WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 December 1916, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

IMPERIAL FEDERATION. THE NEW POSITION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Dec. 1. The cabled summary of Sir Joseph Ward's address to the members of the Insurance Institute in London is too fragmentary to convey any very clear idea of what he actually said; but it has served the useful purpose of reviving in some measure local interest in afterwar problems which lately have been obscured by the military and' economic needs of the hour. Some fault-finders are deprecating Sir Joseph's allusion to Mr Asquith's speech at the Imperial reference in 1911 when the British I :•?

Minister, it will be remembered, set >d the idea of tlie over-sea dominions having a voice in determining questions affecting the foreign policy of the Empire; but there is nothing in the outline of his remarks to justify the assumption that he was guilty of'thc flaming indiscretion their deprecation implies. Fivo years ago Mr. Asquith did not finally dismiss the dream of Imperial federation. He merely counselled delay and probably Sir .Joseph's remarks were intended rather to save him from the charge of inconsistency in now advocating this step than to suggest that lie had been lacking either in sympathy or Foresight.' The Minister of Finance seems, however, to have spoken quite plainly on the question of an Imperial Navy and if this question ever should come before the National Cabinet it will be interesting to see how he and Mr. Allen set about reconciling their conflicting views.

IMMIGRATION, The paragraph in the report of Sir Joseph Ward's speech that has attracted most attention here is the one referring to immigration. This is a subject on which the labor unions are extremely sensitive and very prone to jump to hasty conclusions. There is not a word in the cable message published yesterday to show that the Minister did anything more tlfnii emphasise the importance of retaining British people under thrir own flag ami yet some ofHiis critics are talking as if he had proposed to flood Xew Zealand with cheap labor from the clouded citi.'» of the Mother Country. This, of course, is sheci; nonsense, in tlie first place it is doubtful if the Mother Country will be able to spare for some years to come any considerable amount of labor that could be considered cheap. In the second place it is certain that this country with the new conditions forced upon it by the need for increased production will be able to absorb all the capable labor that is likely to invade its shores during the next decade While the politicians are denied the discussion of the land question by the terms of the party truce the public "sentiment in favor of close settlement is growing apace and when it finds sane expression in some equitable system of sub-division the more perplexing of the labor problems will be well on the way to permanent solution.

THE MINERS. The news of the settlement of the miners' strike in Australia has been received with very genuine satisfaction in labor circles here. It was feared that if the Coal Tribunal failed in its interventions the trouble would speedily spread to New Zealand and develop into ji serious industrial upheaval. The little demonstration at Blackball, though prompt ly repudiated by the Miners' Federation, would have takeo on a much graver aspect than it now bears if it had received any encouragement from "the other side." The introduction of the conscription issue was doubtless the work of mischief-makers, more anxious to stir up strife on general grounds than to obtain any tangible benefit for the miners. To talk of taking a referendum at this stage on the question of compulsory service is manifestly- absurd. Even if Parliament were disposed to sanction such a course—which it certainly is not —it would take five or six months to set up the necessary machinery for the ballot and after that a further couple of months would be required for the voting. The net result ot the whole business would be to magnify the importance of a few disgruntled busy-bodies and to give New Zealand a very bad advertisement. This, it is safe to say, is the view of nine-tenths of the genuine workers in the Dominion, and no on© has a better right than they have to be consulted.