WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 October 1916, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

MORE MEN, A DARING SUGGESTION. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, October 2. The lengthy casualty lists issued during the past week have bronchi* sorrow and anxiety to hundreds of homes and a fuller realisation of the cost and responsibility of nationhood to the whole community. But one result of the terrible tale of killed and wounded is a suggestion, thoroughly characteristic of the spirit of the British race, that the Dominion should double its monthly contribution to tlve great Imperial Army which is pledged to fig-lit on till it has accomplished all it set out to achieve—the vindication of right and justice and the inauguration of an abiding peace. The suggestion has not yet reached the stage oi serious discussion, but already it is appealing to the popular judgment aud even in a more intense degree to the popular imagination. The. moral effect throughout the Empire of New Zealand announcing Chat from the beginning of the new year it would send 5000 men a month to the front instead of 2500 would be infinitely more electrical than was the gift of the Dreadnought, and it would he as a message of good cheer to the Mother Country and her Allies. The suggestion, of course, is a daring one. The civil -authorities would object that the Dominion could not spare so many men from its industries, and the military authorities would protest that 5000 trained soldiers could not b£ turned out every month; but Britain and France and Russia have overcome far greater difficulties and New Zealand could do a.s if it once made up its mind to bear a Ml share of the Imperial sacrifice. THE COMMANDEERED 'MEAT. The cable published in the papers on Saturday giving the gist of an "interview" with Sir Thomas Mackenzie regarding commandeered meat reads so much like a reply to enquiries Mr. lylasscy promised last session to institute when he visited London, that many people here are assuming that by some occult means the High Commissioner and the Prime Minister have been brought together. They argue that Sir Thomas having read, a* he must have done, an account of what took place in I Parliament concerning the matter, would not anticipate Mr. Massey's report by confiding to an interviewer the information the Minister was seeking. This, however, is not the .place for speculation about the matter. The outstanding feature in the summary of the interview is the admission that the allegations made in the House of Representatives are substantially correct, "While the Board of Trade fixed the wholesale price af our meat," one paragraph runs, "British and Argentine and othe. meats "were not interfered with, The retail prices were entirely uncontrolled, which operates to our disadvantage. Retailers are able to buy our meat at a comparatively lower rate and can afford to give a higher price for free m&at." It is to be hoped that the Prime Minister and Sir Joseph Ward between them will be able to find a remedy for what is obviously a very unsatisfactory state of tiling®. THREATENING LABOR TROUBLES. It would seem from the para,graphs '.hat have been appearing in t'he local papers during the last week or so that there Is more than the possibility of trouble between the shearers and the sheep-owners during the approaching season. The men, so it is reported, have made up their mindis to accept nothing less thsin 25s a hundred, while the owners declare they will pay no more than 20s a hundred and a- f bomis of 2s fid'. The secretary of the Agricultural and Pastoral Workers' Union states iliat numbers of men hiave been employed at the higher rate, and that the Maoris, who do much of the shearing in certain districts, are just as firm in their demands as are their European fellow unionists. The owners' representatives, on the other hand, insist that 20s with the war bonus is to be the rate in the Hawkc's Bay amd Wairarapa districts, and that the owners will not budge a single threepence by way of advance. A somewhat similar position arose at this time Vast year, I the statements- of the two sides c#nflieting in the most extraordinary way, but in the end the men foi the most part got their way, and in the absence of competition from Australia they probably will fare no worse on the present occasion. They have their own idea ol getting a share of the war profits tliej know to be going. RACING AND THE WAR. Some more or less odious compari ' sons were made at the annual meeting , of Che members of the Wellington Rac ing Club on Friday by Mr. J. J.-Mc firatli between the amount subscribed by the local chib and the amounts sub scribed by other clubs towards patriotii funds during the course of the war. Tin Wellington Club's contribution. Mr. Me Grath said, W been only £llsO, whik the Canterbury Club bad subscribe! £5058. the Auckland Club £5020, tlhi Manawatu Club £4<200, and many small er clubs very considerable i mounts. T,hi reply to the criticism of tlie Wellingtoi Club was that it had very heavy liabili ties to discharge and that it had givei the use of its buildings and course ti the Defence authoritie. free of charge O,tilier clubs, of course, have done thi same thing, particularly the .vlanawati Club, which has establishe-' a splendii record for patriotic effort, but Mr. J. B '• lial'.-ourt, the president, made a, ver; plausible defence foi the Wellington Club, and arged that all clubs- sbouk " co-operate for the purpose' of .sta'blish ing a soldier' ,nd veterans' home ii the Hutt Valley as a memorial to tin men who had offered t'lieir lives in tin service of the Empire during the grea' war. It was scarcely relevant to th< subject in hand, but Mr. Harcourt men tioned that one prominent owner ha< distributed ove« £15,000 ooit ot his " .iwiimiwß' towards D&triotic purposes.