WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 July 1918, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

LICENSING (POEL TEE RUMORED COMPROMISE. (From Our Special Correspondent.) Wellington, July 15. Though the liquor trade and its allies are just as emphatic as the prohibitionists are in denying the existence of a compromise between the two parties in regard to the compensation proposals of the National Efficiency Board, there is a feeling abroad, that prominent men on both sides "would be glad to see the question put to the popular vote during the continuance of the party truce. The prohibitionists have conceded a good deal by subscribing to the, principle of compensation under any conditions, and the big men of the liquor trade have never denied the right of the State to take over their interests on a fair commercial basis. But the peril to the scheme is that the extremists on the prohibition side will consent only to the extinction of the traffic, and that the Government will refuse to place on the country the financial burden this would involve. THE ABSENT MINISTERS. In any case there would be great difficulty in arranging the details of the scheme in time for them to be submitted to the electors this year. It is generally understood that Parliament will meet about the middle of October, bat there is no certainty that Mr. Maßsey and Sir Joseph Ward will be back at the beginning of the session, and without the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance the Cabinet would scarcely proceed to the settlement of the preliminaries. Then Parliament would have to decide the form in which the question should - fce submitted to the electors, and it is easy to see this task would occupy more than a week or two. Neither the acting-Prime Minister nor the actingMinister of Finance would be likely to place any obstacles in the way; indeed both Sir James Allen and Mr. Myers are credited with being favorably disposed towards the proposed referendum; but the question is too big to be disposed of in the absence of the party leaders. THE SECOND DIVISION. So far the ballot in Class B of the Second Division has not produced as many fit men as were expected. Up to Juno 22, 12,056 reservists in this class had been examined, and of these 7,099 had been declared unfit, 21C2 had appealed, and 2467 had been ordered into camp. The number of unfit under the severer examination was not above the average, but the number of appeals was in excess of former experiences, and probably the exemptions under the new regulations in regard to the last man on the farm and certain agricultural workers, will be large. But the physique of the accepted men compares very favorably with that of previous drafts, and in other respects they promise to maintain the high standard of former reinforcements. The remaining classes of the Division contain 60,470 men, and, it is hoped, will be more than sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Defence authorities during the war. THE COAL MINERS. The Coal Miners.' Federation is still pressing for a conference with the mine owners, but the owners steadfastly refuse to meet the Federation. They are prepared for the several companies to meet the unions of the employees in their own mines, but further than this they will not go. Their contention is ttat having offered the men substantially better terms than those they accepted for the courso of the war they have dealt with them generously and cannot he reasonably expected to make further concessions. The men are demanding a further advance of 20 per cent, in wages, and the employers' reply to this is that if the men will apply themselves seriously to work under the new conditions they can earn this advance without any undue effort. The Minister of Mines is watching developments and is prepared to act in-case-of; emergency.