WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, 3 September 1918, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE DUAL CRISIS." IMPROVED OUTLOOK. (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 2. The most cheering news in connection with the coal crisis this morning is that the Millerton miners have decided to resume work. The Millerton Union has always been one of the most militant., units of the Miners’ Federation and during the present trouble it has shown a disposition to go the “whole hog” without counting the cost to its own members or to the country. That better counsels have prevailed seems to be largely due to the efforts of Mr. R. Semple, who is not usually credited with being an apostle of peace, to the tact of the Minister of Mines and to the sweet reasonableness of a majority of the employers. With Millerton in line with the other unions an amicable settlement should be well in sight and the men’s prospects of obtaining generous consideration (argely improved.

STATE CONTROL. The demand' for State control of the mines still continues to be pressed by the Miners’ Fedex-ation and by many of the other workers’ or organisations In the absence of Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward the Cabinet has not given any official consideration to their proposal, but it is understood that several of the Ministers, including Mr, MacDonald, the Minister of Mines, are favourably inclined towards the principle of nationalisation. The State’s experiments in this direction have not been consistently satisfactory from a financial point of view, but they have exercised a steadying influence upon the price of coal and have dissipated some of the popular prejudices against official management. The Government is hardly likely to tackle the proposition louring the war; but when peace comes the State controlists -will renew their campaign with increased confidence. ■■ . THE TAXI MEN. , Most people w r ho visited Wellington have had experiences, more or less unpleasant, with the taxi-drivers of the capital city. The tram service here is so good in the essentials of frequency, regularity and- cheapness that The taxidrivers and talxi-proprie-tors find themselves up against very strong competition. Instead of meeting this by reducing their fares, the majority of them have resorted to the much less admirable method of obtaining all they can from unwary travellers. Now 7 they are seeking authority from the City Council to impose higher charges and the Council seems disposed to meet them provided they undertake to adhere strictly to the regulation scale... This note is by wav of Reminding visitors that they have a right to see the scale. SOMES ISLAND ESCAPEES. The report of the Commission of Inquiry into the escape of four interned Germans from Somes Island assures the Minister of Defence that “the escape was not attributable to any neglect on the part of any officer, noncommissioned officer, or soldier in the New 7 Zealand Defence Forces.” This, of course, is satisfactory as far as it goes, but it does not go tb the length of satisfying the public that the arrangements for'for preventing a repetition of the episode are as complete as they should be. If the interned men can construct some sort of boat on the island and fashion sextants without being detected wliile the work is in progress it is thought that, their super, vision must be extremely lax and that more drastic regulations should be imposed at once.