WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 August 1918, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

EFFICIENCY CAMPAIGN, » THE PROHIBITIONISTS' EFFORT. (Special Correspondent.)' Wellington, August 9. At the meeting held in the Town flail last night to welcome the three Canadians who have come across to assist the Prohibitionists in their "Efficiency Campaign," the Rev. R. S. Gray, the organi- j sei of the movement, stated quite ex- j plicitly why he and his fellow-workers j had waived their objection to compensa- j tion being paid for the extinction of . licenses. It was, he said, to secure a ! quick decision that the Alliance had j adopted the Efficiency 1 Board's piuposai j to pay a maximum sum of four and j a-half millions to secure the immediate - extinction of the liquor trade. The Prohibitionists realised they would be twitted willi inconsistency, but they also realised the trade was costing the country ten millions a year, five millions directly and the rest indirectly, and they were prepared t to accept the recommendation of the Efficiency Board in order to stop this "frightful and disastrous waste." Win at his party would stand for firmly was the hare majority, and this, he believed, was in the mind of the board and hoped would be in. the mind of the Government.. THE GOVERNMENT'S ATTITUDE. The report of the Efficiency Board did not disclose the views of the members in regard to the majority question, but it is pretty generally understood, as such things come to be understood, they are favorable to a bare majority vote. It is being recalled, however, that they did not commit themselves to a precise amount of compensation. The four and a-half millions they mentioned was simply an estimate which might be varied by the official valuers. The attitude of the Cabinet towards the proposal is still only a matter for speculation, which jmust continue till Mr. Massey and Sir 'Joseph Ward return to the Dominion, but there is a growing feeling that the size of the petition presented to Parliament iii favor of a poll being tai<en at the end of the current year will be the deciding factor in the Cabinet's ultimate decision. This, again, will be largely a matter of organisation, and, with the Rev. R. S. Gray at the head of the movement, it is tolerably safe to predict it will not suffer for lack of sustaraeu and judicious effort. THE COAL DISPUTE. The secretary of the Employers' Association, who is conducting the case for the mine-owners in the coal dispute carries too many guns as a controversialist for the other side. Whatever may be the justice of the men's cause, it is suffering by each ej.'ehange of statements in the newspapers. The men have finally based their claim for increased pay on the increase in the cost of living; and Mr. Pryor has answered them by showing that, while the average increase in wages since the beginning of the war has reached at least 38 per cent., the average increase in the cost of living in the centres nearest their employment has increased only 23 per cent. vt course, these figures do not entirely dispose of the matter, as the cost of living is not finally decided by the prices of food or by the rates of rent, but they ■constitute a reply to the men's representations that cannot be controverted by the reiteration of mere generalities. COST OF LIVING. As it happens, on this cost of living question Greymouth, one of the chief mining centres, provides a very strong argument in support of the owners' contention. On the outbreak of war, the index figures of prices of the three food .groups in Greymouth was 1167, the highest of any centre in the Dominion. The figure for Auckland was 1090, Wellington 1083, Christchurch 1049, Dunedin 1042, Hamilton 1093, New Plymouth [llO, Wangamii 1030, Taihape 1144, Palmerston North 990, Blenheim 1060, Oamaru 10SO, and Invercargill 1064. The figures for these representative centres now are: —Auckland 1513, Wellington 1518, Christchurch 1408. Dunedin 1486, Hamilton 1451, New Plymouth 1451, Wanganui 1458, Taihape 1554, Palmerston North 1459, Blenheim 1476, Oamaru 1495, and Invercargill 1505; While Greymouth staiui?, at only 1499. The next word on this aspect of the dispute must icome from the men.