WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 February 1917, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

RECRUITS WANTED. THE RETURNING EXPLOREE& (From Our Own Correspondent')'. Wellington, February 7. The mobilisation, of the 20th 'Reinforcements was begun yesterday, and will be continued during the week. Official figures regarding the strength of the various drafts as they reach the training camps are not being made available by the military authorities, but it is clear enough already that there is going to be another shortage. The attitude of the Minister for Defence and his officers in the face of the recurrent shortages is a trifle perplexing. The plain fact of the situation is that the Military Service Act is nob being enforced with sufficient firmness to ensure a fuii supply of recruits month by month. Many hundreds of reservists, drawn in the ballots, have gone into camp, but they have been men who responded to the call without waiting to be "l'etelie.l." Other men hava disregarded the call. They have failed to present themselves for medical examination, and in defiance of the orders of the ■Voinimindant they have been absent on the days of mobilisation. These men, who now rank under military law as deserters, have been left alone up to the present time. The authorities indbalc that at some time in the future strong action is going to be taken, but in tlie meantime the shortages in the monthly drafts of recruits are stated unofficially to be even more serious than they were in the months preceding the proclamation of the Expeditionary Force Reserve and the initiation of the ballots. SIR ERNEST SIIACKLETOV. '

An informal meeting was held in Wellington this morning, at tiic invitation of the Mayor of the city, to consider a ])roposnl for making a presentation to Sir Krnest Shackleton after his arrival here at tlie end of the week, The gentlemen present adopted the proposal with enthusiasm and appointed an influential executive committee to accept contributions and make the necessary arrangements. The conveners of the meeting felt that people of Wellington, and, indeed, of New Zealand, ought to recognise even in war time the line courage and perseverance displayed by Sir Ernest Shackleton during the last two years in the face of almost overwhelming difficulties and dangers. It will lie remembered that the expedition had actually made a start before the declaration of war on August 4, 1914, and when Sir Krnest offered to abandon his plan for further exploration in the Antarctic' Continent and place, himself and his men at the disposal of the Admiralty the Imperial authorities told him to proceed southward. King George personally expressed a wish that the war should not. he allowed )to interfere with the work of the expedition, and so the Endurance and the Aurora proceeded on "'heir ways. Tlie loss of the Endurance in the Weddell Sea, the crippling of the Aurora in the Ross Sea, and tlie heroic effort of the leader of the expedition in the rescue of his men from their perilous situations, are familiar history now. Sir Krnest is not (.lie man to complain in the face of misfortune, hut it is obvious to everybody that his losses in the struggle with the grim forces of the frozen south have been very heavy, nnd the people of Wellington am. to he given an opportunity to express their appreciation in a tangible way. Whatever is dene must be done quickly, but doubtless the Mayor of Wellington will be glad to hear, not later than Saturday, from sympathiser's in other centres.

WHEAT AND FLOUR, Complaints regarding the proclamation fixing the price the Government will pay for wheat and the maximum prices of flour, bran and pollard were to be expected. Somebody would have been dissatisfied with any price that the Government could have selected. The points emphasised by the members of the Board of Trade as bearing upon some of the criticism already published include—

(1) That the price of wheat had to be high enough to induce farmers to grow wheat, at a time when tlie high prices of other products offered special inducements in other directions.

(2) That the price fixed for flour was a maximum, and need not interfere with sales if millers were able to quote lower rates.

(3) That the maximum price fixed for flour would not involve any increase in the price of bread.

It. may be assumed that the Government will mnv reimpose the duty of .Gl per ton on Hour. The'pricc of Australian wheat for export is ss; (ill por bush pi, ami with duty and freight added the cost to the importer will be greater than the local price. The price of bread Ims not been made the subject of any regulation up to the present time, and there is reason to believe that the. Board of Trade does, not propose to interfere with the bakers so long as they leave retail prices at the present level. The Board contends that with flour at £ls per ton the price of broad should not be more than !)'/,d per loaf delivered.

WELLINGTON'S MILK. Wellington housewives pay 5d per quart, or Is Sd per gallon, for what is probably the worst milk sold in New Zealand. Some mornings they do not get any milk at all, or perhaps they receive meagre pints in place of the anticipated quarts. Most of the milk, moreover, is more than 24 hours old, and gotne of it is 43 hours old, before it reaches the consumers. All this is very unpleasant, but the dairy farmer, speaking through the Wellington -Dairymen's! Association, refuses to take any share of the blame. He says that he receives no more, than 01 /jd per gallon for the milk on the truck at country stations, and he insists that the vendors, who pay lO'/.d per gallon for the milk, the City Cojuucil and, by inference, the citizens generally are to b'ame for the troubles of the consumer. Recently the Board of Trade checked a threatened increase in the wholesale price to lUd per gallon by fixing the maximum price at IOVSjd. The dairymen have replied with figures intended to show that if they cannot get more than lO'/sd per gallon for their milk in the city, equivalent to fl'/ad on the" trucks, they can secure a better return by dealing with the cheese factories. If the Wellington municipal authorities do not take this matter in hand intelligently the dairymen may carry their implied threat into execution. '•