WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 January 1917, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

♦ TIIE ABSENT MINISTERS J.IUMORS AND SPECULATIONS, (From Our ©wn Correspondent)'. - Wellington, Januaiy 22. fhe prospect of the meeting of th« Imperial Conference not taking akee till '' the middle of March has set in ciraula. tjou a fresh crop of rumors concerning the movements of Mr. 'Jaissey end Sir Joseph Ward, ft is reported now, oti what seems lairiy good authority, that Sir Joseph tvill come out in advance of us colleague, and that oi> his'arrival here lie will assume, by virtue of hia ollico and seniority, the position of Acfc.Prime Minister. The alternative'to tins' arrangement would be for both' Ministers to attend the conference civ i ' behalf of New Zealand, exercising, ofi course, only one vote, and for tie meefa in.n of TVirlia.iiie.nt to be postponed to such time as their absence miglhfi majfa . necessary. The general feeling Is, Bom over, that Si. Joseph would, prefer t&> i st'ming his work here to unnecessarily! prolonging his stay in London, and that this division of labor and responsibility would lie more in the interests of tHuj Dominion than would dual representation at tlio conference. It might be ft • great advantage to the Minister remaining behind to have his colleague ill New Zealand conferring \\''h tltc other mem-i hers of the Cabinet i advisiijg him oil to the local developments of SeQtisicntt and opinion. SUCCESSFUL ' The acting-Minister of Labor ViM coB» fronted last week with t> much more difficult and delloale problem than the! one hp had to handle in connection with < ' the drivers' dispute a month or two ago. An Admiralty collier had arrived here with a. cargo of coal whictt the waterside workers, under the impression that it lud been loaded for strike-breaking puf-( poses, refused to touch. Representations through ilio u*iml official channel* having failed to move thera from their > , | determination, Mr. llcrrica decided to make a. personal appeal to Wiflir good' ' sense. This he did on Friday, address* nig several hundred of ttiem in theh! '• own waiting-room on the Queen's wharf, and witu such admirable effect that on the following morning the coal was be* ing poured out of tlio vessel with, a right good will. The Minister assured the men that the men were mistaken as fa' . tie character ot the cargo, whieV was * ve'inired to enable the Goverwnjfent to Keep it? engagement? with the Imperial iiiitiiorities, and promised them an extra sixpence an hour on account of the dusty nature of the coal. The conclusion of the incident was entirely cred« Stable 10 both parties, particularly to • the Minister, whose frank statement of the position appealed no less to the' sporting instinct that .lid his .ready good humor to their sense of fair jilay. WAR AND RACING. Enquiries iroin a number of prominent number of sportsmen attending till© Wellington Racing Club's summer meeting have produced a fairly representative ex- * pression of opinion from one section of the community on the propriety of rac« ing in wa. time. Almost without, exception they prefaced their remark* with the assurance that it' the curtailment of racing or its suspension altogether would appreciably a&sist the Empire in the present crisis they would throw in their lot heartily with the abolitionists. But tihoy could not 6ee that; this would be the case. Bating itself was making very substantial ocm* tributions to the publia revenue, and racing men were not among the leaat generous supporters of patriotic funds. As for the supply of men, aportsmea aa a class had not been backward la volunteering, and the Military Service Act* whether racing were continued op not* would reach every mail fitted to take . his place at the front. His appeariuice there would not be hastened a. tingle day by tlirowing him out of a job, (fee of the gentlemen interviewed, p. large North Island owner, suggested that the racing clubs should be required to ftir- . uish a return showing the amount of their payments to the Treasury and the number jf owners of military dge, and of trainers, jockeys and stable hands residing within their districts. From this return, lie contended, clie Government i mild decide if abolition were necessary or desirable. NATIONAL ORGANISATION. Although Ministers declined to give any definite information on the subject, they do not discourage the prevalent idea that lately they have been discussing a scheme of national organisation of sonic kind or another. Just what is on the board it is impossible to discover. A member of the Cabinet, replying to it (limit question put to him yesterday, hinted that, an announcement of some consequence might be made in the course of a few days, but beyond this lie refused to commit himself. Probably it- will be 1 found that Ministers never have entertained such heroic measures ' as are being attributed to them b,v their more, sanguine friends. In the absence ( ' of the party leadew their colleagues col•lectively are not displaying a great deal of daring in grasping the various social anil industrial problems arising out of the war, ,and it may be doubted if Mr, Mxssey and Sir Joseph Ward, judging from what the public has been permitted to learn of their attitude towards suA questions/as have been submitted to ' them, would prove much more cour- , ageous if they were on the spot. Mr. i W. D. S. MaeDonald, with the assistance i of the Board of Trade, has succeeded in ■ staying the upward tendency in the prices of certain commodities, but beyond this the Government, haa done very little to meet the exceptional conditions by which it »3 confronted.