WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 89, 13 April 1916, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

RECRUITING. UABOUR TROUBLES. (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, April 10. The Jnembers of the Wellington War Recruiting Committee were moved to some plain speaking at their last meeting by the resignation of Captain Barclay, the Committee’s chief executive officer, who despite the weight of some seventy odd years has dene splendid work since the beginning of the war in getting men into camp and to the front. Needless to say, the Captain’s resignation was not accepted, but it was made the peg on which to hang some very trenchant criticism of the Government. Mr Luckie maintained that the whole trouble in connection with recruiting was occasioned by Government mismanagement. Dr. Newman contended that the authorities had as persistently underrated the good work clone by the Committee as they had obstinately rejected its suggestions. Mr. Von Haast attributed the failure of the voluntary system to the refusal cf the Government to grant adequate pensions and allowances and to establish receiving camps in the principal centres and Captain Barclay himself declared that if the Committee could not get the assistance of the Government in practical things it might as well discontinue its efforts to secure men. A majority cf the members of the Committee expressed themselves as strongly in favour of conscription, apparently in the belief that the resources of voluntaryism were Avellnigh exhausted, and refused to believe that the personal canvass urged upon them by the Recruiting Board would be anything but a hopeless business. One member, the Mayor cf a suburban borough, objected to the persona! canvass because it might lead to the canvassers being asked why they did not induce their own sons to volunteer for service and another objected to wasting his time on the work while the Government failed to call up men who had already enlisted. A meeting is to be held this evening with a view to getting 250 volunteers to make a systematic canvass of the city, but at the mcment it looks as if the Committee was weary of welldoing and not in a frame of mind to inspire its workers with much real enthusiasm.

CONSCRIPTION. No doubt the feeling that conscription in some form or another is inevitable is growing throughout the North Island. Whether this feeling is justified by the circumstances or whether it is the fruit of persistent iteration by certain politicians and certain local bodies it is hard to saw, but in justice to the members of the Recruiting Beard, who are not in entire agreement on the subject, it must be recognised they all are making strenuous efforts at the present time to get the

best possible results from the voluntary system. Sir Joseph Ward, who makes no secret of his dislike to con-

scription and will accept it only as a last resort, still hopes the system will be saved and is continuing his appeal for voluntary service whenever opportunity offers. Mr. Massey and Mr. Allen. though converts to compulsion, are loyally exerting themselves in the same direction, and it may be presumed have no active sympathy with the view expressed by the vice-presi-dent of the Farmers’ Union that “numbers of first-class men” are holding back because “they see a lot of shirkers and loafers wasting their time at races and such-like.’ If Major Lusk intends to imply, as many people here assume he does, that the wage-workers in the towns are not doing their part as well as the farmers ;jre doing theirs the facts are all against him. The figures show that the workers have contributed far mere than their proportionate share to the Reinforcements and that their contributions are increasing rather than decreasing with the later drafts. However, this is not the time to be setting town against country or country against town and if New Zealand is to discharge its obligations to the Mother Country without conscription the whole community must put its shoulder to the wheel with an undivided purpose. THE WOOLLEN MILLS DISPUTE.

The conference between the representatives of the Wellington Woollen Company and the Woollen Workers’ Union which took place on Thursday under a presidency of the Prime Minister seemed to have brought a settlement of the dispute between the parties appreciably nearer, but it is too early yet to say that the danger of a serious conflict has entirely passed. The Company has offered an advance of 10 per cent on wages to male workers receiving up to 40/- a week and to female workers receiving up to 27/6 a Aveek and an adA'ance of 5 per cent and a back bonus of 5 per cent to Avorkers receiving above those amounts. It is claimed by the employers that these payments Avould approach very nearly to the all-round advance of 10 per cent demanded by the Avorkers and it AA r as expected that the compromise would have been accepted out of hand, but on Friday the executive of the local Union asked for a further conference, Avhich the directors of the Company refused Avith the intimation that they had decided to adhere to the terms already offered. It is noAv announced that this reply Avill be placed before a meeting of the Avorkers on Wednesday and in the meantime the fighting division of their

Union has not suspended its activities. It is reported, on no very reliable authority, that a majority of the employees are disposed to stand out for the full amount of their demand, but it seenig more likely that the second conference was sought rather to adjust on some sliding scale the amount of the increase. Without this there would be obvious anomalies in the proposed arrangement. However, public opinion though for the most part strongly supporting the workers’ demand, would not give its sympathy to persistence in a trifling claim calculated to lead to a definite breach between the parties.

THE PUBLIC SERVICE AND TPIE WAR. The Prime Minister’s statement to the effect that 3,368 members of various State departments have volunteered for service at the front has naturally occasioned much satisfaction to the public servants who have remained behind —most of whom, by the way, would like to follow their comrades’ example—but while their hearts swell with pride and patriotic fervour they feel Mr. Massey might have made some acknowledgement of the part they are bearing in the war. During the approaching session the Public Service Commissioner will submit to Parliament a report showing that during the past year he has made enormous savings in the service. The total amount may run into £150,000 or more, probably more. The frienus of the Commissioner in the House of Representatives Avill boast of this as placing the seal on the success of non-political control. “We told you so,’’ they will say. “Time was bound to prove our predictions. Here you are. Patronage abolished, merit rewarded, thousands of pounds saved.” The truth of the matter is, however, that patronage and merit stand just about where they did before. There always has been little of the former and a great deal of the latter. The cost has been reduced by the war. Members of the service have gone to the front in their hundreds and thousands, leaving their salaries behind them and their work for the most part has been undertaken by their fellows without increase of pay. Where their places have been filled up it has been by cheaper men or by women .and even in these cases the burden of patriotism has fallen largely upon the bread and cheerful shoulders of their comrades. The record is one of which the men who have exchanged the pen for the rifle well may be proud and one for which the whole community may be grateful, but one of its brightest features is the readiness with which the men who have stopped at home have kept their mates’ billets open and the service running with a minimum of inconvenience to the public. To the politicians belong the smallest measure of credit for this achievement.