WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 24 January 1917, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE ABSENT MINISTERS,

RUMOURS AND SPECULATIONS

(Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, Jan. 22. The prospect of the meeting of the Imperial Conference not taking place till the middle of March lias set in cir- i dilation a fresh set of rumours concern- j ing the movements of Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward. It is reported now, ( on what seems to be fairly good an- j thority, that Sir Joseph will come out , in advance of his colleague, and that lie will assume, bj virtue of his office ] and seniority, the position of ActingPrime Minister. The alternative to this arrangement would bo for both Ministers to attend the Imperial Conference on behalf of New Zealand, exercising. of course, only one vote, and for the meeting of Parliament to bo postponed to such time as their absence might make necessary. The general feeling is, however, that Sir Jo seph would prefer resuming his work here to unnecessarily prolonging his stay In London, and that this divisionof labour and responsibility would be more in the interests of the Dominion than would dual representation at the Conference. It might be a great advantage to the Minister remaining behind, indeed, to have his colleague In New Zealand conferring with the other members of the Cabinet, and advising him as to the local developments of sentiment and opinion. SU CCESSE I:L CONCTLIATION. The Acting Minister of Labour was confronted last week with a much more delicate and difficult problem than the one he had to handle in connection with the drivers’ dispute a month or two ago. An Admiralty collier, with a cargo of wool which the waterside workers. under the impression that U had been landed for strike-breaking purposes, refused to touch. Representations ’through the usual official channels having failed to move them from their determination, Mr Kerries decided to make a personal appeal to their good sense. This he did on Friday, addressing several hundred of them in their own waiting room on the Queen s Wharf, and witli such admirable effect that on the following morning the coal was being poured out of the vessel with a right good will. The Minister assured the men they were mistaken as to the character of the cargo, which was required to enable the Government to keep its engagements with the Imperial authorities, and promised them an extra sixpence an hour on account of the dusty nature of the coal. The conclusion of the incident was entirely • creditable to both particularly to the Minister, whose frank statement of the position appealed no loss to the . men’s sporting instinct than did his ready good humour to their sense oi fair play. WAR AND RACING.

Enquiries from a number of prominent sportsmen attending the M cllingtou Racing Club’s Summer Meeting, have produced a fairly representative expression of opinion from one section of the community on the propriety of racing during war time. Almost without exception they prefaced their remarks with the assurance that if the curtailment of racing or its suspension altogether would appreciably assist the Empire in its present crisis they would throw in their lot heartily with the abolitionists. But they could not see that this would be the case. Racing 1 itself was making very substantial contributions to the public revenue,, and racing men were not among the least generous supporters of the patriotic funds. As for the supply of men, sportsmen as a class had not been backward iu volunteering, and the Military Service Act, whether racing was continued or not, would reach every man fitted to take his place at the front. His appearance there would not bo hastened a single day by throwing him out of a job. One of the gentlemen interviewed, a North Island owner, suggested that the racing clubs should be required to furnish a return, showing their payments to the Treasury, and the number of owners of military age and of trainers jockeys and stable hands residing within their districts. From this return, he contended, the Government could decide whether abolition was necessary,, or desirable. NATIONAL ORGANISATION. Although Ministers declined to give any definite information on the subject, they do not discourage the prevalent idea that lately they have boon discussing a scheme of national organisation of some kind or another. Just what is on the board it is impossible to discover. A member of the Cabinet replying to a direct question put to him yesterday, hinted that an announcement of some consequence might be made in the course of a few days, but. beyond this ho refused to commit himself. Probably it will be found Ministers never have entertained such heroic measures as arc attributed co them by their move sanguine friends. In the absence of their party leaders their colleagues collectively are not display, ing a great deal of daring in grasping ■the various social and industrial problems arising out of the war, and it may b e doubted if Mr Massey and Sir Joseph; Ward, judging from what the public ha . been permitted to learn of their attitude towards such questions as h-avc

been submitted to them, would prove much more courageous if they were on the spot. Mr W. D. S. MacDonald, with the assistance of the Board of Trade, hag succeeded in staying the upward tendency in the prices of certain commodities, but beyond this the Gov- i eminent has done very little to meet | the exceptional conditions by which it j is confronted. j