WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 June 1917, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

RAILWAYS AND RACING.

THJS DEPARTMENTAL PROTEST.

(From Our Own Correspondent)

Wellington, June 6. The Wellington people, being comfortable, prosperous folk, accustomed to the vagaries of politic-- and public servant, have 100 - with easy tolerRi> -t the incoii.. ice and loss indicted upon the citizens of Christchurch and Auckland and upon their own suburban neighbors by the Railway Department in the sacred name of .patriotism. It is true they were moved by the most effusively loyalty of the loyal Mayor, now a C.M.G. in recognition of his devotion to the Empire, to make a mild protest against the stoppage of a train which had been carrying the soldiers from the camp at Trentham to the capital city and to the various forms of hospitality awaiting them here; but this was simply a subsidiary manifestation, Co to speak, of the admirable spirit which exalts the man in khaki to a first place in the land and demands on his account everything the gratitude and the resources of the country can provide. 'BROUGHT HOME. But the complacency of the good folk here, who have been regarding the sufferings of Christchurch and lAuckland as matters of little consequence, has received a rude shock. Many of them have made a practico for years past of running out to the race's at Otaki on the King's Birthday holiday and have found tlie picturesque little town a pleasant place for resort. This year the railway authorities, in their new concern for the morals of the community, decreed tJint neither the New Plymouth nor the Napier expresses should stop in the neighborhood of the racecourse on either the up or the down journey. Both trains are time-tabled to pull up at Otaki where the weary traveller has been accustomed to get 'his morning or bis afternoon tea, as the case may be, but on Monday and Tuesday, the days of the race?, they both rushed through the station, leaving the passengers who would bar/ alighted there to make their way to flie racecourse or ILevin at a cost of 20s for the return journey, IMPEDING TRAFFIC. When the Railway Department sets out noon a mission of this sort it does not do things by halves. Anyono who would impede it in it's purpose must be nrenarcd for the worst. 'A few darin? smrif.s took tickets to Levin by the Kapier express and dropped off the train ns it slowed down to cross the bridge just bofore reaehim? Otaki, but this was an exploit which did not commend itself to the family man. A larger party conceded the idea of getting back to Wellington before midnight by boarding the slow train timed 1 to leave Otaki at $.25 p.m. and joining the New Plymouth express at Paekakariki. a margin of twenty-two minutes being in their favor; but when their purpose was discovered the slow train was delayed and tlu'v misseit the connection. In the morning it was necessary to hold the two expresses for some time at Waik.tnae to make up the time thev saved liv running through Otaki and when they did leave they were not more than one-third full, POPULAR, EESENTMKST. Needless to say the indignation at these proceedings was not confined to race-goers and holiday-makers. Quite a number of people who were anxious to get to Otaki by the first express had no intention of attending the races. Among thorn 'were three soldiers on leave, whose friends had arranged to meet tliem at the station. Mr. W. H. Field, the mem-] ber if or the district, who was subject to a good deal of pointed raillery over the matter, travelled to town with the party that attempted to make the connection at Paekakariki and was loud and emphatic in condemnation of the whole puerile business. Popular opinion places the blame for this and similar antics, dot upon the Minister or upon the general manager, except in so far as they are indifferent and sunine, but upon a high official of the Department who is determined to make the public suffer to the utmost through the depletion of his staff by the military authorities, Wellington, June 8. MINISTERIAL EESPONSIBILITY. The statement made by the Hon. G. W. Russell in Christchurch to the effect that the Department and not the Minister is responsible for the restricted train service is being discussed with much animation here. Though many curious stories 'had been in circulation implying that the Hon. W. H. Herries was not entirely in accord with the policy of the executive heads of his Department it was left to the Minister of Internal Affairs, when presiding over a meeting of members of Parliament called to protest against this policy, to suggeßt that be was a mere nonentity in the management of the railways, Just how he regards his colleague's solicitude on .his'behalf no one so far has had sufficient courage to ask Doubtless Mr. Russell spoke with the very best intentions, meaning to save Mr. Herries from the wrath of his disgruntled Christchurch critics, but his words were not happily chosen and they easily might convey tp the public a wholly wrong conception of the weaning and purpose of ministerial responsibility, THE CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION. Mr. Russell himself appears to have been at the moment a little hazy as to the true constitutional position. Speaking of his responsibilities as a member of the Cabinet and his responsibilities as the representative'of the people he said when he found his duty as a Minister conflicting with his duty as a member of Parliament he would be prepared to "go out" to resign his portfolio. That was admirable so far as it went, but it did not go ouite far cnonsh. iA Minister cannot with any propriety sit in judgment upon bis colleagues or upon any one of them while he remains within the Cabinet. He must accept full responsibility, not only for the administration of the departments he controls, but also for the policy of the Government to which he belongs. That is the basic principle of Cabinet rule and the only possible alternative to collective ministerial responsibility is the elective executive of which the B*si»i TM»«irats are dreaming. THE WAR REGULATIONS. The statement made in the Dominion under the guise of an interview in which the Attomev-Genera! describes Sir John; j Pb.4l»«S ty«t* i* AtCrcte of til. P fl*f

Wefob at the recent sedition trial as "one of the most unfortunate utterances delivered by a public man in New Zealand sinoe the outbreak of war" has brought a spirifo'l reply from the nsw member for Hr.wko's Bay. The fact Sir John emphasises is that his speech was not an attack upon the War Regulations, as Mr, Hevdman contends, but upon the construe! ion placed upon them by the counsel for the Crown. He deals' with the matter purely from the professional aspect, gently rebuking the AttorneyGeneral for attacking a fellow-barrister for miking the best defence he could for his client, but he promises when he meets hi? learned friend on the floor of the House he ■will have something to say about the incident from another point of view. It looks as if subsequent developments might contribute materially to the gaiety of th« approaching session. COST OF LIVING. The latest number of tke Abstract of Statistics issued by the Government •Statistician contains several new sets of figure? hearing on the c«st of living. Perhaps the most interesting of them all is the table showing tke average rents during the March quarter of ihis year for bouses of various sizes in the twenty-five representative t towns that nre taken in these calculations. Of course, Wellington stands at the head of the jist a long way above every other centre of population. Talcing the average rent paid in the four chief centres during the five years befere the war as the index number 1000, Wellington now stands: . t 1235, an excess of nearly 25 per cr- Hamilton at 1940, Wanganui 990, (ii-i)orne 974, Napier 973, Taihape 902, Auckland 945, New Plymouth »34, Palmerston North 890, Christchurch 868, Dunedin 860, Timaru 880, Invercargill 764, Greytmouth 740, Blenheim 738, Oamaru 711', Dannevirke 693' and Alexandra 477. The figureß, of course, ca» be only approximate, but a three roomed house in Wellington is shown as costing nearly twice as much as a similar hoiiße in Christchurch does and as much as a six-roomed bouse costs in Alexa»dra. FIRST DIVISION FIGURES. The number of wen remaining in the First Division of the Expeditionary Force Reserve after the completion of the recent ballot 13 reported by the Government Statistician to be 30,095. The men are distributed unevenly over the Ddminion. Group 1 (Auckland City and suburbs) has 5224 of them. Group 5 (Wellington city and suburbs) has' 3408, Group 9 (Christchurch city and suburbs) has 1988 and Group 13 (Dunedin city and suburbs) has 2075, The numbers in the other district's range from 1038 in Group 14 (Southland) to 499 in Group 10 (South Otago). The, North Island has 18,903 of the remaining First Division reservists and the South Island 11,792. The unequal distribution of the men does not mean that the roll of the First Division will Jie exhausted earlier in some districts than in others. The quotftß for successive drafts are aßßess•ed upon the numbers of' First Division men in the different districts.' Thus Auckland will continue to have a very ■large quota, and some of the southern districts will have comparatively small ones. The process of exhaustion will be completed in all the districts at the same time, and the Second Division men all over the country,will start level as far as the ballots are concerned, subject to the classification eventually adopted. No date has been announced yet for the re-examination of the CI and 02 men of the First Division and for the reconsideration by the Military Service Boards of the First Division Appeals that have been adjourned sjne die. The date when the first call willybe majdo upon the Second Division men will depend upon the progress of this work. The revision of the rejected and suspended men of the 'First Division is expected to produce several thousand recruits. But •the work necessarily will be slow and the necessity for regular monthly drafts of recruits is bound/to .produce some overlapping. The sooner the re-examination Bnd re-hearings are commenced, the less will be the amount of overlapping of the tail of the First Diyigiohvby the head of the Second DivisioH. RESTRICTING IMPORTS. Wellington, June 8. The prospect of legislation being passed during the coming session of Parliament to restrict importations of certain goods of a- non-essential character is being discussed in commercial circles line. Your correspondent gathered in conversation with several business men that they realised New Zealand, could save a considerable amount of money that at present is going to the United States and elsewhere by restricting importations. The big sums that are being spent on American motor cars provide the obvious illustration But there is a difference of opinion regarding the advisability of any measure of the kind.

"Any proposal for restricting imports will have a Shipping aspect as well as a financial aspect," said the head of a Wellington firm to-day. "Importers may be sending some money out of the country, but at tho same time they are attracting shipping in this direction, and additional shipping is New Zealand's primo need. I am not doing to dogmatise about the matter, but I certainly think the Government should move very carefully if it moves at all. Great Britain is economising shipping by cutting 'down both imports and exports. But it does not follow that New Zealand would be securing a corresponding advantage by cutting down imports unless we are going to reduce exports at the same time. That, of course, is precisely what we do not want to do.

"The financial aspect of this question is highly involved. Are we going to discriminate against our Allies, America and Japan, in trade while they are fighting our battles If not; are we going to refuse to allow-the returning foodships to bring goods that Britain is at present manufacturing and is anxious to sell—such goods as were displayed at the British Industries Fair in London the other 'week? A country that is situated twelve thousand miles from its market and that has a normal excess of exports over imports, wants to ba wary about restricting inward trade."

The Efficiency Board is understood to have given attention to imports c" luxuries, but the matter will not be ha.idled by tlie Government before Mr. Masscy and Sir Joseph Ward reach 'Tew Zealand. The returning Minister for Finance naturally will have a more intimate knowledge of the general financial situation that his colleagues in this country can possess.