WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 160, 30 August 1916, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS

ANTI-SHOUTING

A MISAPPREHENSION. (Special Correspondent). ELLINGTON, August 2S. The “anti-shouting” legislation of last session has been in operation for twelve hours at the time of writing, and the advocates of th e reform are claiming it already has lessened the amount of promiscuous drinking Probably they are right. The hotel-keep-ers hav e started out with the very proper resolution to observe the law strictly, and people who have visited the bars to-day report they arc being as good as their determination. When friends enter a bar together each of them has to pay for his own drink, and apparently the only way to preserve what one of the local newspapers has described as a pleasant social observance will b e for the host to distribute sixpenny pieces among his guests before they enter th e licensed premises. Of course, even this would be no offence against the regulation so far as the host was concerned, but presumably the responsibility of the hotelkeeper does not extend beyond his front door. The official prohibitionists remain sceptical about the value of the reform, holding that the “trade” will find some means of getting round the regulation, but the police believe a very fruitful cause of excessive drinking has been removed. Voluntaryism.

The Minister of Defence warmly resents the assumption of the London “Times” that the adoption of compulsory service in New Zealand means that voluntaryism has failed here. The Military Service Bill, he says, was introduced last session, not because the supply of men under the voluntary system had fallen short but because the Government wished to be prepared for every possible emergency that might arise. The prospect of an early conclusion of the war was better now than it ever had been before, but no one could say with certainty it would end this year or even next year. The Government, Avhile hoping for the best had to prepare for the worst, and compulsory service was a precautionary measure which it could not neglect while doing its duty towards the Dominion and the Empire. New Zealand, it? comparisons wore permissible at such a time, had done its share, and more than its share, in the supply of men, and at the present moment there were four reinforcements in camp, and sufficient men on the roll to till two more reinforcements. The Government was looking ahead and preparing for whatever might happen in the future, but there was not the least ground for th e , assumption that voluntaryism had proved a failure in this country. Meat Prices. Notwithstanding repeated explana-' tions by the Prime Minister, there still seems io be widespread misapprehension in the country regarding the supply of meat to the Imperial authorities. People who ought to know better are declaring that the British Government has commandeered all the moat available for export from New Zealand at prices far below those the producers could obtain in the open market, and has passed much of it on to soullcsss middlemen, who are making large profits out of the unhappy consumers at Home. The first part of this story has absolutely no foundation in fact. What really happened was that the Imperial authorities asked the New Zealand Government to secure all the meat output of this country for military purposes, and that the Government, after conferring with the meat companies and repcsentatives of the producers, fixed prices which at the time were considered fair to all the parties concerned and which remain the highest the farmers have yet received. There was no commandeering by the Imperial authorities. Had they been disposed to proceed to that length they could have taken possession of the cargoes as they arrived in the Home ports, and fixed whatever prices they thought justified by the circumstances. By leaving the whole business to be settled by the New Zealand Government they acted with singular liberality. Surplus Supplies.

Tin- complaint that the portion of the moat not required for military purposes is falling into the hands of private speculators seems to be wellgrounded —that is, if the New Zealand farmer has any right to concern himself at all about the fate of produce for which he has received a full price. Mr Massey has made enquiries about this unexpected development through the High Commissioner without obtaining much satisfaction and he has promised to investigate the whole matter when he visits London; but in tht meantime one or two points ought to be remembered by the people who arc grumbling at this end. The Imperial authorities did not eomandeer perial authorities did not commandeer the shipping and it is only through their action in this respect that the farmers ar e able to get their produce away. If the carriage of meat were left during the present crisis to private enieprise, the producers would be at the mercy of the shipping rings,, and would be lucky to obtain anything like

the return they are receiving now. If their complaint is that they are not being allowed to make enough out of the necessities of the Mother Country, it is utterly umvothy of the patriotism they profess; but if it is that their own kith and kin are not profiting by the reasonable prices they have agreed to accept, they may rest assured Mr Masse}' will do his best to repair this defect in the arrangements.,,