WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 24 May 1917, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

DEPARTMENTAL BALLOT. THE RAILWAY MEN. (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, M y 21. Another trouble, probably a comparatively small one, has overtaken the Railway Department. At a recent sitting of the Military Appeal Board the assistant general manager announced that the Department had held a l»ilof the men in its service who had been called up in the official ballot and who could be spared and had decided in this wav which of them should go into camp. The various branches of the men's union are objecting to this method of selection, which has no legal sanction, and a number of protests are being sent to the Department and the Appeal Board. Of course, the men still have the right to appeal to their district hoard's, but they feel their position has been prejudiced by the action of the Department in discriminating between its employers without giving them an opportunity to be heard. NATIONAL EFFICIENCY.

From hints that have been dropped here and there it seems that a great deal ofs criticism that has been heaped upon {the National Efficiency Board should have been directed against the National Government. It is no secret that the Board has submitted a number of reports and recommendations to the oGvernment. but so far as the public is concerned there has been much noise and labour without any tangible result. People have been urged in a rather half-hearted fashion to grow potatoes and other vegetables in preparation for a possible shortage of other foodstuffs, but beyond this practically nothing has been done to maintain the budding enthusiasm for a national effort. It is suggested the Government is waiting for the return of Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward before disclosing its scheme, but the necessity for the delay is not explained. A KNOTTY PROBLEM.

This week th e Efficiency Board is going to enquire into the suggestion for curtailing the hours of the liquor trade during the course of the war, but as the Acting-Prime Minister has stated that nothing can be done in this direction without the authority of Parliament expressed in legislation probably

: good deal of time will be occupied, and perhaps temper expended, to little purpose. The Cabinet is divided, as the Acting-Prime Minister has admitted, on the question of shortening the hours of sale and probably if it were again submitted to a vote of the House a majority would decide for the maintenance of the status quo. The argument that there is no need in New Zealand to follow the example of the Mother Country in this matter may not be strikingly con vinling, but people who have counted heads declare that in Parliament it will prove effective. . SHORTAGE OF SHIPPING. Business men here, while not taking a pessimistic view of the situation, admit that the continued reduction of transport facilities may have a serious effect upon the trade of the country. They are chiefly concerned, of course, over the shortage of shipping, wsieh is bringing abou grave congestion of produce in store and to some extent discouraging fanners in their

i operations The Chairman of the Bank 'of New Zeal;'ad in the course of an interview on Saturday said that unless some relief were found shortly the outlook would be grave in the extreme. Against this there is the assurance of the Hon. A. M. Myers that the tonnage difficulty will be cleared up "in a few months," but the difficulty will become more acute during those few months and at. the moment there is a distinct feeling of uneasiness in both commercial and agricultural circles.