WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 June 1916, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

MILITARY SERVICE. WAR IPRICES. (Special Correspondent). Wellington, June 12. The speeches delivered on the motion for the third reading of the Military Service Bil' were, for the most part, worthy of the occsaion. Mr. Isitt, who opened the debate —if a discussion which merely epitomised the inevitable can be called a debate—struck just the right note of high resolve and patriotic ell'ort that was needed to speed the measure on its "way to the Statute Book lie had given loyal and consistent support to the Government in its endeavor to meet the emergencies of the hour, but he had not pretended to be satisfied with all it bad done or undisturbed by what it had left undone. It had not ueeit, he said, as resolute, as prompt and as fearless in its action, in its claims upon wealth, in its retrenchment of expenditure and in its attempt to check the increase in the cost of living as it might have been. "We do not doubt your patriotism," he added, addressing the occupants of the Treasury benches, "but you have failed to take your courage in both hands and to have faith in the people in this great national crisis. Wc want a Ministry that has not merely opinions. We want a Ministry that will act fearlessly and determinedly, and while we have faith in yon we want you to have faith in us, to believe that we are as much stirred with the responsibilities of the Empire as you are yourselves, and that we are prepared for you to call upon us for really heroic measures and for drastic sacrifices."- The Whole speech was a fine effort, which compelled the attention of a full House, and 'ost nothing in dramatic ell'ort through the empty galleries and the broad daylight which lends no glamor to an afternoon sitting.

THE LABOR PARTY. Mr. Wilford, perhaps the most capable speaker in the House next to Mr. Isitt, followed the member for Christchurch North with a critical, closelyreasoned review of the Bill, and after Dr. Newman and Mr. Poole had contributed their quotas to the discussion Siiy Joseph Ward, more in sorrow than <n anger, took certain of the Labor members to task for having done a great deal less than justice to the people they claim speein'ly to represent. He disliked the idea of compulsion, he said, as much :k anyone could., and lie disliked it none Hie less because the House had been compelled to make provision against the day when it might become necessarv But it was not the workers who were going to enforce this necessity upon the country if it was forced at all. They had done their part in the war here and in every other part of the Empire magnificently, and he was sure they were not going to relax their efforts'in the hour of the country's greatest need. But lie regretted that some of their representatives in Parliament, quite honestly, no doubt, according to their own conception of the position, had implied that the Government was going to treat the workers unfairly, and that the workjers were going to resent-this treatment. IHe simply did not believe that more ] thnn a mere fraction of the workers felt like that. The suggestion was a slander upon them, and he appealed to them just as confidently as he did to every other section of the community to throw themselves with renewed enthusiasm and renewed confidence into the task of winning the war. He accepted his full 'share of the responsibility for what the (Government was doing without any word of reservation, and he was content to let the sane working men and women |of the Dominion be his judges. Mr. [Massey spoke vigorously and well, era|phasising the point that the country | must be prepared for any emergency, jand Mr. Allen, in concluding the discu'sision at an early hour on Saturday morning, urged the public, as he had done in introducing the Bill, to put aside personal differences and to devote all its energy to winning the war. The third reading was carried by 44 votes to 4, two of the Labor members having paired against the measure and Mr. Fletcher accompanying the remaining three into the "Noes" lobby.

SOLDIERS' SETTLEMENT. There is already some plain speaking in regard to the Government's proposals for settling returned soldiers on the land, and there is likely to be more before the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Bill gets through the House. There is a very general feeling that Mr. Masi-ey, as Minister of Lands, has not yet fully appreciated the importance and urgency of this question. The Act of last session was accepted rather as a tentative measure, simply expressing the country's good-will towards the men who had been fighting the Empire's battle than as a final solution of a great national problem, but the amending Bill now before the House already proposes little advance upon the existing legislation, except in the way of extending the financial provision that thousands of men returning from the war will be disinclined to resume theii forme:- sedentary occupations and will be seeking opportunities to make homes for themselves on the land. The great majority of these will have had no experience in farming of any description, and will require to be given special facilities for learning something about the business before they can embark upon it with any chance of success. Of course, a proportion of them will have a little capital and some practical knowledge. These may he suited well enough by the Minister's present proposals. But the c]erk or the factory hand or the casual laborer who comes back with only a few pounds in his pocket and an ardent desire to get from the town into the country appears to have been left out of Mr. Massey's calculations. Yet this is the man above all others who should be encouraged to enter upon a more spacious life. A year or two ago the-Prime Minister was painting the delights of small rural settlement with inspiring enthusiasm. To-day he has an opportunity to give his theories a practical turn with immense advantage to the returned soldier and to the country. .Truly, what New Zealand wants, no less in time of war than in time of peace, is "settlement, more settlement and still more settlement," and here are the means at hand of getting what it requires.

COST OP UVJNG. | A deputation from the Women's AntiI Conscription' League which wa\ted on Mr. Massey on Saturday had nr cause |t,o complain of any lack of candor on the part of the Prime Minister. He was patient and courteous, as he always is on such occasions, lmt lie refused absolutely to modify in the sligntest particular any opinion he had previously exI pressed in regard to military service.

But when a member of the deputation, apparently as a sort of parting shot at the policy and administration of the Government, invited him to "look at the cost of living," he was betrayed into a startling statement that scarcely can be accepted as the last ministerial word on war prices. "I ..-aii't deal with that now," he said, but unfortunately he did attempt to deal with it. "'During the war period the cost of living must go up," he added; "no power on God's earth could keep it down. We have increased tile wages of men in our employment by several hundreds of thousands of pounds per annum. Most of the large employers have done the same, and the Arbitration Court has granted increases. There is no use in suggesting to the Government that it can keep down the price of commodities. It cannot go below the cost of production. What we can do is to prevent a man making undue prolit, and we have done it." If this is to be the attitude of the Government towards this all-important question it ought to lose no time in producing the reports of the Board of Trade on which it may be supposed to have framed its judgment'. Here is one little set of figures now being handed about which seems to require some oxplantion. The quantity of wheat required to make a ton of [lour has cost the miller £!) 10s. This when manufactured yields a ton of flour (20()(llbs) and 700lbs of bran and sharps. The bran and sharps practically pay for the cost of manufacture, and the flour is sold at £l2. The ton of flour is naked into flOfi 41b loaves, and these in turn are sold .at a rate which gives £22 40. This is aii increase of £l2 I,ls between the cost of the raw material and the selling price of the manufactured article, 12S per cent., and the sorely tried housewife has a right to know in these times where all this money goes.

, SAVING OR SWEATING. The enquiry concerning the Public Service .Commissioner's claim to have effected considerable saving of expenditure in several departments during the war, which Mr. R. W. Smith is putting to the Minister of Internal Affairs, suggests another question of at least equal importance. The Commissioner is a little prone to advertising the achievements of his own office—blowing his own trumpet, as it has been less .delicately put—and it would be interesting to know exactly what these savings mean. It is alleged on what seems to be fairly good authority—no less than that o'f the Auditor-General—that some of the statements contained in the Public Service Report last year were not precisely correct, and the purpose of the question put to the Minister by the vigilant member for Wnitnarino is to ensure that greater accuracy shall be observed in the future. It is being suggested that the savings arc not savings in the legitimate sense, but the result of civil servants who have not gone to the war being required to do in addition to their own work the work of those who have without extra remuneration. If this is actually the. case, tbe facts ought to be plainly set out in the Commissioner's report, and credit given to whom credit is due. The members of the service are not complaining; indeed, they are glad to be doing their "little bit"' by assisting their comrades to get away, but they object to the "savings" being put down to the Commissioner's unassisted efforts.