NEWS FROM THE CAPITAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 246, 26 March 1915, Page 3

NEWS FROM THE CAPITAL.

THE SAMOAX FORCE.

By Telegraph—Own Reporter.

(Wellington, March 24.

The men of the advance force have come hack from Samoa in good health and for the most part in good spirits. A certain reservation is necessary in this connection, since a few of the soldiers are nursing grievances which they are only too ready to discuss with all and sundry. Without going into particulars, one may indicate that the long period of inaction in Samoa, under trying climatic conditions, was wearing to the nerves. Perhaps oilicers suffered as well as the men. But it is pleasant to hear from the men themselves that the majority of them are looking forward to getting away with the reinforcements for the main Expeditionary Force, and seeing something of real warfare on European battlefields before they return to civilian life.

A PKOFITABLE SEASON. "Everywhere the .crops promise to be profitable 4n an unusual degree," writes a Southland farmer to a i. .-1 in Wellington. "In fact for t.e .-raters it is a glorious time. One more year as good as this would make me quite comfortable financially. Why the Government does not levy a war tax on the farmers I cannot understand." War taxation of some kind is inevitable. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance have both said as much during the last week or two, and the public accounts show clearly that additional, revenue must be raised. But probably the Ministers themselves are not sure yet how they will raise the money they requirflr' The one per cent, tax on imports-and exports advocated by Mr Harold Beauchamp, who has been credited with flying a kite on behalf of the Government, would not be popular. Such a tax would increase further the cost of living, and would tend to fall most heavily on the shoulders lea»l aWe to bear it. Special levies on land and income would be resented in other quarters. A suggestion has been made that the Government should give attention first to the* people who have been making profits out of the war in l one way and another. These people, it is urged, would not have much cause for complaint if the State took a substantial share of the profits made during the.war period over and above the average profits of the preceding three years of peace. War profits are profits for which the nation is paying a heavy price In blood.

RISING COST OF LIVING. Complaints regarding the rising cost of living are coming from all quarters, and the evidence that unfair exploitation is proceeding at the expense of the consumers seems very strong. When Parliament meets, protests will be heard from both sides of the HQiise, but in the meantime there seems little prospect of relief being afforded the housewives. The Government did not make effective use of its power to fix maximum prices for foodstuffs during the early months of the war, and now that the prices have reached high levels the difficulties of State interference are increased greatly. "If we had said as a community In August last that nobody was going to be allowed to make profita out of the national crisis, a lot of the trouble would have been avoided," said a Wellington business man the other day, "Business people and producers wo" have been satisfied with ordinary profits—or at any rate would not have taken special profits openly and unshamcdly—and the loss caused by the war would have been distributed more evenly that under existing conditions. Nobody can contend, for example, that the rises in the prices of mutton, butter and bread have been justified by cor-i-pcmrnidinfr increase" >» the cost of nro- ! duetton. Extra profits ate being taken on the plea that prices liave risen in the Mother Country. My idea is that the plea, based on the ordinary laws of supply and demand, is not valid at a timfc when our flfliioii is fighting desperately for existence." The Social Democrats use stronger language, and probably do not help matters much. But Parliament will have to face this problem when it meets.

THE WAR CORRESPONDENT. iS committee of journalists, consisting of an editor from each of the four cities, met in Wellington this week to consider the applications received by the Government for the post of official war correspondent with the New Zealand forces. It is understood that more than sixty applications have been received by the Under-Secretary for Internal Affairs, and the task of selection may not be an easy one. The chosen correspondent will leave New Zealand within the next few weeks and Will joint the main Expeditionary Force as soon as possible. His duty will he to follow the fortunes of the New Zealanders, within the limits set by the regulations of the Imperial authorities, and to send the High Commissioner in London regular reports for distribution to the newspapers in this country. He Will not be permitted to cable direct to the Dominion. The correspondent will be required also to collect material for an official account of New Zealand's share in the great war, to be published after the conclusion of peace. Presumably he will be entrusted with the writing of the book, but the defence authorities have not committed themselves on that point.

CONSTERNATION IN PROHIBITION

CAMP.

The official figures showing the result of the licensing poll held last December have caused something like consternation in the prohibition camp. Preliminary returns had shown a decline in the no-license vote as compared with 1911, hut they had not prepared the prohibition leaders for the announcement that | the continuance vote on the national issue had risen from about 40 per cent. in 1011 to 54 per cent, in 1914. What is the proper conclusion to be drawn from the figures? The war undoubtedly had something to do with the conversion of the prohibition majority into a minority. Many electors felt that a great social change involving radical interference with the finance of the dominion should not be made at a time of grave national crisis, when additional taxation was already threatened. But the war does not supply the full explanation. When the 1911 poll was taken, the prohibitionists had the support of many of those people who want to see the iicjuor trade reformed radically, but who do not wish to deprive themselves or their neighbors of an occasional glass of beer. Votes were recorded for nolicense with the intention of giving the trade a warning. But in 1911 national prohbition was very near carried, and the "moderates" who helped to achieve this result were a trifle shocked. Probably the situation will be discussed at a meeting of prohibition leaders during the next/month or two. The trade I icema dsposed to bcleve that the tide has turned.