WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 January 1917, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

OPERATION OP MILITARY SERVICE ACT. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, .January IS. During tlie last few days the Minislev for Defence (Hon. .T. Allen) hr.s been making a general survey of the opera- !:'>« Of tlie Military Service Act. He lilted on Wednesday that he had decided to increase the number of Military Service Boards from four to eight, i.i order to dispose of accumulations of appeals. To-day tlie Minister informed a reporter that lie intended' to bring the number o-f boards up to ten by the creation of two temporary boards, which would assist in handling wears oi work.

Nearly 11,000 men have lieen drawn in the three ballots already taken, and the number of appeals lodged by men claiming exemption of suspension has been large. "It is most important tliot the appeals should all be dealt with quickly,'' said the Minister. • "I hope that with ten boards at work we shall dispose of all the appeals ilready in hand before the next ballot i>~ take). or rsry soon afterwards. Plice- v.e shall maintain in existence a sufficient number of boards to keep ibroast ol the work in the future and so .void delays in getting the eligible men into camp." Each of the four original boards has a magistrate for a chairman . The Minister does not expect, to be able to obtain the services of six additional magistrates for this work, but the chairmen, who have still to lie selected, will be gentlemen with legal training The members of the boards will be prominent citizens who are over military age and who liave no direct interest in the operation of the Act. The new hoard", will be. guided by the precedents that have been established already, and (o this extent their .work will b= implied.

When the accumulations of appeals have been cleared away the Defence-, authorities will l>e able to cheek the 'ists of hnHotted men and take the fnriher steps that may lie necesary in certain cases. Objectors and rhirkcrs, it i ; stated luthoritatively, are not hein/; overlooked, but the congestion that ha--. arisen in Qonneetion with the work of the Military Service Boards has made for delay. FEATURES OF TTIE CENSUS. Some additional figures J'nom the ;?• turns u. the 1910 census wen given to your correspondent to-day by the Minister for Internal Affairs (lion. G. W. Russell). Ono of the features jf the figures is the rise of Greater Wellington

to tlia second largest city ..ren. in the. Dominion, Christehureh having fallen to third plaee. Auckland retais the leud by a very lorgo margin. "During Inst year," laid the "Minister, "it, was resolved to rc-nrrange the metropolitan was for the" purpose of vital statistics. After consultation with the local authorities in each of the four centres we formed metropolitan areas, which included in addition to the central borough and the surrounding boroughs considerable areas or rural land adjacent to and contingent on the cities. This change has made it impossible to compare tlie 1910 figures usefully with the figures recorded at the census ol 1911.

"The returns that have reached nie sliow thai) the populations of the four metropolitan areas are as follows: .-luekland 1 Sl.o9ft Wellington «.">,2OS Christchurci: ft!, 41.1 Dunedin 08,729 Under the schema that was framed -last j car for the publication of vital statistics, cm tain suburban areai, were selected, consisting of the towns of flisborne, Napier, New Plymouth, -Wanganui, Palmerston North, Kelson, flrev Valley (including Greymouth), Timaru and Invcrcargill. Tho populations of tiieic areas are as follows: ■ Wanganui 19.54 C Jnvevcargill 17,570 Napier 1-1,743 Valmerston North .... 14,003 Timaru 13,030 Gisborne 12.GG4 Kelson O.SDO i .New Plymouth 0,705 Grey Valley J,3'5G

The Grey Valley boroughs were included in this'column in order to secure a West Coast district for the purposes of comparison in the preparation of the \ ital statistics. "Of c en greater interest," added the Minister, ''are the figures referring to the population of the electoral districts. Some surprising facts are revealed in j'liie North Island. 1 Ohinetmiri, for example, ha i lost practically .1000 of Ur, I copulation. Tiie Auckland Eu=t constic"•icy shows a reduction of 1200 and Central a los 3of 2430. Oroua shows a decrease of over 1000 and Masterton of about 000. Marsdcn remains practically /stationary. It lias to be reimembcred ..i the consideration of these llguies, that Alie districts have sent many men away with the Expeditionary Forces, and these departures may account for the loss in some cases. "Some big increases have taken place. Eden lias added 7400 persons to its population and Manukau newly 0000, >.nd the other electorates in the vicinity ot Auckland show substantial increase.-; The growth of population in the rural districts of Auckland i; strongly inailced. ■ J auranga's increase ir, about 7000, end the figures show expansion riglu down the eist coast of the North Island. "The increases in Wellington include: Hutt 2700, Wellington Suburbs over 3000, Wellington North £OOO, Wellington Central 720, and Wellington East over 400. Wellington South lias a decrease of IGOO. "Turning to the South Island, the West Coast constituencies all show substantial decreases, while Nelson and Wairau have small increases. Hurunui and Kaiapoi have decreases, Avon sho\v3 an increase of about 1700 and Christchurch North a similar advance. Cliristcliurch East has lost some 1000 and Christchurch South and Ricearton have each a gain of roughly 000, Ellesmere, Otago Central, Dunedin West, Duncdin Central, Bruce, Wakatipu, Mataura and Wallace are among the constituencies that show decreases. Lyttelton and Timaru' show fair growth, while Dunedin South has added 2000 and Invcreargill about 1200. "The most popular electorate in tiu North Island is Eden, with 21,051 persons. while the South Island's largest, electorate, in point, of population, is Dunedin South, with 17, MS persons. Christchurch North and Avon follow close w'.th nearly 17,000." |