WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 January 1917, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

NATIONAL SERVICE. WORK AXD WAR. (From Our Own Correspondent.) January 8. People here who have bncn urging for months past—some of thorn from the very beginning 0 f f., W ar—the mobilisation of tlie whole ith of the Dominion—men, women, and wealth—in support of the Empire in its struggle for existence, have taken heart of grace from Air. Lloyd George's attitude" towards national service, and are now pressing their views upon the ActingPrime Minister and his colleagues in the National Cabinet. Mr. Allen is not unsympathetic. We admitted to an interviewer the other day that "e great deal more ought to be (lone to get the best out of our own people,'' but he suggested that a levy en masse was too big a problem ''to face, in the absence o! the Prime Minister and .Sir Joseph Ward in London." The friends of the movement do not suspect Mr. Allen of iu.iy lafk of courage in this matter, but a preliminary step towards the institution of national service would be a session of Parliament, and it is believed there is a tacit understanding between Ministers that members will not be called together during the absence of the party leaders.

A MATTER Ol< URGENCY.' The feeling that this is a matter of urgency, which should not be delayed till the return of Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Wa.rd, is growing and extending, and even the Post, which usually takes some time to assimilate revolutionary ideas, ventures to observe that "a suspension of high policy because of the absence of the two leaders is a disadvantage to which there should be limits." It is pointed out, too, that the extension of the two leaders' visit to the Old Country by a couple of months or more has very materially altered the position, and that waiting for their return will mean deferring any effective action by New Zealand till the middle •of our own winter, when t'he campaign by which the Allies hope to end the war will be in full swing, and the Dominion's ability to help in the supremo effort} will be at its lowest ebb. That the Ministers on the spot recognise the need for better and further organisation may be gathered from their public utterances. Mr. Allen has mentioned the matte,l- again and again; Dr. McNab has urged it on many occasions; Mr. Myers has found the need for closer co-operation in the Munitions and Supplies Departments; and Mr. MaeDonald, as Acting-Minister of Industries and Commerce, has given practical expression to the idea in a score of ways. PRACTICAL EFFORT.

The operations .Mr. MaeDonald is carrying on in connection with wool and meat and butter, and tlie negotiations lie has in hand in .regard to wheat and flour, are in some sense an application of the principle of national mobilisation, but they touch only the fringe of the subject, and apparently the Cabinet is prepared to go further than this without waiting for the mandate of Parliament. Speaking at Cisborne i wee!: or so back, ill. MaeDonald .-aid Ministers had discussed the organisation of agricultural labor, and ve.ro going to ask the several §tate Departments concerned ana the Farmers' Unions to assist in framing a scheme ton ensure the best results to the producers, and adequate wages for the workers. A Wanganui citizen, again, has suggested that al! the racecourses in the Dominion should be put down in wheat this year, with a view to augmenting the country's supplies of foodstuffs at a very cost. But these can be only spasmodic efforts, leading to nowhere in particular, unless t'hey are taken up as part of a national movement, and carried through in the most efficient way possible.

COST OF LIVING. A little knowledge is proverbially a dangerous thing, and it seems n great deal of statistics might be included in the same category. The Evening 'Post has been examining the Monthly Abstract issued by the Government Statistician, and has discovered some dreadful facts concerning the differences in prices of various commodities in the ehief centres of population. "It is amazing, except to those in the trade," it says, "why groceries should- be 7 per cent, dearer in Wellington than in Christchureh, and why Dunedin should obtain its groceries 1 per cent, cheaper than Auckland." "Dairy produce foodstuffs," it continues, "have risen by 8.11 per cent, in Taihape and O.IiO per cent, in Gore, while in Wanganui anji Palmcrston North they have advanced 24.3(1 and 20.U per cent, respectively." All this, of course, is very startling, stated in haul figures, buti the truth is the large percentage increases have taken place in centres where prices were comparatively low before t'he war, The Post should ; have looked at another table in the Abstract, which would have made the position clear. RELATIVE PRICES.

Just before flic outbreak or war the cost in Auckland of what arc known as the three food groups—groceries, dairy produce, and meat —was represented by the index figure ]()!)(), in Wellington by the figure 1082, in Christclnireh by 104!), and in Dunedin by 1042. At the end of November last t'he figures had risen to 13-22, 13(1!), 1.103, and 12S1 respectively, but the percentage increases in the Northern cities, owing to the high prices prevailing there before the war, were substantially lower than those in the Southern eities, the actual figures being: Auckland 21.28, Wellington 20 87, C'bristclinrch 24.21, and Dunedin 22.04. Expressed in another way, the quantity of commodities that could be obtained for 20s before the war now cost in Auckland 2(is O'/od, in Wellington 2(is o%d, in Christclnireh 24s 11 %d. and in Dunedin 24s O'/od. As for Wanganui and Palmerston, they seem to lend themselves to special criticism on account of the prices they were charging before the war. Their index numbers then were 1030 and !M)0 respectively, the two lowest on the whole list. Their selling prices now, taking the throe groups together, are appreciably lower than those of Auckland and Wellington, and substantially lower ihan those of Tailmpe and Gore.