WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, 2 July 1918, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

; ~ PINCH OF PRICES. GLUT OF FOOD. (Special. Correspondent.) , " v WELLINGTON, July 1. The deputation from the Timber Workers' Federation which waited upon Ministers on Saturday to protest against the increasing cost of lining came away with little moire than y,ery genuine expressions of sympathy from me Acting President <of the Boaru of Trade. Tne spokesmen oi the deputation pointed out that while, the?prices of foodstuffs "were mounting! up, the great stores at the shipping <ports were overflowing with meat and 1 butter and cheese, and argued fro£i this fact that the consumers ought, to be getting these commodities at muck lower rates than they were • paying. Mr.' MacDonald, in replying to their representations, could only remind them that the stocks awaiting shipment had been purchased by the Imperial authorities at rates in. harmony with the prices being idßarged. here and that the Government in fairness to the producers could" not do more than it already had done to re-, strain the advance in the cost of living. PRICES AND PROSPERITY. Every discussion of this question In Wellington takes a local turn, and though it is generally recognised that; Mr. MacDonald and the Board of Trade are doing their utmost to keep, prices down throughout the country, bitter complaints are made of their persistent advance in the capital city.. The cost of living in Wellington, including the three food groups and. rent, has advanced 41 per cent, in Wellington since the beginning of the. war, while in Auckland it has advanced only 25 per cent., in Christchurch 18 per cent., and in Dunedin 21 per cent. Were it not that the price of meat had been kept down to a lower rate in Wellington than in any other big. centre the comparison would be still more unfavourable to the capital city, which actually charges more for its groceries in the aggregate than does any of the littlecoastal or inland towns' it supplies, with these commodities. The empty, consolation the Mayor offers to the citizens in this respect is that supremacy in prices represents in prosperity. ' ''' - THE SRIPPING POSITION. Though Ministers are not committing themselves to any definite state-. mont on the''subject}- ; what they have said suggests' that th r e shipping position this year is not likely' -t'o be satisfactory than it was last year. Thespeeding up of "America's entry into the war has necessarily - diverted a. huge amount of shipping from distant Tffts, like those of Australian and New Zealand, to the'Atlantic run, and the Commonwealth and the Dominion will have to do the best they can with vessels as are available. This is. the blunt truth that cannot be disguised by fair words. Relief will comewhen shipbuilding has definitely sur, parsed ship destruction and the American demand for space has been sat* isfied. The authorities, though reticent, are not pessimistic in regard to the outlook and New Zealanders have the consolation of knowing the vessels they are not getting are doing excellent service for the Empire to-day. THE LICENSING POLL, The official Prohibitionists are still, hopeful of bringing sufficient pressure to bear upon the Government to compel it to take a licensing poll at the. end of the present year, in spite of the life of Parliament having been ex* tended, but a rough canvass of the members of the House of Representatives is said to show that a majority of them are opposed to inviting another controvery over the liquor question until the war is at an end. Six o'clock closing has worked so well, it is maintained, that there is no urgent need to plunge the country into theturmoil of a contest that would be even more productive of party strife than a general election would be. The "counting of heads" has been quiteunofficial, Ministers taking no part af all in the process, but a list of thenames seems rather to give colour to the prediction that no poll will be taken till the Empire's differences wltH the Central Powers have been settled.