WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 January 1918, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

'iiIiTUItNED SOLDIIiIIS. . LEAVE WITHOUT PAV. (Special Correspondent), Wellington, Jan. 21. Lately there have been many protests, fervid and loud, against undischarged returned soldiers "having their pay stopped while absent from camp or. special leav-> for private- reason? The great majority of the men must understand the position themselves, but apparently they have not been sufficiently careful to make it plain to their friends. A soldier returns to Wellington aftei three years' service, if may bej, and wants to go to Auckland or Christehurch to see. his friends or attend to his business. He is not an invalid and has been given the trip to Nev.- Zealand on a hospital ship or a troopship at his own request and in recognition of his good behaviour. He lis granted the leave and in accordance with the regulations.hit. pay .fc stopped, d)iiing lils a.bsenc:e, but if iu -itiould. Ik} subsequently discharged without leturiir ing co th» ironfc j>r to. other ; service hs gets three weeks privilege leave on full pay. The official assumption is.that the returned. men who take leave ior tfoinestie or business! reasons is m the same position as.the man who gets leave froa a training camp U attenJ, to his own affairs. A TYPICAL CASE. Even with thj, explanation the lot of men coming back after three years of service, doing duty 011 tiru way homo, having to pay a, substantial sum out of their own pockets for a much needed rest, appears to i,e a hard one. A typical case is that of a married man from one of the southern districts, wb> has not communicated his grievances to tlie newupapers, but whose friends feel lie has not been generously treated. He arrived ir. Wellington four or five weeks ago, "invalided op. duty," and at once applied for leave to see iii s wife and children and incidentally his little farm. He was granted the leave, without pay according t 0 the regulations, and when hi= three I weeks bad expired he wa3 brought back to Wellington by his wire only to be sent into hospital for treatment whien he obviously needed from the first. He had I been kept in Egypt with the mounted |mer. during the whole of his three years service and had practically lost the sight of an eye ia, a brus'h with the Turks.

-n 0 OPTIGM. Probably ir, due course this mar, '.vill he discharged, with three weeks' pay and such pension *s the sehedalt provide* for his injury. But ie the meantime the porfr fellow is sadly run. dowh. and' unlikely to be Able to rasrame his former occupation fo? several aiontlfs. The admirable rule j'7; such oases ;!.s chat- trie iuiTevtn chall v? a charge upon tlie Stave till gbey ate restored to such healtk aa medical Mid surgical skill, can win fox - them, but in this particular case the half-blinded .'nan h more anxious fcr his wifo and chijdrer. thaii for himself and apparently the stoppage of pay, whici>. included the cessation of the wife's and children's allowances, is goiug to bo ■a permanent loss to him. No doubt in his private capacity (Sir Jamev Allen would 2ive Vne kindliest consideration to the unfortunate man's predicament, but in bis ministerial capacity he cannot discriminate between ope cast and another. The regulations allow him no option. THE COMMANDEERED WOOL. A considerable number of sheep-farm-ers are expressing dissatisfaction with the prices they are being paid for their wool, alleging that the arrangement made with the Government at the beginning of the season is not being adhered to by those entrusted with its interpretation. The basis of the arrangement was that the growers were to receive an advance of 55 per cent, upon the 1913-14 prices and iit the time this seemed generous enough,' but since then there has been a substantial rise in prices at Home. The farmers are not grudging the profit being made I>y the Imperial authorities, they say, but in view of the circumstances they think the administration of the arrangement migbt be revised. They maintain that too large a deduction is being made for the presence of seed in the wool and that they are not obtaining adequate prices for inferior sorts. The valuers seen this morning, on trie other hand, contended that, the spirit ever more emphatically than the letter of the arrangement is being observed and i that the interests of tJhe growers are being much more closely watched than they wer could have been in an open •market. THE GERMAN COLONIES.

The Prime Minister has made another statement with regard to the fate of the GermaA colonies iiu the Pacific. Mr. Massey feels rerj strongly that 'the German flag should not be allowed to reappear in the Pacific after th* war, and 'his irequen* .references to the subject suggest he is not quite sure that the Imperial authorities realise' what a German naval' station at Samoa would mean to New Zealand and Australia. Mr. Hughes has been similarly emphatic regarding German New Guinea. The Commonwealth cannot afford to have German territory almost in Australian waters, and any proposal to allow the Germans to re-establish themselves in New Guinea would be opposed hotly by the Federal Government. It was understood a lew months ago that Mr. Massey had decided not to visit London himself this year. The chances even now are in favor of his staying here, but the subject has been ve-opened hy the discussion of peace terms in tho statements made by Mr. Lloyd George jml Di. Woodrow Wilson. If there is any possibility of the fate of the German colonies in the Pacific being considered formally by the Allies this year Mr. MasS'oy will be keenly anxious to present New Zealand's case. He regards the exclusion of Germany from the Pacific as of prime importance to the future welfare and safety of this Dominion.

OUR CONTRIBUTION IN FIGHTING MEN. Some official figures made available today allow the contributions of New Zealand to the fighting forces of the Empire. Tlie publication of figures of this kind in New Zealand has been prohibited in the past, though the other Dominions have allowed their figures to be used freely. There is certainly no reason why New Zealand should be ashamed to tell the world what she has done. The. number of men despatched overseas to date is 88.000, and there are at present about 10,060 men in the training camps. This make? a total of9'B,ooQ men. •: Then there are in addition 9000 men who have been taken into camp for training but have been discharged before embarkation on medical grounds: The total liKihilisation, therefore, lias been 107,000 men, or nrorly 10 per cent, of the population. Ten per cent, used to be regarded by the uill«ry exp«rt* m tfat maximum pea-

sible mobilisation of a nation's manpower for war, but New Zealand is by no mea/is at the and of her resources. The reinforcements required for the present year are well in sight. Australia has sent abroad 298,000 men up to the end of October last. New Zealand, on a population basis, has done very much better than Australia. A comparison witfr Canada is also in favor of this country.