WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 September 1916, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

PRICES AM) MARKETS. A WAR MtO'BLKM. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, September 13. The distribution of tlie meat commandeered by the Imperial authorities continues to exercise the minds of the fanners in this part of the country, and the Dominion'has something to say 011 the subject this morning. It does not, of course, raise any objection to New Zealand produce being taken for Army purposes. That is one of the necessities created by t'he war which every good patriot, however it may affect him, must endure. But it points out that the diversion of the Dominion's meat from its ordinary market is giving the great .American trusts an opportunity to establish themselves in a position from which they will not be easily ousted when the war is over. The independent retail butchers are being driven out of business and the trusts arc taking their places. Tiie Dominion suggests that to assist in checking this tendency the (loverninent should appoint "a live trade commissioner" to look after the interests of the New Zealand producers in this respect. It means 110 reflection upon the Dominion's representative already in London. "But Sir Thomas Mackenzie," it says, "has so many things to do that he cannot give this matter his personal attention, and the position requires the v.'hole attention of a capable and experienced man." That the .High Commissioner, who possesses special qualifications for this particular work, is having his attention largely absorbed by other matters arising out of the war is obvious enough, but pro'bably a more satisfactory way of dealing with the problem would be to relieve Sir Thomas of his ambassadorial functions and allow him to return to the duties for which he is so eminently fitted.

TAXATION. Tlie war lias upset so many precon-' ceived notions concerning social and economic problems tliat it is not surprising to find uncompromising partisans of a couple of years ago, wlio tit on were quite sure of tlie foundations of tli'eir 'belief, materially revising their views on a variety of questions. When the chairman of the Board of the Bank of New Zealand suggested in the early days of the crisis that an export duty would be a sound and simple way of raising a substantial pifrt of the additional revenue required to meet the growing demands upon the public purse he met with little support among business men. But today there are numbers of shrewd people in Wellington who believe that an export duty would have approached nearer to the ideal of ''equality of sacrifice" than has any of the imposts designed 'by the Minister of Finance. "For one thing,"' said a high authority to-day, "it would have kept the local prices of meat aiul butter and cheese down to a reasonable level, and for another it would have reached t'he very people who are best able to bear the burden of taxation." The subject is not an easy one to discuss without raising the party issue, which seems to centre for the most part around personal interests, but this is not only a consumer's view. There are many producers who declare that in the light of their fuller experience they would have rather seen an export duty than the more complicated methods of taxation to which they (have been compelled to submit.

THE CALL FOR MEN, The latest word from the military authorities in regard to recruiting is that men are urgently needed for the Twenty-first Reinforcements. This draft should mobilise next week, and to-day it is considerably below full strength, Arrangements are not yet complete for putting the compulsory clauses of the Military Service Act into operation, and the authorities are particularly anxious that there should be no shortage on this account. When compulsion is in full running order it will be first applied to members of families which are not yet represented in the Expeditionary Forces and which have no adequate excuse for their failure. The authorities already have a long list of eligible men who come under the discrimination of clause 35, and as they must know of their special liability to service it is hoped a large number of them will enlist voluntarily while there is yet time, and not wait for compulsion. Another member of the Recruiting Board has supplemented Mr. Allen's appeal with a reminder that the shadow of compulsion is approaching, and t'hat it will not reach any man who has a proper sense of his duty. COST OF LIVING. i'he Minister of Internal Affairs, it would seem rather tardily, is communicating with the city and borough authorities throughout the Dominion asking for their co-operation in framing regulations in respect to the various municipal undertakings permitted by the Cost of Living Act. Mr. 'Russell's duties are so various and so numerous that lie may well be pardoned if he did not realise earlier that the administration of a measure passed by Sir Joseph Ward and handed over to Mr. Massey rested with his department. It is to be hoped, however, that now lie 'has taken the matter up he will have the assistance of some of the local bodies in carrying it to a satisfactory conclusion. So far, it ■must be confessed, none of them, has shown any great enthusiasm over its new opportunities. Wellington, according to its very worthy Mayor, is going to move slowly. Mr. Luke believes the council should "develop a policy of establishing one enterprise at a time, such as the fiali industry, and make it a success financially and every other way before taking on any other enterprise." This is a very sentiment, but unfortunately Wellington moves so slowly along the path of municipal progress 1 that the Dominion must look to one of , the other centres if it ever is going to iget an inspiring lead.

I Wellington, Sept. 17. j ENROLMENT CERTIFICATES . The period allowed for the enrolment ! f the members of the Expeditionary ; ,'orce Reserve expired on Saturday night, and the Government Statistician ind his oflicers will be busy this week dealing with the accumulations of forms nwl preparing the certifiutrs of enrolment. Many thousands uf the cams acknowledging receipt of Hie appliea'ions for certificates have been sent out ilready, but some days will be required '0 overtake this work and the issue of '.he certificates will come later. Some men who have sent in their forms, but have rot yet received any acknowledgment are writing to the Government

Statistician on the subject, or sending in duplicate forms. It will save trouble if they wait a few days in order to allow time for the posting of all the acknowledgment cards. How many of the members of the Reserve have complied with the obligations placed upon them by the Military Service Act is not yet known, but it is evident already that the margin of defaulters is not going to be large. The first task of the officials will be to deal with all the forms already received and send out the certificates of enrolment, to the men who have qualified to receive them. The great majority of the men of military age throughout the country ought to receive their certificates by the end of the present month. Then the roll of the Reserve will be checked in comparison with the National Register, to ascertain what men are not accounted for, and finally steps will be taken to discover the remaining individuals who have not placed their names either on the Register or the Roll. The number of these will probably not he large, and their chance of escaping the attention of the authorities, in any case, will be small. Every Reservist will have an interest in seeing that his neighbour is not shirking the duty of enrolment.

COMPULSORY ENLISTMENT. The machinery for compulsory enlistment is not expected to be ready fo* operation before the end of October, ts far as the ordinary classes of the Reserve are concerned. The procedure to be adopted then has been explained already by the Recruiting Board. Each district will have a quota of recruits assigned to it, the basis of ihc quota being the number of members of the First Division (unmarried men, widowers without dependants, and men married since May, 1915), shown by the roll to be within its boundaries. This quota must be provided monthly. If there is a shortage of volunteers, the deficiency will be covered by the compulsory enlistment of men from the First Division, the selection being made by ballot. Thus a district which continues to provide a full quota of volunteers will escape conscription; a district which fails will feel the operation of the Act quickly.

ADJUSTMENT OF QUOTAS. The adjustment of the district quotas on the basis of the Reservists' Roll probably will involve some important changes from the present quotas, which are based upon tlie number of men of military age in each district as shown by the National Register last year. Some parts of the country will be required to find increased numbers of men and others will have their contributions reduced, according to the variations in the proportions of members of the First Division still ravailable for service. There is no doubt that the contributions of the various districts up to the present time have been uneven, and unofficial figures suggest that there are certain areas where unmarried men have been decided laggardly in their reply to the | call of duty. The new quotas will have an additional interest as disclosing whether or not some districts that have had particular difficulty about completi ing their drafts are really short of eligible men.