WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, 7 September 1918, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

WELLINGTON CENTRAL. IMPENDING BY-ELECTION. (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Sept 6. The death of Mr. Robert Fletcher, the member for Wellington North, has. left the acting leader of the Liberal Party with a difficult problem to solve at a very inopportune time. Though Mr. Fletcher won the seat in 1914 under the (Liberal flag, he owed his success largely to the support oi the Labour voters, who rallied round! •him so solidly that he scored a majority of 2329 over his opponent, the Hon. F. M. B. Fisher, the precise figures being 5208 and 2879 respectively. Since then the political sentiment of the, constituency, if not its broad party predilections, s have very considerably changed, and probably neither of the old parties could count upon polling the vote it did five years ago. The contest in Wellington North a few months ago proved that a spirit of independence is abroau that cannot be reduced to a common working factor when the choice of a representative in Parliament is concerned. "* .A THE PROSPECTS.

The only name that has been definitely mentioned in connection with the impeding by-election is that of Mr. P< J O'Regan, the well-known Wellington solicitor, a former member of the House, who is now the generally accepted legal adviser and counsel for the Labour Unions. Mr. O'Regan is a thorough-paced Democrat, standing for electoral reform, a large extension of State enterprises, effective land settlement and so forth, and witha! is a very earnest and capable politician; but he is opposed to compulsory military service and talks lightly of even such venerable institutions as the constitutional monarchy, two departures from the straight and narrow path ot orthodoxy that would make tt impossible for the National Government to place'its imprimatur upon his candidature. Other names me%ioned are those of Mr. David McLaren, Coi* onel Hughes,, and Mr. C. Skerrett, but at present the intentions of none of these geutlemen are known. WOMEN FARMERS.

At the sitting of the Wellington Militarly Service Board yesterday, the subject of women farm workers again was mentioned. -A farmer in the Huts Valley, appealing for : an-extention of his leave till Christmas in order that he might see his shearing through and get his crops in, stated that he had engaged ten women for milking and general farm work and had found them so satisfactory he would not think of going back to men milkers after the war. The statement, is being eagerly discussed here and there appears to be a large volume of public opinion taking the view. that botn physicaly and temperamentally wohk en, generally speaking, are better adapted for the" outside life, under proper conditions, than they are for office and shop work. Many of their own sex have been insisting upon this ever since the commencement of the wai and now have their contention strengthened by a very striking concrete example. THE POLICEMAN'S LOT. The newspapers have, been trying to extract some further information from the Hon. T. M. Wilford In regard to his scheme for the- reorganisation of the Police Force, but -so far without any tangible results. The Minister has told them that it is the most difficult and complicated job he yet has tackled and that till his pro* posals have been considered by Cabinet he cannot give the public any more of his confidence. It is understood, however, that his scheme does not merely aim at the improvement of the pay and the conditions of the members of the Force. It is believed that it also seeks to increase their efficiency and to attract men of the higtiest possible class to the service. The subject has been very frankly discussed lately and, if all the stories one hears are true, poor pay and indifferent conditions are responsible for a distinct decadence in the general character of the Force,,