WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 November 1916, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE OWNERS' DISPUTE. i. CRITICAL POSITION (From Our Own Correspondent.)' Wellington, Nov. 24. The drivers' dispute, which lias been dragging on in one form and another for the best pr.rt of a year, seems now to have reached an extremely critical stage. The employers have admitted the inadequaev of the wages provided by the Arbitration Court award by offering to raise !he minimum rate for single-horse drivers from £2 12s a week to £2 17s 3d : and for two-horse drivers, from £2 lGs to £3 Is Sd, but the men are sta.iding firmly by their original demand for £3 and £3 3s respectively. At the time ot writing neither party appears the least inclined to give way to the extent? of a single shilling, but they both art conferring with the Minister of Labor, Mr. Herries, and the Acting Prime Minister, Mr. Allen, and these gentlemen do not despair of assisting in bringing about a settlement, In the meantime tho active forces of militant labor—tile miners, the watersiders, and the Trades Council—are gathering behind the drivers and if the worst should come to the worst the country might be envoived in a very serious industrial upheaval at a time when all ifjp energies should be bent upon winning the war " "

THE WORKERS' VIEW: f The unrest aVd uncertainty occasioned by the dispute between the drivers and their employers have naturally set the workers on the water-front talking even (iioro freely than they usually do of the attitude of Labor during the war. One of them, an intelligent man earning good wages and quite content with- his ow;i position, discussing the matter this morning insistc \ that it was a great mistake to suppose that «ny large proportion of the workers "looking for trouble." There were a certain number of men, of course, who were always ready to assist in stirring up strife, but these constituted a very small proportion of the whole and their influence had steadily declined since the. strike of three years ago. But the married men were face to face with a very cruel problem in the increased cost of living, which, he contended, was much largei than the statistics showed. The man who managed with £2 12s a week before the war was now running into debt with £3 a week, if he was lucky enough to get it, and unless the employers gave him more money or the State afforded him some relief the spirit of discontent would spread. This, as far as Ci.n be gathered from sober-thinking responsible men, whose whole efforts would be devoted towards avoiding trouble, is the feeling prevailing among the city workers and the essence if the problem with which th». authorities have to deal.

LAND AGGREGATION. The delegates to the annual conference of the New Zealand Chambers of Commerce which concluded their session here yesterday' devoted quite a large part of their final sitting to the discussion of land aggregation. The subject was introduced by Mr. A. McNicol, a delegate from Dannevirke, who, it may be presumed, has seen in his own district large holding barring the way to close settlement. His proposal was to urge the Government'to pass legislation as early as possible "to prevent the aggregation in one holding of separated farms where. each original farm is of sufiicient area to provide adequate means of livelihood for one farmer and his family." The proposal was supported by Mr. G. J. Anderson, M.P., of Gore, and Mr. R, L. Paterson, of Napier, the latter gentleman remarking that he knew of a case in which a very wealthy man had aggro gated 1000 acres previously worked by. three families, thus reducing the population on the land froiL twenty-four to two. Another delegate told of a "bachelor farmer" who had 'bought tip a whole country-side, converting twenty farms into ope great estate. But notwithstanding these and similar statements Mr. McNieol's motion was considered "too strong" by the majority of the delegates and was watered down to an expression of opinion that ''undue aggregation of farming land is inimical to the welfare of the Dominion." In this very harmless form it was duly adopted by tho conference.

THE i-IRST BALLOT. The publication of the names of fJ-.e men drawn at the first ballot under the Military Service Act has occasioned some stir in Wellington as it doubtless, has in other places. The newspapers were, eagerly scanned by members of the first division of the Reserve, either hoping or fearing to find their own n:inio3 in the list, and by thousands of others looking for the names of relatives and friends. The striking feature of the list is the small number of "starred" i-j.ir.es inelud ed. that is. the names of m.::i \v!u harl volunteered and been rejected jefore t !ii' introduction of the compulsion It u-a/ understood that a very large proportion of the men in the Reserve were volunteers who had failed to pass the medics 1 , i examination, but judging from the n<i — that turned up in the ballot diey du constitute more than a tiny iiercc.it.. The necessary notices are lr/.i!? Pr pared by the- recruiting if 1 Def.nce Department mux. ,vich;n , !\ days every man snmmorfoi! icr m":v' will be informed of the next quired from him.