WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 October 1917, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

SECOND DIVISION.

THE FIRST BALLOT,

(Special Correspondent.)

• Wellington, October 26. ■ H was announced some weeks ago that ™ first Second Division ballot would be held on October 29. and apparently that arrangement still stands good, ine Second Division, it may be of interest to recall, is divided into six classes, class A consisting of married men without children, class B of married men with one child, class C with two children, class D with three children, class E with four children and class * with five or more children. The classes will be called up in their alphabetic order and according to a computation made by the Government Statistician a month ago, class A contains 20.331 men, class B 21,907, class 0 24.523, class D 17,233, class E 10,498 and class F 11,820. It is expected that with the accretions of First Division men .reaching military age each of the first three elftsses will be sufficient for three ballots, and if this is the case the turn •of the men with two children will not come at the earliest till the middle of next year. PENSIONS AND ALLOWANCES. Tho prospect of the first draft of married reservists being called up on Monday next, to go into camp, it is understood, at the beginning of the new year, has given additional point and purpose to the protests that are being made against the Government's failure to accede to all the demands of the Second Division League in rogard to pensions and allowances. But Ministers are showing no disposition to reconsider their de> ciaion, They claim to have gone as far as the finances of the country will justify them in going and a fully informed Parliament having endorsed their contention there is little more for tie outsider to say on the matter. But if the report that the Supplementary Estimates are going to make provision for the payment of another war bonus to Civil Servants should prove to he true, a large section of the public cer* tainly will want to know why the men staying at home are being treated more generously than the dependants of the men fighting at the front. THE RAILWAYS. The statement made by the Hon: W. Hi Herries in the House of Representatives on Wednesday night concerning the management of the State railways has not satisfied the Minister's critics that the curtailment of train services is helping in winning the war. Apparently Mr, Herries would have the publio believe that the services have been cut down in order to meet the demands of the Defence Department for men and supplies, but as a matter of plain fact the withdrawal of certain travelling facilities has not increased the. military efficiency of the country by a single man. What it has done is to involve the State in a very grave financial loss. With abundance of labour available, with miles of rolling stock lying idle, and without rhyme or reason it has turned thousands of pounds worth of business away and put the community to endless inconvenience and expense. To attempt to make a virtue out of stupidity of this sort is not worthy of a Minister of Mr. Herries standing. WATERED DOWN. The report of the Cost of Living Committee has been watered down to suit the sensitive palates of the party leaders and in its amended form is not likely to occasion much perturbation in the ranks of the exploiters. The Food Controller remains as part of the Committee's scheme, but he is to. have no "plenary powers" and he is not to engage in State trading. He i9to be simply an advisory official, privileged to report to the Minister of Industries and Commerce and pcrhap.. to offer his suggestions; but on no account must lie commit the Government to anything cr complain when his advice is ignored. A majority of the Committee would have clothed him with much greater authority and perhaph would have made him independent of ministerial control, but the party leaders would hear of nothing cf this kind and now the report may make its way into some departmental pigeonhole without serious loss to anyone. TEACHERS AND PREACHERS. Ag Sir James Allen, the author of the measure, put it last night, there was nothing contentious in the Expeditionary Forces Amendment Bill except the clauses affecting teachers and preachers. The Bill proposed to leave the clergy and the members of the teaching profession to be dealt with by the Military Service Boards in the ordinary way and it was around this proposal the discussion in the House revolved. Finally Sir Joseph Ward, who had explained his own views very clearly in one of the best speeches he has delivered this session, moved for the exemption of all teachers, including Marist Brothers. The division which followed was almost entirely on party lines, thirty-two members of the old Opposition IParty and three Reformers voting "aye' with Sir Joseph Ward, and twenty-eight members of the old Government Party and three Liberals voting "no" with Mr. Massey. The debate which preceded the division, though sometimes approaching perilous ground, was marked by the utmost good feeling and it is hoped a fruitful bone of contention is now safely out of the way,