WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 18 May 1917, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

MILITARY MATTERS. ‘

THE DUNEDIN INDICTMENT.

(Special Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, May 1(5. Sir James Allen lost no time in replying to the sweeping indictment of the administration of t h e Defence Dopjaitment that came from Dunedin yesterday. The eminently respectable citizens who found in the Press Association a compliant vehicle for the wide distribution of their startling accusations —doubtless with the best of intentions —simply repeated complaints which have become more or less familiar to the Minister by constant iteration since the beginning of the war. They had lent a ready ear, if not an

eager one, to stories which had been exploded a hundred times before, and hud

accepted as statements of fact what really were nothing more than the expressions of biased opinions. Had they adopted the reasonable course of laying their complaints before the Minister and asking for an explanati on they would have obtained uli the information they required towards a proper understanding of the situation, and would have done the people' they wished to serve a much more useful service. . WOLF. The most unfortunate effect of these hurried and ill-con aid ef-od excursion* int ° print is that they iiye.-fc public attention from the real griv nces some of the soldiers and their d-p.mdaum are suffering. When the Minister has demolished a batch of extravagant or inaccurate stories by scHieg n , t the facts, more dlfrußai people than the members of the Dunedin Patriotic Association hesitate to move oven when there are neglect and injustice to be repaired. It is the old cry of '‘wolf!’’ over again. The Defence Department is very far from being infallible. The best that can be said for it is that it is profiting by its experience and making fewer mistakes than it did in the early stages of the war. But it still leaves room for plenty of honest, wellinformed critieisnr and the more ; t gets ‘of this the better it will. >e for the soldiers and their depend mts and tor (ho country as a whole.

MORE WHEAT. The allusion in the cablegrams to the negotiations going on between .Mr. W. D. S. Mac Don ;Id ami the Ausfullau. Government for the purennsu of .1 iarue parcel of wheat on account of New Zealand has brought the fo.installs question again into prem.nonce. Mr. R. K. Ireland, of Oamaru, a niillor. of experience and standing, has written to the ‘‘ Dominion’’ explaining how all the wheat consumed in this county could be produced within its own borders and, of course, his premises are perfectly sound, but the nress'ng problem is how to obtain a supply for our requirements in the near future. Food reformers are seizing upon the ■,hilling hour to tell ns if we did not waste the most nutritious part of the wheat in making white flour there would be sufficient to satisfy all our needs, and the free-traders are calling out for a frank reliance upon Australia for. our supplies. From the multitude of counsellors wisdom may eventually evolve. STATE CONTROL. Mr. Lloyd George’s advocacy of State control of the liquor traffic, with compensation, as they assume, does not appear to be reconciling the local prohibitionists to the reform. They still will be satisfied with nothing short of the total abolition of the * ’accursed traffic,' ’ lock, stock and barrel, and will listen to no suggestion of compromise. However, they are giving away their case to some extent by urging the Government to exorcise the power it possesses under the War Regulations to close the public bars at six o’clock and so put a stop to the promiscuous drinking that goes on far into the night. Quite probably this instalment of State control would produce good results, but the people on the other side are very logically arguing that if the

prohibitionists admit as much they should be prepared to entrust the Go* vernment with the management of the whole business.