WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 June 1919, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

CAPITAL AND LABOR. PROPOSED CONFERENCE. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, June lfi. Sir JSines Allen's attitude towards tlie proposal of the Federation of Labor for a conference between representatives of the employers and of the workers for the discussion of various industrial problems is not finding favor with some of the Minister's own political friends. "It is not only impolitic, but also extremely absurd," one of them said in the course of an interview this morning, "to tell the men, in effect, that Capital cannot confer with Labor till the parties are less suspicious of one another. The very purpose and essence of the conference would be to bring about a better understanding between the employers and the workers, and to remove suspicions that lie at the bottom of nine-tenths of the industrial troubles that occur." This expression of opinion is all the more significant from the fact that it comes from a large employer of labor, who a few years ago was in full sympathy with the policy the Acting Prime Minister is still expounding.

J THE WELFARE LEAGUE. The promoters of the Welfare League also are understood to hold much more progressive views on the Labor question than those attributed, rightly or wrongly, to Sir James Allen. They have not yet come out into the fierce light that beats about a new political party, and perhaps that perilous venture is not among their dreams for the future; but they have let it be known that their heart's chief desire is to bring about better relations between Capital and Labor, to the abiding advantage of both factors in the creation of wealth. They even have gone the length of signifying their adherence to the principle enunciated in the reports of the Whitley committees, which recommend giving workers a direct shure in the management and profits of the industries in which they are engaged. Naturally, they would regard a really representative conference between the employers and the workers as a very auspicious step towards their goal

TERRITORIAL TRAINING. The Council of Churches is not a body that cuts a great deal of ice in political circles, but its protest against the proposal of the Minister of Defence for four months' continuous territorial training is finding a good deal of sympathy here. The majority of the Minister's critics, however, are not so much concerned for the morals of the youths who would be retained in camp for a lengthy period at a particularly impressionable age us they are averse to the growth of a military caste, which, they say, already is entrenching itself in the country. Wellington streets are now almost free from khaki, except for the officers of various ranks and various degrees of splendor that display themselves on every possible occasion; but these survivals of the war daya—chiefly members of the home service branch of the Army—have raised strange alarms in the breasts of i;ho public, and "ftnti-militarism" has taken on a new meaning and significance.

POLITICAL GOSSIP. Now that the party leaders have their faces turned towards home and a session of Parliament in August and a general election in November are among the probabilities of the future, the political gossips are returning to their old vocation wth renewed ardor. That the ses-. sion will be as brief as the Ministers can make it may be taken for granted, but there will be quite a formidable order paper to begin, and the rank and file of both parties will be anxious to say more than a word or two for the benefit of, their constituents and themselves. The formal renunciation of the party truce may not take place before the close of the session, but long before that the majority of the private members will have thrown off the obligations it has imposed upon them during the last four years. Altogether, the indications are of a very lively two months of sparring as a prelude to the two months of campaigning to follow.

LICENSING POLL, FINAL FIGURES. Wellington, June 20. The 'official result of tlie licensing poll is to be announced this week. Tlie hnal figures have been in the hands of the iluiister for Justice, for some days, but they have been held up while certain legal points were studied. It is known already, of ceurse, that Continuance has been earircd by a majority of over 10,000 votes. The Prohibition party is organising tlffe next campaign and a big conference of liquor trade interests in Wellington this week idicates that the other side is not inactive., The Chief Organiser of the New Zealand Alliance (the Rev. R. S. Grey) states that while he is disappointed he is not at all discouraged- 'Personally I much prefer to fight the issue without compensation than with it," said Mr Grey. "I am persuaded that the liquor party will never be offered that four and a half millions again and that it never will induce the people of New Zealand to pay between £10,000,000 and £15,000,000 for the right to have State Control. If 1 State Control is a desirable thing, the people can vote the trade out first and then take a referendum on the question of State Control." , THE NEXT FIGHT. Mr Grey added that the New Zealand Alliance and the Efficiency League were determined to prosecute tlie prohibition campaign with the utmost vigor. Both organisations were entirely satisfied that the trade itself had killed the compensation proposal. The trade had placed before every elector the question "Why pay four and a half millions!" The prohibitionists had never liked the compensation proposal, but they had accepted it because they felt there was an enormous moral advantage to be gained by extinguishing the trade without the four years' extension of time allowed by the old law. The trade had used the natural disinclination of the people to pay away this money as a weapon against prohibition.- The prohibitionists would talk no more of compensation. Mr Qrey mentioned that he had ample evidence. that the dislike of prohibitionists to the compensation proposal had exercised an important influence on the! voting in the no-license districts. '