the end of the year, and the military authorities held on. to the volunteers for the June and j July Reinforcements little hope rf j taking part in the actual fighting. The Minister for Defence himself, who in these days stands somewhere between the politician and the soldier, does not add the perils of prophesy to the worries of office, but it is evident from the little straws that blow about his department that, while preparing for the worst, he is hoping for the best. A sadly disappointed recruit who failed to pass the medical examination to-day owing to some temporary defect was told by an officer in > high command that it would be no good offering his services three months lienee as by that time no further - reinforcements would be required. .It would be easy to attach too much weight to a statement of this kind ( which may have been intended tr soothe the man’s feelings rather than to convey a professional impression, but it is obvious to everyone that never since the beginning of hostilitim has the community taken a more sanguine view of the war than it is taking at present. THE RECRUITING PROBLEM. The local evening paper is alarmed lest this growing confidence should seriously interfere with recruiting by inducing young men who ought to be at the front to. hold back with the excuse that their services are not needed. It takes the vary opposite view to the one entertained by the Mayor of Balclutha and other cheery people, and solemnly warns the public against thinking of peace this side of Christmas. "We have to realise,” it in-' sists, “that we are in for a long war and that we must make provision ac- 1 cordingly. It is not by weeks or months, but by years,, that we should estimate the length of the war in making our plans. . . . The people who talk peace are still our worst enemies.” Probably there is some danger of over-confidence impairing the martin? ardour of the nation, but there is a happy medium between blatant optimism and gloomy pessimism, and surely it is possible to fill the ranks of the Reinforcements without throwing

i the whole community into a state of nervous apprehension. Auckland, whose “method of its own” the Minister f<jr Defence seems somewhat inclined to deprecate, is showing 4 what can be done by the active, persistent appeal, and if only other districts would follow its excellent example and the Minister would settle up those outstanding questions concerning soldiers’ dependents, a vast load of anxiety would be quickly removed from the shoulders of the authorities. The men will have some semblance of an excuse for shirking their duty just so long as the politicians continue to shirk theirs. THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

The stir occasioned in London by the Commonwealth Prime Minister is not unlikely to have some effect upor the political situation in this countij. Mr. Hughes has given the British public quite a new conception of the Australian “labour agitator” and the • British Press is hurriedly revising its views of the Dominions’ proper place jin the scheme of Empire. In these cir--1 cumstances, New Zealand cannot .afford to lag behind Canada and Australia in the “pourparlers” that are now going on, and it will not be surprising if Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward pack their portmanteaux ..somewhat earlier than they considered necessary a week or two - back. Mr. Hughes, by his breezy talks and during proposals, has given a fresh zest and an increased importance to the/ Ministerial trip. But there is the session of Parliament to be got through before the two party leaders can leave, and this promises to occupy at least a couple of months even if the disgruntled members of the House should jbe on their best behaviour. If they shoiild not be, Ministers might be kept here tiD the end of July or August, It may be hoped, however, that the good sense and 'courtesy of the majority will prevail, and that every reasonable facility will be given for the transaction.. of the necessary business. Of course, the question of leadership during the absence of the two senior Ministers will be decided by the Cabinet, but if its choice should fall upon Mr. Alien, as, apparently, it must do, there will be loud murmurings from a number of members who refuse to bo reconciled to the Minister for Defence on any terms. This is the main difficulty in the situation. Ho-w it is to be overcome is a problem sadly perplexing the collective Ministerial mind. THE WOOLLEN MILLS TROUBLE. The woollen mills trouble seems to be making no progress towards a settlement. The Petone operatives a»lege that the employers are seeking to involve the southern mills in the dispute, and the employers assent that the operatives themselves are trymg to extend the trouble. Mutual recrim- ' inations are doing their pernicious work and for a time the spirit of con-

ciliation is entirely absent. The workers date their grievance back to the beginning of the 1 war, when the operations of the Arbitration Court were suspended for some months, leaving an agreement made at a conference held a few weeks before only partially fulfilled. When the Court resumed trs sittings the employers,, so the secretary of the Petone Union says, took advantage of the delay to save £3,000 or so at the expense of the operatives. Against this the employers claim to have varied none of its terms. The point is not very relevant, to the present trouble, as the Petone workers suffered no financial! loss, but it is one of the peculiarities of quarrels of this kind that they flourish on quibbles and side-issues. Now the breach between the parties is being widened by charges of victimisation, which establish at least a prima facie case of strange indiscretion against certain employers, and at the moment it i hatrd to say how far the trouble will go. Meanwhile those of the mill hands capable of taking outside work seem to have no difficulty in finding remunerative employment. Labour is in such demand here, indeed, that many of them are likely to take up permanently other occupations than the ones in which they have been engaged at the mills.