WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 11 July 1917, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

REINFORCEMENTS. THE SUPPLY OF MEN. WELLINGTON, July 9. Enquiries made during; the weekend reveal the rather surprising fact that quite a number of members of the House of Representatives hold the opinion supposed to have been expressed by Sir Joseph Ward when addressing a deputation on Friday to the effect that the time was approaching when the country would have to seriously consider whether or not it could keep up its monthly reinforcements to the Expeditionary Force. A later,' statement made by the Minister of Finance showed he had not intended to suggest the Dominion should ask to be relieved of its obligation to the Mother Country in this respect, but fully a dozen of the twenty-five or thirty members to be found in Wellington over the Sunday argue that now America has come into the struggle on the side of the Allies and Russia is recovering from the throes of her revolution there is no need for New Zealand to deplete herself of her virile manhood in an effort to maintain for a fourth year a contribution to the Imperial Forces that was expected to be required only for a much shorter period. Some of ithese gentlemen have expressed a determination to put the, matter to the test in the House, and if they do they certainly will receive more than a negligible measure of support. THE MINISTERIAL ATTITUDE.

Probably the members of the House who are slackening in their enthusiasm for the maintenance of the Reinforcements at their full strength have been more influenced by the representations made to them by the Second Division League than by any particular concern for the scarcity of labour or the languishing of industries which they put forward as reasons for reducing the number of men going to the front. The ■ Second Division League, perhaps unintentionally, but still most unmistakably, has been gaining strength as a political power ever since its formation, and to-day It is exacting a far more sympathetic, hearing from the politician than is the Returned Soldiers’ Association. Ministers, however, have not been weakened in their resolution by its activities and neither the leaders on one side nor the leaders on the other are likely to entertain any proposal for lessening the Dominion’s monthly drafts of men. Mr. Massey and Sir James Allen have declared themselves most emphatically on this point, while Sir Joseph Ward has made it quite clear he would relegate New Zealand’s share in the struggle to no outsider, and the other Liberal members of the Cabinet are in entire accord with the sentiments of their party chief.

RAILWAY GRIEVANCES. It is rumoured that the refreshing candour of the members of the deputation that waited upon Mr. Massey, Sir Joseph Ward, and Mr. Kerries last week to demand the restoration of some of the discontinued train services is likely to lead to interesting developments in the Railway Department in the near future. Mr. Wilfdrd, Mr. R. A. Wright, and Mr. W. H. Field, when they said, in effect, that the restricted train services were the result of a petty quarrel between the Railway Department and the Defence Department, in which the former was trying to inflict as much inconvenience as possible upon the public, were simply echoing the common talk of the city. Of course Mr. Herr ies, as in duty bound, warmly defended the high officers of his department from the imputations cast upon them, but Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward evidently were impressed by what was told them by the various speakers and it is not improbable more than one of the services will be restored. It was put to the Ministers very plainly that the railways were not controlled by the general manager, but by an officer of more commanding personal-, ity who had a grievance against the Defence Authorities and was relieving his feelings by “taking it out of the public” in such ways as his ingenuity could devise.

THE ETERNAL QUESTION. During the opening days of the session it was whispered about the lobbies that the advocates of six o’clock closing for hotels -had prepared an amendment to the Address-in-Rpply expressing confidence in the Ministry, but indicating to the Governor that no legislative programme which did not provide for the restriction they proposed to place upon the liquor traffic would be satisfactory to the country. The mover and seconder were mentioned, in confidence, and a pricked card was produced showing a small majority in favour of the amendment. Last week, however, little was heard about the matter and it was supposed the promoters of the

move were waiting a favourable opportunity to drop their bomb into the camp of the enemy; but to-day it is reported that a majority of the Labour members have gone over to the other side and that the latest count of heads has left the six o’clockers in a minority. This may not be followed by the abandonment of the proposed amendment, as the numbers still show the parties to be very closely divided, but probably it will lead to further 'disintegration among the representatives of Labour in the House.