WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 January 1917, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

MEAT SUPPLIES FOR RETAILERS. GOVERNMENT SCHEME. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, January "A The proposals made by the Board or Tivwlc .'or the supply of meat to the retail trade in Auckland were explained to a reporter by the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald. Minister for Agriculture and Acting-President of the Board. "The! Auckland master butchers 'have announced increases in the retail prices. ,: said the Minister, "and we are seeking to prevent this addition being made to [the burdens of the consuming; public. [The Board of Trade undertook to supI ply the butchers with meat from the freezingKvorks at the prices at which it is sold to the Imperial authorities, on condition that the retail prices were adjusted on a fair basis. The Butchers' A-rociation h. 13 not accepted this offer up to the present time, but some butchers who are outside the Association have expressed their willingness to handle meat on the terms suggested, and |we are now arranging to supply them from the freezing works. The details of the arrangement are still under discussion.

"The butchers who are agreeing to handle the meat will run the -shops en behalf of the Government. Practically ihey will become nanagers for the Government, if the arrangement at present contemplated is completed. I 'hope still that the Butchers' Association will agree to sell the meat from the freezing works at the fixed prices. We do not wish to enter the trade at all, but the Government is determined to prevent if possible any increase in >-etail prices above what seems to be a reasonable level, in view of the wholesale price at which wc civil undertake to supply the meat. The retail prices fixed by the Hoard of Trade will he rather les- than the prices that have been ruling in Auckland. The basis will be the rates paid for meat by the Imperial Government, plus the cost o:' management, rents, distributions, etc. The Government docs not want to make any profit, but merely to maintain fair rates.

"It is not suggested that the Auckland butchers are making exorbitant profits. The fact is that the great bulk of the fat stock in Auckland and elsewhere goes into the freezing works el Imperial rates and it is very dilliruit for the butchers to purchase su[lici.»nt for their requirements without paying very high prices in the salcyards. My idi.-a was to make .m arrangement with the butchers that would give them adequate supplies of meat at lower prices than they are now paying, th.'t would secure to the farmers the full prices paid by the Imperial tuthorilies ar.'d t'rat would prevent au undue increase oi retail prices in the towns and cities. I'-ut so far I have not been able, to get the Auckland butchers to see. eye to eye with me on this proposal, 1 am hopeful thnt when they understand the proposals thoroughly they will come into line.

''Butchers w-lio rereive supplies of I meat from the freezing works through the Government will be required to undertake to retail it at fixed pi-ices. The Board of Trade, in consultation with experts, will fix prices for carji cut. This scheme, is not going to interfere with Army supplies. Two classes of meat ar? required by the Imperial authorities for military purposes. We would retain a certain proportion of the balance, including lamb and other classes o! meat not used at present by the A my. The public should understand that the pick of the Dominion meat goes int'i the freezing works at the present time. All meat that we supplied to the trade would have been passed by the Government inspectors and would be clean and wholesome."

The Minister added tint it was quite likely the scheme would be extended beyond Auckland. A beginning had been made there owing to the faot that the position lirt.cl become acute in the northern city, but the Board of Tmde has been investifsatinpf the subject (n other parts of Mew Zealand, The Board had made general enquiries in several places, including fiishorne and Dmiodin. It had been asked by the. Mayor of fiisbnrun to arrange for the supply of meat at reasonable prices, and it had received complaints regarding present prices from Mastorton and elsewhere. The Government* was anxious to assist the consumers, and if it could arrange to supply the retail trade at the Imperial prices, which were very remunerative from the point of view of (he producers, there could be no reasonable objection in any quarter.

RECRUITIXG. Drafts of recruits, consisting mainly of reservists drawn in the ballots, are being taken into the military camps week by week at the present time, and tho Defence authorities hope that the shortages will soon be cleared away. The machinery of the Military Service Act has not operated a? quickly as was expected in the early stages, but it is stated to be proving generally effertive. The rate of mobilisation will be much improved when the additional Military Service Boards get to work and dispose of the many hundreds of appeals now in hand, The names of (he members of the new Military Service Boards will be nnnouncod very shortly. The personnel of some of the boards has been arranged, but there have been delays in other cases owing to the unwillingness or the inability of the men .selected by the Defence Department :o undertake the duties. The representation of labor on the boards has received attention. Probably the members of the new boards will have to assemble in 'Wellington before they commence work, in order that they may have explained to them the ninth od? of working and the, decisions already given by the original hoards in certain test eases. Uniformity of practice in the 'hearing and determination of fi.prea.ls is regarded as important. Voluntary recruiting, according to reports from various parts of the country, continues to provide a fairly large stream of men for the reinforcements. There is no likelihood that any future draft will be completely filled by volunteers, but apparently there will be a .substantial leavening of voluntary recruits in each reinforcement.

CLERGY NOT EXEMPTED. /"The suggestion ia being made in some quarters that a. special form of exemption is provided by the Government for Koman Catholic priests and other clergy; it is even said that some reservists secure exemption without appearing before the Military Service Boards," said the Minister for Defence (Bon. J. Allen) t» your e,orr»spoii«l«nt [U-iav. ''Tkere is n«t a word of truth

in tli,■>?(! suggestions. The name •of every reservist drawn in the ballot is published in Win official list, which anybody may read in the Gazette. Even the naroos of men found after tile ballot to lie ineligible owing to death, enlistment oi- sonic other cause are not omitted, but are placed under a special heading in the Gazette. Priests anil clergynien who wis'h to secure exemption appeal in the ordinary way and t'heir eases are heard by the Military Boards. The Government does not and cannot grant exemption in any ease. The sole concession granted the clergy is that the heads of the clmreht,, may appeal on (licit behalf, just as the secretaries of ; ome unions may appeal on behalf of members of the unions where essential industries are concerned. If a bishop makes formal claim for the exemption of a priest on the ground of public interest, the services of that priest being essentia! to a particular section of the community, then the Government will forward the appeal to the Military Service Board, and that body deals with the case as it thinks lit."

HOME SERVICE. Answering a question regarding home service to-day the Minister for Defence said that it was impossible at the present, stage of the war to say what demands might or might not be made upon the man who had been declared unfit in a medical sense for service with the forces in the field. The rejected man certainly could not bo regarded as exempt from further obligations. The Government might call upon iliim later to') relieve some fit man who was required at the front. TheiMinister mentioned that he had already invited rejected men to volunteer for clerical and other duties in the ramps, in order that some of the men engaged in those branches of work- at the present time might be released for active service. The time might come when the Government would leqnire to make extensive use of the rejected mon, mo9t of w'hom were capable of performing useful duties, connected directly or indirectly with the prosecution of the war,