WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1916, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

DAYLIGHT SAVING. PRECEPT AND IP'RACTICE (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Dec. 27. Remembering, the strenuous opposition the country members of '.Parliament oifforrd to Mr. SSdev's Regulation of Time Bill, which sought to move the clock on by an, hour during tlie summer months, it is curious, and a little amusing, to find throughout the North Island a certain number of farmers giving practical effect to the purpose of his measure in their own business. Some oi them keep their clocks half-an-hour fast, some an hour, and some even more, "so that we may get an early start," they explain, "and finish up while there is a bit of daylight left." The practice is by no means general in any district, and 1t is doubtful if the employees get much advantage from it, even where it is followed, but the feasibility of Mr. Sidey's scheme is being illustrated, and probably if the member for Dunedm South again got life Bill through the House, the Council, in view of what lias happened at Home and in Australia, would not have the face to throw it out.

SCARCITY OF LABOR. In a less than half-developed country like New Zealand, where there are millions of acres of. land waiting to bo brought into closer cultivation, the demand for skilled agricultural labor must always 1 lie in excess of the supply, but offlciali information that' has been, obtained lately suggests there is not at present the abnormal shortage of men in the rural districts that has been represented in some quarters. Of course, in tile flush of the milking season and at harvest-time there is employment for almost an unlimited number • of hands, but after making allowance for the hundreds of farmers and farm 'workers who have joined the Expeditionary Forces, it would seem the petition is not nearly so bad as might have been expected. The women have taken up more than their fair share of the milking worries, shearing is nearly completed without any serious trouble having arisen, and the harvest, so far as the .North Island is concerned, is not alarming anyone. Given decent conditions and reasonable wages, the necessary labor will be forthcoming.

THE WHEAT QUESTION.

In the absence of the Acting-Minister of Industries and Commerce, there is little further information to be obtained concerning the progress o|f the negotiations between his Department and the farmers in regard to the wheat qtffcstion. Mr. Mac Donald is spending the holiday season in the Hawke's Bay and Giaborno districts, scarcely resting, for in these times there is no rest for a Minister of the Crown who takes his duties seriously, but getting a change from the Incessant qfliee routine, which is ever, more trying than the big things of public life. The reports from Canterbury do riot give a too rosy account of the incoming wheat crop, and if they are well-founded the farmers may be strengthened in their detnancl for a higher price than the .Minister was disposed to c/fl'er last week. However, a short yield this season would not materially affect the general position next season, and the probability is'that Mr. Mac Donald, backed up liv the Board c£ [ Trade, will stand firm.