NOTES FROM WELLINGTON.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 September 1915, Page 3

NOTES FROM WELLINGTON.

ON MATTERS OF INTEREST. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Sept. 20. A MAP OF GALLIPOLr. Among the documents which reached the Minister for Defence by the last mail from the front is a map of the positions occupied by the New Zealanders and Australians at Gallipoli, The map shows the opposing trenches as they were before the last advance of the Australasian troops, and the various ridges and valleys which have become familiar, by name, to readers of the newspapers. It is easier to realise after examining this official record of the positions, what a terribly formidable task the Colonial troops essayed and how brilliantly they succeeded. The country did not favor them. They lived and fought for months on a narrow stretch of land swept by the enemy's fire, with the sea behind them and the Turkish trenches in front, and the record of many splendid achievements is to be found on this service map in the form of the names that have been given to the nktural features of the country.

THE BLUNDER OVER WHEAT. Wlien the House of Representatives gets an opportunity to discuss the cost of living, the Prime Minister and his colleagues in the Reform Ministry, will have to reply to some keen critcism. Flour was quoted at £l7 10s a ton on July 1, and it is being offered at £l3 10s now. The consumer has had to pay the increased price of bread caused by the inflated price of flour all this year, and is not now getting substantial relief even. The price of flour rose because the official statistics showed a serious shortage of wheat, although it is fairly evident now that there was no shortage. The Ministers may be assumed to have blundered honestly, but they have to face the fact that they were told the truth about the position by men who spoke as experts. The Massey Government, members point out, did attempt to cope with the situation by importing wheat, but it sold this wheat to millers at a loss, and then did not insist that the public should get bread at a price corresponding to the price the millers were paying the Government for wheat. The unfortunate consumer has fared rather badly all through, but Mr. Massey must be given some credit for having put his feet down firmly the other day, when some of the persons who had made profits out of the high prices ruling earlier in the year—when they were quite ready to act as though there was an actual shortage of wheat—came along with a request that they should now be allowed to export Wheat, as there was reason to believe there was a surplus. Export is not likely to be permitted for some time to come.

SEAFARING STORIES. Strange stories come ashore with some of the seafaring men who reach Wellington. „ These visitors are quite willing, and entirely confident of their own ability, to fill in the gaps in the cable agent's account of what is happening at the seat of war, and particularly in the narrow waters around the United Kingdom, Some of their statements have an appearance of truth and some of them have not, and the newspaper reporter, bearing in mind the censorship regulations, is disposed to let these tales from the sea waste their savour on the bar-room air. But perhaps a specimen tale may be quoted. According to one seafarer, the reason why the transports bearing British troops and supplies to Franc* have been immune from attack by the enemy's submarines is quite simple. The Admiralty has formed a secure channel between Dover and Calais by sinking a number of cement-filled ships in parrallel lines along the route and connecting them with chains and nets!