WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, 23 March 1918, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE WAR LOAN. WELLINGTON, March 20. The Minister of Finance had intended to speak in the open air yesterday on behalf of the second instalment of the big war loan, but at the time appointed for his address rain was falling in torrents and so much of the assembled crowd as could squeeze itself into the large room of the Chamber of Commerce and adjoining corridors listened to him there. Sir Joseph Ward was as cheery and optimistic as ever, expressing continued confidence in the determination of the people of New Zealand to bring the war to a satisfactory end whatever the cost might be; but he had some plain, blunt words for those of his critics who were finding fault with him for having issued the loan on the same terms as had been adopted by the financial authorities of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Australia, for their loans. He was given a very cordial reception and at the conclusion of his remarks those present pledged themselves on the motion of the Chairman of the Bank of New Zealand to give all the assistance within their power in raising the

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NO MOEE RANCHING. "People who are looking for the speedy reclination of the "political revolution" of which polticians are talking attach some significance to a remark made by the new Minister of Lands at the congratulatory reception accorded to him at Feilding yesterday afternoon, Mr. Guthrie deprecated discusing the question of tenure on such an occasion, but he declared the day of ranching in New Zealand was past and the day of closer settlement coming. In the old days of bitter political divisions the tenure question was the cne plainly marked line between the contending parties, and, though the former asperities were modified to some extent by the passage of the years it remained the most perilous ' rock in the fair way to the party truce. But the optimists on both sides ;-.re taking heart of Guthrie's words and interpreting them to mean that "settlement"- rather than "tenure" is to be the future watchword of the politicians and profitable occupation the goal to which their efforts will be directed. THE PEICE OF BREAD. P . A rise nf 10s a ton in the price of flour was the argument which a deputation from the bakers of the city submitted to the Board of Trade .yesterday in support of a "request for permission to raise the price.toic tie two-pound loaf by one farthing.' Jtiist what passed between the Board "and the deputation has not been disclosed, but it-may be judged from a notice which appeared in a Extraordinary last night fixing the maximum price at the price charged on .March 4, 1918, that no increase is"" t 0,,., be

allowed. The "Wellington bakers".v/ere not in a very strong position ijpm the first, the price they have .been charging for the 2 lb. loaf beingjjpnsiderably higher than that, charge3 1 "in any other centre. At the end'' of 'jMuary the price in WeUingtQn,.wj| f pd, in Auckland sd, in Christchurch id and in Dunedin 5. Not even one of...the small centres is paying sp Jp.gh .a price as Wellington bakers were charging. It is little wonder, therefor^,"that the Board of Trade was obdurate;* THE BUSH FIREJL^.^ Wellington woke up in a cloud of smoke yesterday morning and it was not till well after midday the .majority - .v-' ... , ■" ;OT@jpssawil& J of the citizens learned fcorri whence the wierd visitation was comim;. .At ,- . ~ vrt.' .^Hj^^pa&ifirst it was supposed „ the lire could not be further away than the"" "bush .... £ yja&ssjgaam fix* across the harbour at D&X^J& a I £& P" 1 the scenic reserve at tlfe oaek o£'the Tmakori Hills, Even when"the"ffacts became generally known incredulous people refused to believe'lhai' .dence arid mentle could havp_ far as two hundred miles and' still are expecting reports of. "Sp'arCTires. The "Dominion" seizes W'onKnity to r?ad afresh the lessonSE by the recurrent bush. riles 3rSo last fifty years. ''Th recounting the bitter experience ofthe past and present, "by many" is "regarded as inevitable, but such fo n|t the case. Rational methods and regulation would along''Av'ay towards checking and minimising thTrecurrence of such disasters." AncT'today the whole community is full of good resolutions.