WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 26 June 1918, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS

oowaxraioiNs after ihe wm- . (Special Correspondent) Wellington, Juno 21. The business community is by no '■ 'means disposed to accept Mr. Hafold (Beauchamp'a review of after-war trade prospects as the last word to be said oh the subject. Other financiers of equal standing with the chairman of theBank of Hew Zealand board of directors, while admitting the value of the lessons of history, contend that Mr. Beauchamp has no sound ground for his assumption that the dark days which followed upon the Naipoleonio wars of a hundred years ago must be repeated after the world's wjr now raging. Trade and commerce and finance, they submit, have been revolutionised during the century, an4the resources of all the nations have been enormously increased. The deduction drawn from the bitter experiences of 1818 must he extensively" modified by the conditions-of' 1018. i ' XXXXNOBtC7'--fAiN3>^-£!SaiptCPC3SOQZ> Strict economy and iucreasedsproduction, Mr. Befnichffinip'a critics.go <m to say, are safe and desirable things to preaoh always, but the most not stifle enterprise.' Wat prices have placed the majority of' the -producers in a much stronger financial position than they were in four years 'ago, and with go<js prices for meat, wool, and dsdiy products assured foreomayeats to-come yet, war or no war, they shoaH becencotitaged to extend thedr-operations, and the Government should continue-to place more and more men on the land under the best poSsSble conditionsemphasise, is not a time for pessimism, consistent, well-directed effort and a courageous belief" iirtij£fiiinre the country. (»A t sor®TlON osv-rawm There is a, growingfeeling,, now^finding occasional expression in the Ideal newspapers, that reservists who have failed to pass the medical examination for service abroad should remain avail-, able for any home service for wfiich-they are qualified. Theoretically, this al« ready is the case, but in practice -the men rejected by the doctors are secure in their civilian employment, while their fit fellows are put on soldiers' pay and sefit off to the front. The suggestion i 9 that the unfits should bo taxed according to their means for their-exemp-tion or should be drafted into hbmefserr vice wherever there may be work for htme to do. The suggestion, of-course, is based on the principle of equality of service, but so far the Government has shown no inclination to regard it seriougly. UOENISING POLL. Th 6 cablegram from Vancouver published this morning stating tliafrtw-o prohibition advocates are- coming to- the Dominion shortly to assist in the licensihg •campaign ft confirmed by tha Rev. J. (Dawson, the secretary of the- New Zealand Alliance. Representatives of the Alliance have been urging the Government lately to hold a licensing poll at tho-end Of the present year, irrespective of'the general election having .been post* poned, and, it is understood, have obtained a .promise from the Acting-Primq Minister to submit the question to Parliament early next session. The prohibition leaders' are insistent that in the event of their request being granted, no party bitterness would be engendered, and they are very hopeful that "national ■prohibition--would be carried. PILLAGING AGAIN. Further developments- Sn connection with the easy code of morality which ■serves the purpose of some- of the workers -on the water-front occurred in the Magistrate's Court on Wednesday. A man wa9 charged with an indictable o> fence in having purloined various articles from a vessel on which he was working and when the Stipendiary Magistrate intervened with-a suggestion that on account of the small value of the goods- the charge should be reduced to one of simple theft the officer representing the [Police Department regretted that owing to the frequency of sucb-of-fences as the one-alleged he was unable to accede to the suggestion. In the circumstances the Magistrate had no option and the man, reserving hia de» fence, was duly committed for trial. He may be, of course, perfectly innocent, but in that case he is the victim of an evil that has assumed alarming dimensions in Wellington during the last year or two. Some business men go to the length of stating that the cost of living is appreciably affected by the loss and Waste occasioned by the pillaging of cargo. LAND FOR SOLDIERS. The Hon. D. H. Guthrie, with the enthusiasm of the new broom directed by the experience of the practical farmer, is speeding up the efforts of the Lands Department to place returned soldiers on the land. He has just returned from another tour of inspection in'the Auckland district with his eye on several large areas which he thinks could be -.readily adapted to the requirements of the men who are inclined to turn to the smaller rural occupations. Hi 3 difficulty is not with the returned farmer who wants to get back to the calling he was following before he was shouldering a rifle, but with the townsman imbued with a new love for the open life who is reluctant to remount the office stool or resume his old place behind the coun* ter. The Minister is hoping to makb opportunities for this man on some of the good lands of the North and to enlist in the great army of producers that must bear the major part of the burdens that will fall upon the Dominion after *the war.