WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 22 November 1916, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

MILITARY SERVICE. THE FIRST BALLOT. (Special Correspondent).. WELLINGTON, 20. The elaborate precautions taken tc ensure absolute and accuracy made the drawing of the first ballot under the Military Service Act a slow and tedious business, and it was not till Saturday morning that the work commenced on Thursday was completed The names of some 4000 reservists were drawn to fill the 1300 vacancies existing in the Twenty-third and Twentyfourth Reinforcements, and it is not expected that when the medically unfit and the men entitled to exemption have been eliminated the number will be at all too large for this purpose. There are in round figures 80.000 men in the first reserve; but of these 30,000 or so are rejected volunteers who may be expected to again fail to pass the doctors. This will reduce the 4000 by one-third, and ir is estimated it will be reduced by another one-third by the removal of further unfits, and the withdrawal of men entitled to exemption. If these anticipations prove correct the ballot will give only the number of men required by the two drafts ntnv commencing their training, but if there should be a surplus ti will be used in re-establishing the reserve which has been practically exhausted in making up shortages in previous reinforcements. The names of men drawn in the ballot probably will be published in the Gazette on Thursday next. OBSERVERS AND OBJECTORS. The last two marbles in the ballot having been drawn by Mr J. P. Luke, the Mayor of Wellington, and Mr M. J. Reardon, the president of the Trades and Labour Council, who were among the representative people invited towitness the proceedings, the inevitable spccchs followed. Mr Luke testified to the orderly and impartial manner in which the business had been conducted and Mr Reardon complimented the Government Statistician and the Stipendiary Magistrate upon the smoothness with which their arrangements had worked out. Mr Fraser and Mr McCarthy made suitable replies, the Statistician explaining why there would be some delay in the publication of the names, and so the historic incident closed. There can be no circumspection, the spirit of the law, which makes no distinction of individuals, being observed in every particular, and assurances given on this point ought to go a long way towards reconciling % opponents of compulsion to a dire necessity which everyone would wish to avoid. There arc rumours of “conscientious objectors” and “passive registers” who are goiug to give trouble laten on, but it is tolerably safe to say that the people who would deny the Empire the assistance it needs in the present crisis arc in a very si’nall and rapidly dwindling minority. THE REQUISITIONED WOOL.

The negotiations tljat are now going on betw T ee n the New Zealand Government and the wool growers and thein representatives in regard to the prices to be paid for the wool that has been requisitioned by the Imperial Government have reached a stage at which they assume more than a passing interest to the general public. It seems that the objection of the -wool growers to the proposal that an advance of 45 per cent, should be paid upon pre-wan rates was based on the fact that some wools have advanced in value more than others have and that an all-round increase ar a flat rate would be inequitable. The Imperial! have met this objection by offering to adjust the price to the varying advances and iu the opinion of a great many farmers and business men this ought to settle tbc matter; but it Is reported that som e of the people concerned are holding out for the full market war values. Naturally this attitude does not commend itself to the general public. The New Zealand Government could commandeer the wool here at any price it pleased, as the Imperial Government could o n its arrival in London,, and in view of oil the circumstances in the Dominion is not being placed in a very good light by the people who arc trying to drive the hardest possible bargain with the Empire. However it may look close by, from a distance it certainly will appear, a rather poor expression of New Zealand’s patriotism.