WELLINGTON NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 292, 19 May 1915, Page 2

WELLINGTON NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent). POLITICAL ('O'MPI.!CATIO.Y.>. Wellington, Mav 1.". The decision of the Klcclion ' Court v.-Itii i'c;;nril to the Tuuniarunm scut is to this ofl'oci tlmt ii new election must lie held. Mr. W. T. Jennings, tin; liberal who won the scat in December lust, is held to have been unqualified for election at the time by reason of the fact that bis name did not appear properly on any electoral roll. The electors of Ttumiarunui will have to make their choice again. There are now two byelections to be taken before, tbe meeting of Parliament, and the 'political position becomes even more interesting than before. Each parly, Government and Opposition, has lost one seat by the rulings of the Court, and each has an opporluity to gain, or lose, the vote that may make ail the dill'eiencp between victory and defeat when the trial of strength comes in the House of Representatives. The circumstances of the two by-elec-tions differ in a. marked degree. The I'auimmmui seat lias been declared vacant on a technical point, and apparently there is nothing to prevent the unseated member from becoming a candidate again, provided that lie becomes properly enrolled as an elector. Mr. Jennings is sure to stand again, and bis opponent will be Mr. Wilson, tbe Government sup. porter v.'honi be defeated in December. In tlie B'ly of Islands, on the other hand, tiie unseated member has been disqualified for an oll'ence against the electoral law and he. cannot stand again. An untried Ministerial candidate lias been brought forward, and he will be faced by a new and equally untried Liberal candidate. Under such conditions the tusk ef the political prophet is a difficult one. The two by-elections are pretty certain to be taken in the same week, and they may fall upon the same day. In the meantime the situation is full of possibilities for both the political parties.

AX ARMY AT TREXTIII-VM.

Nearly five thousand men are living at Trcntham cain'j now, and as the days grow shorter and the nights colder they are beginning to experience some of the rigors of campaigning. Most of the soldiers are still living under canvas, and one gather.-; that the new huts are not regarded by them with any high degree of favor as yet, though camp opinion on this suojc't may change when the heavy rains begin. An extra blanket has been sewed out to each man, making three blankets in all, and with the aid of straw mattresses and Balaclava caps the men's tents are made cosy sleeping places. There would not be over much grumbling except on the part of a small minority in any case, for 1 the heavy casualties incurred by the main force in the Dardanelles have given Trentham camp a sense of contact with the realities of war, and the, men are facing their training with excellent spirit. Some of'the lessons of the war are being put into practice at Trentham as the. weeks pass. Ollicers and men alike are being very thoroughly "grounded" in the art of entrenching, and the trenches, bomii-'.-iroof shelters and wire entanglements that have been constructed in the neighborhood of the camp are of very great interest to every visitor. Then a lot of attention is given to bayonet lighting and to the finer points of rille shooting, while the artillery is learning how to find shelter in the most unlikely p'aeos and how to pomout shells with almost incredible rapidity. There is an interesting story to be toll, by the way. concerning' the means by whic. the Defence Department ha; maintained a supply of guns since the outbreak of the war, but it must wait until the signing of the peace treaty put- an end to the need for official secrecy. The number of men at the camp is still growing, and unless a. detachment leaves for the front within the next few weeks an army of some 7000 men will be in training at Trwitham. It seems a pity that the Defence Department cannot allow a kinematograph operator to visit the camp professionally in the interests of the -people who cannot get to Wellington to see the Dominion's young men preparing to hear their share of the burden of Empire.

soMrrmxi; wnoxn iiickk. A steamer leaving \\ cllington for Lon(l(.ii shortly will take a batch of men wiio served with the Samoan force, and, having accepted their discharges, ure now going to oiler themselves to the recruit, mg authorities at Home. They want to serve, they explain, but tliev will not rejoin the. Xew Zealand forces.' This, of course, is simply a ii echo of tlic trouble that arose in connection with the original S:imoan force, but it is a reminder that tlie Defence .department has not yet given t..i; public any inkling of what was done towards remedying tlie grievances <it which tlie men complained. The authorities, as far a-; one can gather liaye decided to let ill alone, and in cousc(inenee the Dominion lias lost the services of a number of young men who ought to have worn the King's uniform right until the end of the war. .Uost of the Homeward-bound steamers take at least one or two men who have decided to become units of Kitchener's Army, usually in the, hope of getting to the front sooner than seems possible in the case of the Xew Zealand forces. The fare is something under £3O, and an able-bodied young fellow who'is sound and well can count upon cnlistin" within a few davs of his arrival in tin-Moth-erland. Hut tlu.se eager soldiers will find, in all likelihood, that the process of .training |:.!.,.s „ui!e as long in li.-itain as it does in Xew Zealand. A s+michrd of elliciency has been laid down for the ih'w military forces of the whode -Empire, and the period of training adoofed m Xew Zealand simply complies with'fmpenal rouu.remonts. As an officer said to yoi-r eci-i-espon,lent the other dav: I hey neediit be m such a hurrv to .. : et there: (here will be lots of figh'tinn- for everybody.''' ' r '