WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, 25 May 1918, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

SHEARER'S ACCOMMODATION* ■ *l STARTLING ALLEGATIONS. WELLINGTON, May 24. If the statements made by the menu bers of the deputation from the Agrt - cultural and Pastoral Workers' UnioqV that waited upon the Acting-Minister of Labour, the Hon. W. H. Herries, on Wednesday are to be trusted, the legislation dealing with shearers' accommodation placed upon the Statute Book a quarter of a century ago has been shockingly administered in these later years. It was alleged by reputable representatives of labour from almost every pastoral district in the Dominion that on some sheep stations men and women workers were being herded together in vermin-in-fected buildings without any regard to decency or comfort, or health. On" many stations there was no provision for washing or bathing or sanitation of any kind, and only here and there were the minimum requirements of the law observed. The members of the deputation did not confine themselves to generalities. They gave names and places and times and urged the Minister to make independent inquiries on his own account.

IF POSSIBLE! '*J± The Minister's reply to the repre, sentations made to him was not calculated to reassure the members of the deputation. They had told him, quite plainly what they thought of the Government's failure to administer the law, It was a disgrace to the country, it was criminal and it was characteristic of the Department. Mr. Herries was benignly surprised to hear the position was so bad. According to official reports improvements had been effected in sheds which had been the subject of pre-? vious complaints; the Department had endeavoured to compel employers to observe the law; all the stations men, tioned would be inspected and, if possible, improvements would be made;: any proposals for amendments to the law would be submitted to Mr. Mas. sey with a view to action next and so forth and so on. When thq political head of the Departent is in two minds as to the possibility of remedying such conditions as the members of the deputation alleged, itTs little wonder the Department itself Is i somewhat less virile than it was i» the days of its lusty youth. JJT." SECOND DIVISION IN CONFERENCE. • ;: % Up to a certain point the President . was entirely happy in his remarks at the opening- of the Dominion Conference of the Second Division League, He dwelt upon the.duty of the Reservists to the State just as earnestly as he did upon their duty to their dependents, and he insisted the League was as truly concerned for national interests as it was for individual inter, ests. But he was not what the dramatic critics would call convincing when he argued that the. wife should be "saved from the Necessity of saving money against the return of her husband," and that the Government had 'not yet touched on the fringe of the sources of wealth in the country." To give the wife an income substantially larger than the one she at present is enjoying and then discourage her la the practice of reasonable thrift would be in many cases a perilous experiment, and to say the Government has not yet touched the fringe of the sources of wealth is to ignore the burden of debt it has built up and the drastic taxation it has imposed. THE DRIFT OF POLITICAL OPINION. r The presence in Wellington of a large number of delegates attending the conference of the Second Division League add a considerable number -of Labour representatives taking part in the proceedings of the Agricultural and pastoral Workers' Union has afforded the inquiring journalists quite an exceptional opportunity to learn something of the drift of political and party opinion throughout the The workers' representatives, it is scarcely necessary to say, are "agin the Government" to a man. Their hopes for the future are not very well defined, but they are pinning their faith to the "political revolution" Sir Joseph Ward has foreshadowed without any very sanguine expectation of seeing either Mr. Massey or Sir Joseph at the head of the revival. The delegates to the Second Division Conference are of more varied political colour and less ready to express their opinions, but the majority of them are looking forward to radical changes and praying the country may be saved from the extremists of either side* Meanwhile they accept the National Government as the least of possible ' evils. ;,'