WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 9 February 1917, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

SIB ERNEST SHACKLETON; (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, Feb. 7. An informal meeting was held in Wellington this morning at the invitation of the Mayor of the city to consider a proposal for making a presentation to Sir Ernest Shacklcton after his arrival hero at the end of the week. The gentlemen present adopted the proposal with enthusiasm, and appointed an influential executive committee to accept contributions and make the necessary arrangements. The conveners of the meeting felt that the people of Wellington, and, indeed, of Zealand, ought to recognise even in war time the fine courage and perseverance displayed by Sir EnneSt Shacklcton during the last two years in the face of almost overwhelming difficulties and dangers. It will be remembered that the expedition had actually made a start before the declaration of war on August, 1914, and when Sir Ernest 'offered to abandon his plan for further exploration in the Antarctic continent and place himself and his men at the disposal of the Admiralty the Imperial authorities told him to proceed southward. King Geor,g e personally expressed a wish that the war should not be allowed to interfere with the work of the expedition, and so the Endurance and Aurora proceeded on their ways. The loss of the Endurance in the Weddoll Sea, the crippling of the Aurora in the Ross Sea, and the heroic efforts of the leader of the expedition in the rescue of his men from their perilous situations, are familiar history now. Sir Er-nest is not the man to complain in the face of misfortune, but it is obvious to everybody his losses in the struggle with the grim forces of the frc'zen South have been very heavy, and the people of Wellington are to be given jin opportunity to express their sympathy and their appreciation in a tangible way. Whatever is to be done must bo done quickh", but doubtless the Mayor of Wellington will be glad to hear, not later than Saturday, from sympathisers in otheri centres. WHEAT AND FLOUR Complaints regarding the proclamation fixing the price the Government -will pay for wheat and the maximum prices of flour, bran and pollard were to be expected. Somebody would have been dissatisfied with any price that the Government could have selected. The points emphasised by the members of the Board of Trade as bearing upon gome of the criticism already published include: — (1) That the price of wheat had to be hi<rh enough to induce farmers to grow wheat at a time when the high prices of other products offered special inducements in other directions. (2) That the price fixed for flour was a maximum and need not interfere with , sales if millers were able to quote low<ir rates. (3) That the maximum price fixed for flour would not involve any increase in the price of bnead. It may be assumed that the Government will now reimposo the duty of £1 per ton on flour. The price of Australian wheat for export is 5/6 per bushel, and with 'duty and freight added the cost to the importer will be greater than the local price. The price of bread has not been made the subject of any regulation up to the present time and there is no reason to believe that the Board of Trade does not propose to interferie with the bakers so long as they leave retail prices at the present level. The Board of Trade contends that with flour at £ls per ton the price of bread should not be more than 9|d per, loaf delivered. WELLINGTON'S MILK Wellington housewives pay od per quart, or 1/8 per gallon, for what is probably the worst milk sold in New Zealand. Some mornings they do not receive any milk at all, on perhaps they Teeeive; meagre pints in place of the anticipated quarts. Most of the milk, however, is over 24 hours old and sonic of it 48 hours old, before it reaches the consumer. All this is veny unpleasant, but the dairy farmer, speaking through the Wellington Dairymen's Association, refuses to take any share of the blame. He says that he receives no more than 9id per gallon for, the milk on truck at the country stations, and he insists that the vendors, who pay 10-id per gallon for the milk, the City Council and, by inference, the citizens generally, are to blame for the troubles of the consumer. Recently the Board of Trade cheeked a threatened increase to lljd in the wholesale price of milk, by fixing the maximum price at 10 Ul. The dairymen have replied with figures to show that if they cannot get a better Teturn than lOld fon their milk in the city, which is equal to 93 on the truck, they can get a better return by dealing with the cheese factories. Tf the Wellington municipal authorities do not take this matter in hand intelligently the dairymen may caruy their implied threat into execution.