WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 November 1917, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE SECOND DIVISION. (Special Correspondent). Wellington, Nov. 7. Ihe position of the Second Division men has been made clearer by a recruiting circular just issued by Defence Headquarters. Voluntary enlistment is now confined to nineteen-year-old youths (with the consent of their parents), 20-year-old youths, and classes A and B of the Second Division. The reservists with two or more children will not be accepted as volunteers at present. The Director of Recruiting (Captain D. Cossgrove) realises that some men prefer to enter thoforces as volunteers when their turn comes, and he will allow the reservists of classes C and D an opportunity to offer their services before their classes are ballottcd. But he wants to deal with the married men of lighter domestic responsibilities before lie calls upon the men with two, three and four children each. APPROXIMATE DATES. The Director of Recruiting has prepared a table of dates for the informa-. tion of Second Division men, The first draft, of married men (class A) is to enter camp on March 5-0 of next year, and the other drafts will follow at fourweekly intervals. The first draft of class B men (one child) is likely to be i mobilised on May 28-June 1, and the first draft of class C (2 children) will probably be due on September 17-21. Each of these classes is expected to provide four reinforcement drafts. The dates for the classes are not fixed definitely, and it is possible that they will be set back. They will not be advanced. The recruiting authorities have undertaken to allow every married man 12 weeks' leave without pay between the date of his medical examination and the date of mobilisation. The reservist who wishes to enter camp as a volunteer will need to enlist before the first ballot in ABOUT VEGETABLES.

A little discussion is proceeding in one of the Wellington newspapers on the subject of vegetables.' The city housewife has no intimate acquaintance with the science of market gardening, .but she feels that there is something wrong when she is required to pay twopence for three sinal' carrots, ljd for a parsnip, 8d for a cabbage, and Is for a cauliflower. If the gardener could be sure of gettihg one-quarter of the price that the Wellington housewife pays for common vegetables, he would be a very well satisfied man. The merchants and retailers deny that they are making unduly large profits, and the housewife docs not appear to be making any progress towards the goal of cheaper vegetables. Like the farmer who sees the meat he sold at fid being retailed in London at 2s a lb, she feels that she is being exploited, but cannot discover just who is getting the profit.

THE VACANT PORTFOLIO. The Wellington Liberal newspaper the other (lay announced that the Hon. A. L. Herdman was about to become a judge, and that two additional Ministers would have to be appointed, one to replace the present Attorney-General and the other to fill the vacancy left by the Hon. Dr. McNab. There are substantial grounds for believing that Mr. Herdman, whatever he may do in the future, has no immediate intention of seeking the dignified seclusion of the Supreme Court bench. He is controlling the Discharged Soldiers Department, wlijeh is doing very good work already, and has almost unlimited scope for usefulness before it, and he is not the man to leave a job half done. Dr. McNab's place probaWy will be filled in the near future. . The choice of a new Liberal Minister will rest with Sir Joseph iWard, whose recommendation on this point will be accepted by the Prime Minister.