WELLINGTON NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 297, 25 May 1915, Page 2

WELLINGTON NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent). TALK OF A COALITION. Wellington, Hay 21. J'ii, news <if the last, itiiy or two from ' thi! Mother Country has given new force to thu arguments that are being heard la l'avor of some sort of arrangement between the political parties in this Dominion. The Liberals and the Conservatives in the Onilcd Kingdom have agreed to forget all party dilferenci! and forego all party advantages for the time being in order to form a truly national administration, capable of directing the whole forces of the country to the successful prosecution of the war. Here in Now Zealand party dill'erences remain active, and the position is rendered tiie more dillicult and unsatisfactory by the fact that the Government is facing the lirst meeting of a new Parliament with a merely nominal majority, which under ordinary circumstances would scarcely entitle it to retaia office at all. But will anything lie done to avert the threatened political battle in the House of Kepresentatives? It is an open secret that persons outside active politics have conducted certain discuslion* with the party leaders with the object of arriving at the basis of an agreement between the Government party and the Opposition. 'But no substantial progress was made, and as far as one can gather the cause of the tentative negotiations coming to a standstill was tile lack of a tlelinite response from the onlyouarter whence a concrete ! proposition could come, that is, the Ministry. The Leader of the Opposition could not propose a coalition even if he wanted it. Constitutionally speaking, i he is simply an ordinary member of Parliament, and all power and responsibility rest in the hands of the Ministers. If anything is to he done the move must i come from the Government.

TiiE OPPORTUNITY MAY PASS.

One gathers that nothing is being done. Perhaps the Ministers are nursing a liojus that their party will win both the by-elections next month, thus making the Ministerial strength fortyone or forty-two, and providing a maI jority of at most three after the elec-, tion of a Speaker. In the meantime the opportunity for agreement may lie passing. The Leader of the Opposition is campaigning vigorously in the Bay of Islands electorate, and he lias been joined there by the Minister of Justice, who is going to ■present the. Reform side of the case. A contest between these champions of the two political parties is not a very hopeful augury for the peace of the session that will be opened next month. The position is not met by the people who are telling the leader of the Opposition he ought to stand aside passively and leave the Government in undisturbed and unhampered possession of the Treasury benches. Sir Joseph Ward has a duty to his party as well as rights. He represents the political groups that secured the majorj ity of votes at the general election in December and that would have a paper majority in the House of representatives at the present time but for the blunder of a poll clerk in Dunedin Central. There is no proof that lie is leading a minority at the present time, since the question has not been tested by a division, and the state of parties ; is not much more certain than it was in 1912. It seems obvious that if there is to be an agreement the party leaders will have to meet one another half-way. The initiative will have to come from the mjin who lias to-day the position of advantage. GERMANS OX SOMES ISLAXD.

Over tit Somes Island some scores of rather disconsolate (.iermans are waiting for the eud of tlie war which will 'bring to them the freedom that they have lost owing to the necessities of the military situation. A visit to the island is an interesting experience. The 'prisoners of war are a very mixed lot, socially speaking, and some of them are a severe trial to the patience of the representatives of the Defence Department. They insist upon doing various tilings that they have been told not to do. and they get punished accordingly. But many of the prisoners are ordinary well-be-haved people who under happier circumstances would be living busy, useful lives within the Dominion. These interned Germans are able to procure books and papers, they are permitted to write, letters under the supervision of the censor, and they are even allowed occasional visits to the. city under military escort in order to transact important business, lint for them the days pass lowly and they have shown considerable ingenuity in discovering ways of occupying their time. They have made queer and beautiful tilings of pawn, shell, stone and wood. Some of the carvings executed by them are really remarkable, and have commercial value. Such a production as a head of the Kaiser is not likely to appeal to local tastes, that is,, outside Somes Island, but there are model ships, curiously lifelike flowers and ingeniously carved and decorated walking-sticks "to be seen among the exhibits. The prisoners are patriotic enough to expect a prolonged stay on their island prison. They do not believe their country is going to he beaten, at least for a'long time yet.

NPRSES FOll THE FRONT. The Dominion appears to he full of young women who have suddenly discovered that their mission in life is to nurse wounded soldiers, and a goodly proportion of them are seeking to discover how they can get to the front. The only door as far as the Defence Department is concerned is the New Zealand Army Nursing Service Corps, which will supply „U the nurses sent to the Jront by the Government. ■ This corps used to consist of 110 nurses, but the number has been extended to 210, and the authorities are receiving applications for appointment at the present time. The acting-Matron in Chief is Miss Hi-icknell. who can be addressed through the Defence Department. The applicants, it is explained, must be ■cerlifn-aled nurses, ; , n ,| th-v must be physically u.mMM f,„. the'work that will bill to the lot of the nurses at the m.l.tar.v hospital.. A detachment of he nurses are leaving Wellington tonight, and a very competent and cheerful lot they appear, despite the fact that the Defence Department gave them only twenty-four hours' notice of their despatch.