WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 November 1916, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE COiniON'WEALTII REFERENDUM. ■ A STARTLING SURPRISK, (From Our Special 'Correspondent.)' Wellington. Nov. 1. The result of the Conscript;<-p. Referendum in Australia is still the thief topic of conversation 'here, and it is being discussed in varying' degrees of surprise and indignation." The optimists are clinging to the hope that the rotes of the soldiers at the front and of those in camp, which do not appear to !>,■ included in the published figures. \vi!! turn the scale emphatically on the s ; ('.e of the ''Ayes," but even if !)0 per cent, of the men who have sect their duty, and set about doing it, vote for maintaining the credit of the country, the margin will be too small to save Australia from the reproach of having hesitated in the hour of the Empire's need. There are, roughly, 1:50,000 probable vote:, abroad and 50,000 in camp, and even if the whole lot were cast in the direction in which honour lies, the majority would not be large enough to silence the Kaiser and the scoffers within our own gates. THE ATTITUDE OF LABOR.

i The publication of Mr. VeiteVs letter, challenging the right of the executive of the new Labor Party to speak for the workers of the Dominion on the con- '. scription question, has encouraged many other Labor men to protest ijaiost the "infernal impudence," as one of them has put it, of the Hon. J. T, Paul and Mr. J. MeCombs- in putting themseives forward as the. representatives of thousands of people from whom they liave received no mandate. "The Australian Labor Party," one of the indign«int critics says, "has done splendid work in the ' past, and, in spite of its many mistakes, will do good work in the future; but if it has.had any hand in helping the I.W.W. in its German campaign it will receive a set-back from which it will not recover for years. The new Labor Party in New Zealand has no past to lean up against, and it has killed itself as dead as a door nail." That is the opinion of a sturdy Radical, whose name carries more than a little weight in Wellington. 6 REVIVED RUMOURS. ! What lias happened in Australia—though the connection between cause and effect is not very obvious—has revived the rumours that were current here some months ago concerning an impendingstrike, which was going to involve all ' the labor organisations and paralyse all (] the principal industries of the Dominion. One of the stories is that when the Government proceeds- to put conscription into operations, the workers in the first draft will set up a passive resistance, refusing to march or carry a rifle without physical compulsion, and that their mates on the waterfront will com» to their assistance in the usual way. Prominent men in the Labor movement here, who laughed at the tales that were told at the beginning of the year—and apparently credited by the authorities—are laughing at this one, and there certainly are no signs of approaching trouble in '.he places where such things are expected to make their first appearance. It is a tolerably safe prophecy to say the. rumours are unfounded. AFTER THE WAR. Mr. Dalton, the British Commissioner, who, in his quiet, unostentatious way, is doing more to improve the commercial relations between New Zealand and the Mother Country than is any Cabinet Minister whose name comes readily to the pen, has recently returned from an exploration of the back-blocks and by-ways of the Dominion with _ a! stronger faith than ever in the virility of the British race. He is one of those 'cheery souls who believe that the war is •joing to bring blessings as well as difficulties and sad remembrances in _ its train, and that among these blessings will be a much closer acquaintance batwaen the two ends of the Empire. Already ho finds New Zealandcrs letter disposed towards British manufactures I than they were a couple of y?,irs ago, . and lie is. confident of this tendency continuing when peace comes, and the Ronie- ■ 'land is free to apply the lessons she has . i learned by hitter experience. The war .has sharpened the wit and the intellig- ! enco of the British people, as veil as 1 tried their courage and endurance!, and '' with these qualities in combination the a Empire is going to profit by an ospanI. sion of trade unparalleled in the history 9 of the, world. It is an inspiring picture Mr Dalton draws, and, listening to the "■ artist himself, it docs not seem too ■' highly coloured.