WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 May 1917, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

"THE jj RECRUITS. '' (fecial Correspondent,) Wellington,, May 11.\ { The case of the rallwaymen was lie-* fore the Military Service Board agas .yesterday, when Mr.- JR. W. McVilly, fee assistant general manager, announced, that a departmental ballot had resulted in 150. of the men drawn'in tho regular! bajlot being immediate service. These men woujd he niade available at once, and further ballots wouldbe taken when it was found others could be spared. Captain Baldwin, the representative of the military authorities, expresesd soma surprise that only so small IV number should be available, and Mr, McVilly retorted by quoting the figures already published, showing that the railway department had contributcd''B,33s men to the Expeditionary Force. ThV places of 6000 of these had been filled, and 2000 remained vacant.

FURTHER CONTRIBUTIONS. J r There was a pretty little passage-of- \ arms between the'military representative I aiid the' assistant general (manager'con-, 'l ceruing the efforts of tho railVay depart- - pent to dp its duty in the great national < crisis, Captain Baldwin pointing out that , 080 men of the First 'Division were remaining "under the shelter of "the De- 'f partraent," and Mr. MoVilly •warmly'-re* 1 * senting the suggegtioiT'tiiat he and-his \ colleagues :wero not anxious that every ' man who could :be spared should go into i camp. Ultimately the 'Board adjourned < the appeals that had been made on behalf of 2il'7 men for a month, and ordered that tho 150 men drawn in the depart- , mental ballot should have an oppor- » tunity to appeal in their own districts. Mr. McVilly undertook .that the place of the ISO men rejected' or exempted"would be filled.

THE STATE GOAL MINES. The Cabinet has not yet considered the offer made by a Canterbury syndicate to purchase the State coal fflinee,, and is not likely to do so until Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward return to the Dominion; but the acting-Prime Minister, probably provoked into an'exptr'ession of opinion by the recent troubles fomented by a section of the coal-miners audi their irresponsible friends, has stated that thcso mines ought jig be made to .pay. "It is not fair," he said to a reporter' last night, "that t'ho .ordinary taxpayer should be taxed 'o make up the loss." The matter is not open for discussion just now, but there are a great many people here who strongly dissent from Sir James Allen's views that the State mines' "kyo been unfairly/competing with private "enterprise.' , •■. .' ..' '•■';'.• ■■' COST OF LIVING. i"'; :

It is scarcely necessary to quote statistics to the average housewife to satisfy her that, in spite'of the'efforts of the Government and. thei'Board of Trade, the cost of living continues to mount up with the : .prolongation of tho .war; but the latest figures issued by the Government Statistician present the fact' in a concrete form. These snow that in the three food groups—groceries, dairy produce, and! meat—given articles which in the four centres cost 20a beforo the war advanced between the December quarter of IDIiS and the March quarter of Ml? as follows:—Auckland, 20s 5d to 26s lid; Wellington, 2fo 3d to 27a 6d; Ohfistchurch, 2oa lid to 20s 4d; Dunedin, 23s 4d to 25s 8d; Gisborne, 29a 3d to 88a 4(1;' 7d''V 27b 8d; Now Plymouth, 25s''lid to 27s 3d; Wanganui, 26a Dd to 2Ss; Taihape, 27s lid to - 'a9s,3d; Palmerston North, 26s fid to •27s 4d' ; Blenheim, 25s 2d to, 20s 3d; Greymouth, 27s 2d to 2fs '3d; Ashburton, 25s lid to 26a 2d; Tiinaru, 25s 7d to 26e 2d; Oamaru, 26s 8d to 28s Id; Invercargill, 26a <sd to 26s l'ld. Apparently Dunedin is now offering the cheapest food, with Tiinaru, Atehburton, 'Nelson 'dnd'Christchurch following in that creditable order, while Taihape,, Gisborne, Oamaru, and Wtpiganui stand at the other end of the scale.