WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 September 1916, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

SHORT WEIGHT (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, September 8. None too soon the Minister of Internal ■ Affairs is reminding the bakers and coaldealers of the existence of a Weights and Measures Act .which requires them to treat their customers fairly. It is notorious that for a long time past many of these tradesmen have been taking liberties with the provisions of the Act and swelling their own war profits at the expense of t'he public. Bakers have been selling "two-pound" loaves that barely turned the scale at 28 ounces, and coaldealers, by calculating the weight of sacks at 31b instead of Gib, have been short delivering to that extent. Mr. Russell quotes a ease in which an alleged two tons of coal delivered at a public office was found to be 2cw.t 131b short. He has been advised by the Crown: law officers that the fraudulent delivery of short-weight constitutes an indictable offence technically known as obtaining money by false pretences, and he is warning the parties concerned that unless they mend their ways forthwith proceedings will be taken agab,st them. He will be glad if persons who can give reliable information on the .subject will communicate with the officers of his Department. THE FISH SUPPLY. At ■ last nigiht's meeting of the Wellington City Council, the chairman of the Health Committee presented a report upon the Auckland Corporation Fish Market which ought to be of intct est to municipalities all over the country. Wellington itself has had a corporation fish market for some years, but owing to the half-hearted fashion in which it has been maintained by the locaj Council it has been only a partial success. It depends for its supply of tish upon private enterprise and for it« custom upon the thrifty housewives who have been energetic enough to discover its location. But even with these and other disadvantages it is able to sell at much lower prices than are charged in the shops. In Auckland the business is run much more thoroughly, and with marked success. The price of fish in the northern city has been brought down from 4d to Od per lb to 2d, l'/od and in .some cases to Id per lb, and, of coutsc, the consumption ha.s been enormously increased. The gentleman who has investigated the subject on behalf of the Wellington City Council, and who has special business qualifications for the task, strongly recommends that Auckland's example should be followed here. He is satisfied from his own observations that the Council, in addition to providing an abundant supply of cheap fish for the city, could do a profitable business with the inland towns when the enterprise was thoroughly established. ': NATIONAL EDUCATION. The Minister of Education, in his addresses to teachers and others during the week, has been saying many sensible things, and perhaps unconsciously giving some point to the criticism lie already has encountered, to the effect that his words are more stimulating than his performances are satisfying. But it is only fair to Mr. Hunan to remember that it is not his fault alone that many of tbe reforms he has propounded are being delayed. The Minister has enthusiasm as well as ideas, anil by this time, no doubt, would be putting many of his schemes into practice had not the united wisdom of the Cabinet decreed that enterprise involving the expenditure of money would have to "go slow" during the period of the war. The Evening Post recognises this fact in its leading columns when pleading for the inauguration of an effective scheme of national education. "There are reforms," it says, "which the Minister would have liked to introduce at once into our system, but the determination of the Government to confine legislation to the immediate purposes of the war has stayed his hand." The Post evidently sympathises with Mr. Hunan rather than Cabinet in this matter, and emphasises a point which the Minister probably .would have liked to make for himself had he been free to differ from his eolleageus. "The crushing burdens imposed by the war upon the National Government of Great Britain," it reminds its readers, "have not induced it to postpone the consideration of educational reform. The war has, on the contrary, stimulated tbe activity of the British Board of Education and of all kindred authorities." This is not the only hint the Government has had since the prorogation of Parliament that next yew it will be expected to place a less narrow interpretation upon the demand for "war legislation only" than it did last session. j SMALL ECONOMIES. The publication of the monthly returns comparing the business of the Telegraph Department under the new rates with the business under the old rates always provokes a mild controversy concerning i.lie wisdom of taxing the people's means of communication. That the higher rates have brought about a substantial diminution in the number of telegrams despatched is plain enough for anyone to see, and that the higher charges have kept up the revenue is also .recorded. The latest returns, for instance, show that hi July hist the number of ordinary telegrams despatched throughout the whole of the Dominion was 445,137, a decrease of 79,434 on the number despatched in July, 1915, while the revenue increased by £2Bl. Unless there has been a very material saving in the office expenditure in consequence of the reduced number of telegrams, the public has not profited at all by this piece of economy. Under the old rates the number of messages would have amounted to 000,000, but under the new rates it has fallen to ' 445,137, so that over 150,000 messages I which presumably would have served some useful purpose, if only in giving pleasure of their senders and receivers, have been blocked by the higher charge. The net increase in the revenue during July, compared with the corresponding month of last year, was only £OIO, or at the rate of abont £7320 a year, a rather insignificant gain to place against the inconvenience the public has suffered. That, at any rate* is the way the critics are arguing. TRADE COMMISSIONER. During the next few weeks Mr. R. W. Dalton. the representative of the Board of Trade in New Zealand, will make an extended tour of the Dominion for the purpose of getting into touch with business people in every part of the country. Some strange misconceptions exist ■with regard to the Board of Trade. The president of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce is reported to have said the oUher day that the Board consisted of, the Archbishop of Canterbury, tbe Speaker of the House, of Commons and some other dignitaries who were not likely to command the confidence of the business community. This statement would 'have been true in the time of Charles 'II., but since

then the Board has become a body of a very difl'erent character. It has the services of some of the United Kingdom's most prominent business men; its agents and representatives circle the world, and it has undertaken the organisation of Britain's industrial forces for bho commercial war Unit must follow the struggle on .European battlefield*. Mr. Dalton is qualified to speak of its work in this connection. He was on the London staff of the Board when the war began, and within, a fen' days of the outbreak of hostilities he was engaged in the promotion of a remarkable exhibition of enemy goods, which were collected from every comer of the kingdom for examination and study by British manufacturers. This was the first step in the. Board's campaign against Gorman trade, and since then the iiejd of work has been extended until to-day more than fifty separate committees and eorfimissions are dealing with trade problems, studying trade conditions, examining markets and collecting information under the direction of the Department with w'hich Mr. Palton is associated.