WELLINGTON GOSSIP.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 November 1915, Page 6

WELLINGTON GOSSIP.

NEW ZEALAND'S LOAN. THE NATIONAL REGISTER. TRENTHAM. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, November 9. The reply of the public to the invitation to subscribe to a £'2,000,000 public ivorks loan is highly gratifying to the Minister for Finance and his colleagues. Sir Joseph Ward estimates that by the time all the applications for debentures and conversions are in hand the amount subscribed "by the New Zealand people will have reached the very handsome total of close upon £4,000,000. The subscriptions for the loan will reach a total of not less than £3,474,000, or nearly a million and a half more than £-2,000,000. and it is not known yet what the Minister for Finance intends to do with the surplus. No information was available 011 that point to-day. Technically the work of allotment is in the hands of the Comptroller and Audi-tor-General. The Government Statistician estimated last night that he had received between 120,000 and 150,000 completed schedules in connection with the National Register. The number appears surprisingly small, in view of the fact that the time for taking the Register expires to-morrow (Tuesday). The number of men who ought to fill up forms is believed to be in the neighbourhood of 300,000, «o it would seem very many persons have delayed sending in their forms until the last minute. The compilation of the first set of figures to be drawn from the Register, relating to the men of military age, probably will be completed next week. The whole position with regard to recruiting will then be reviewed by the Government and the Prime Minister has indicated that he will have a statement to make for the information and guidance of the public. The most optimistic estimate of the duration of the war does not fall below twelve months from to-day, and the military authorities are inclined to believe that New Zealand should base all calculations 011 the extension of the war into 101 T. Just what that means in relation to New Zealand's recruiting problem remains to be seen. Trentham camp has ceased to bo constantly in the public eye of late and the Minister for Defence, who .maintained in the face of all evidence and all argument that the camp was everything that it should be, might be thought to have triumphed. But a little examination of the position suggests that the critics of Trentham are being vindicated. Five months ago we were told that the Trentham camp was the best in New Zealand, and that the training of the troops could not proceed without its abundant facilities. To-day, there is a new permanent camp at Tauherenikau and it contains fnore men than Trentham. Another camp has been established at May Morn, on the higher .ground behind Trentham, and the Palmerston camp is growing. The Rangiotu camp is to be re-occupied shortly. In other words, the concentrations of troops at the one camp has ceased. This change may be due to the flood of criticism directed at the old arrangement or it may be the decision of the new head of the medical branch, Sur-geon-General Henderson. The why and wherefore do not matter much in any case. The important point is that the training of the troops is proceeding with unimpaired efficiency under healthier conditions than prevailed when the outcry against Trentham began.