WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1919, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

MUNICIPAL POIIXIC&

(Special Correspondent)

Wellington, Jan. 14. The labor Party's previous excursions into municipal politics in Wellington have not been attended by such a conspicuous measure of success as to justify its leaders' predictions of what it is go>"g to achieve by its present efforts in this direction. When the members of the party have 'nven their support to candidates favored by other sections of tho community they h-xve had the satisfaction of being on the winning side; but when they ha t stood aloof they inevitably have suffered defeat throngh their very lade of numbers. At the apoi'p elections, however, there .vill h ighout the city in insistent denial in .or better local government, and it will not ibe at all surprising to sea extensive changes in the personnel of the City Council and a new fignr® occupying the mayoral chair.

THE ELECTOBS' AWAKENING.

It scarcely required the influenza epidemic to arouse the Wellington municipal electors from the apathy into which they had fallen, in common with the parliamentary electors, ?rn"o the beginning of the war. But there can be no doubt that the revelations of the Health Department concerning tho shocking conditions of the slum areas within the capital city made on impression uj-on tho electors which will not be easily effaced. There has been no adequate reply to the Hon. G. W. Russoll's scathing indiciai en t in the House of Bepresentatives last session of the administration of the Mayor and the City Council, except a hurried scheme for potting some of the worst of the plague epotf, I in order, aid this of course amounts to nothing less than a confession of grave* omissions ia the past

WOMEN ON THE LAND.

The caMed report that a large number of women who have been engaged in serious war ,/ork at Home are making inquiries from the High Commissioner as to the openings New Zealand lias to offer them on the land has drawn attention to the fact that women already in the Dominion have been preparing the way for a movement of this kind during the last two or three years. At the present moment there are scores of women in the Marton and Rangitikei districts helping in the harvest operations— stookiug, carting, and even stacking—and doing this work so well that the value of the members of their sex on the farm has been very plainly demonstrated. The Minister of Agriculture, while emphasising the importance of moving cautiously in the matter and doing nothing to divert the interest of women from their own particular spheres, thinks that women suited for the lighter rural industries should be given every possible opportunity to engage in them.

THE COST OF LIVKG.

Use Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald, who is acting-president of the Board of Trade in the absence cf the Prime Minister, is agnin maki'ig strenuous efforts, with the hearty co-operation of the official members of the board, to effect reductions in the cost of living. On in vestigation, many of the oomplaints made to the board of the high prices charged for commodities have been found to be beyond the jurisdiction of the board. Some buyers insist upon having groceries or clothing or footwear of a particular brand or upon having their goods on credit or delivered at their residences, and in these cases the board cannot decree that the retailers shall sell below cost price or even without a reasonable margin of profit. But where ordinary items are in question it has kept prices down to the buyer who is prepared to pay cash and not above j carrying his purchases away from the i shop.