WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 April 1919, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

SOLDIERS' SETTLEMENT. WIDESPREAD DISSATISFAOTIQK. (From Our Special Correspondent,) Wellington, April I*. The National Government has not yet succeeded in satisfying either the retained men or the general public that it is making the beßt possible progress with its scheme for settling soldiers on the land. Complaints just sow, indeed, are more frequent and fervid than ever before. It is being put about that the Land Purchase Board has acquired two or three properties which are utterly unsuitable for this class of settlement ai.d that there is not the least chance of their being occupied profitably except in very large holdings and by mis with considerable capital and exceptional experience. One of these properties, was the object of a resolution by the Auckland Returned Soldiers' Association til* other day, and another has been described as one of the most hopeless piece* of country in the Tanranga pumice ana. THE SMALL HOLDING.

Btt«'cab% of this kind, it may he hoped, are few and far between. The common complaint ie that nun capable of working small areas of good land with every prospect of success are Unable to obtain holdings of this description. The Land Purchase Boards very properly, has set its face against high-prieed land, but, so it is alleged, has failed to recognise that SO acres of land at £4O an acre is often a much better investment than 1000 acres at £2. The returned man who asks for good land ii told that his duty and his opportunity lie in getting out into the backblocks and subduing the wilderness awaiting him there. ThU is admirable in theory, but it does not commend itself to the soldier in practice, and as often as not he finds it more attractive to deal with the private settler than with the State, and thus loses some of the advantages Parliament intended he should enjoy. (

. THE COAL SUPPLY, The approach of winter, which has been very marked in Wellington during the last week or two, has set people talking coal again. Apparently there is no better assurance of supplies noV than there was at this time last year. The Btocks on hand are even, smaller and the prospects for the future no brighter. The Board of Trade ha* been making an exhaustive enquiry into the subject, and is understood to have a 1 report ready for submission to the Minister of Mines, but no hint as to its character is yet available. The Hon. i W. D, S. McDonald himself, however, is known to lean towards some scheme of co-operation between the mine-owners, the miners, and the State by which the cost of production and distribution could be reduced and adequate wages and profits maintained side by side witSi * reasonable price. COST OP CARRIAGE.

Failing some arrangement of this sort the position may become very serious before the impending winter is over. The popular notion that the high price of coal was largely due to exorbitant rates of freight charged By the shipping companies was exploded some time ago. By the construction of more tip-to-dat* colliers, it might be possible to convey coal by sea at a substantially lower rate, but, with the present vessels, the margin of profit is too small to allow of any reduction that would materially affect the consumers. This being the case, it seems that relief must be found* in the scheme attributed to Mr. McDonald—an amalgamation of interests that would ensure the maintenance of cordial relations between the employers and" the men and do away wtth the duplicated Mnenditure iwepi*»hje/ from divided management.