WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3439, 19 March 1920, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS

K MILITANT RAILWAYMEN.

‘DEMAND EARLY DECISION.

(Special Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, March 17.

The executive of the Amailgamate Society of Railway Servants no longe minces matters in declaring its inten tion to obtain better pay and bette conditions for the men it represents It has finally and emphatically reject ed Mr Justice Stringer’s recommenda tions and has declared its intentior to resort to militant methods if thest rcecmmednations are the Govern men-t’s last. word !on the subject. It points to the fact that unskilled work ers with practically no responsibilitg who have threatened to strike are re ceiving higher Wages and enjoying better conditions than are the railway men wins are engaged in a highly skilled cccupation and bearing enormous responsibilities. “No wonder,;’’ amember of the executive said to-day, commenting upon this fact, “our men have come to believe militancy pays." That the executive averse to any precipitate action may be judged from its determination to delay further action till Mr Massey is able to consider the ultimatum it has in readiness for him. PRIME MINISTER IN HOSPITAL. It is extremely‘ unfortunate that Mr Massey at this particular juncture should be kept from his oflice by an operation his medical advisers insisted upon. The operation itself is not a. very serious matter, and no complications are feared, but the Prime Minister has been recklessly over-work-ing himself since his return from the Peace Conference, and his recovery may be slower than it would have been had he been taking things easflier during the last five or six months. "One cheering incident in connection with his hospital experience is the determination of the executive of the Society of Railway Servants just i mentioned, which shows a fine appre- i ciation of the fitness of things on the I part of one section of his. critics which has afiorded him much satisfaction. With a Cabinet in the course of reconstruction his position is a peculiarly difficult one and the kindly ‘thought of the executive augurs well ‘for the outcome of their further negotiations. ‘ HIDES AND BOOTS. I

The Minister of Agriculture is not likely to get much the better of the argument with Mr C. J. Ward over the relative cost of hides and Iboots. Mr Ward is a large boot manufacturer with a.n intimate technical and -prac- _ tical knowledge of his business, and the Minister is engaged in an unequal contest. But Mr Nosworthy, in the view of the layman at any rate, seems to have scored one point against the ‘expert. “It is not clear,” he says in the course of a statement published this morning, “why an advance in the - {price of leather necessitates increased cost being shown in respect of every other item, including the manuiacturersq’ and the retailers profits.” But though the reason for the advance !is‘not-clear, the fact of its existence is frankly admitted by both «the manufacturer and the retailer. It appears it is a recognised practice of the trade l for the retailer to charge an advance of 33 1-3‘ per cent. upon the manufactul"er‘§‘ pfi'63e's,"and, therefore, the‘ higher the price the larger his profitstandardised boots or any other boots. ‘ THE "BENZTNE -FYAMINE.

The Waikato dairy‘ farmers have been 'E!a*l‘liri§"‘"b-li't“loudly~' in their ‘local paper against ”what. they deem to be - an unfair distribution of benzine under the system of’ control constituted " by the Board of Trade. They allege ‘ that the‘Contrb’llersap'pbinted by 'the . Board was stationed at Hamilton has 2 been removed and that the 'distrirbu- » tion of motor spiritrhas:-been-entl'uSt- ; ed -to the repi"esentati‘ve‘s='of ‘the’ oil‘: companies, who ~h’a=ve been "mo're rat-' s tentive to the 'r'e'q'uir'ements ”«of'§%the:'.l “joy riders” t.ha'ri to’ tho'sé=‘ ofiJ;:the:~.r small farmers. But the chairman’ of ‘ the Board of Trade when seen this‘: morning strongly'resent'ed‘ the sugges-" ' tion that theneeds "of "the ‘ 'fafmers were being neglected; 's' An abundant supply of benzi'lle”“hacl*been ordered to the district"tli'r’ee orfour days ago and must. have al‘i"i‘ved before this, and the Controller was returning to Hamilton‘ forthwith to make [sure the‘ method of distribution which ‘had [proved acceptable to the farmers was I being continued. ‘