WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 January 1921, Page 8

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE COAL DISPUTE. MINERS AGAIN GOING SLOW, (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, Jan. 10. The naughty language used by one of the truckers at the Blackball mine now seems likely to bring {ibouft further coal trouble. The trucker has admitted his fault g.nd has expressed his readiness to apologise to the deputy to whom the language was addressed, as soon as the deputy, who is alleged to have made use of similar language, offers the same amende honorable. The deputy denies having sworn at the miner, and the Under Secretary of the Mines Department, being unable to decide between them, the miners’ organisation has decreed a resumption of the glo-slow policy. The Prime Minister is still striving to avert trouble, maintaining a much more conciliatory attitude towards the men than many of his friends can approve, but so far the organisation has shown no signs of relent uig RAILWAY FIREMEN.

On the top of the renewal of the coal trouble comes an ultimatum from the Wellington branch of the Enginedrivers’, Firemen and Cleaners’ Association demanding that all firemen and engineers having inexperienced firemen as assistants shall receive 2s a day extra when burning the inferior coal with which the Government has stocked its yards. “While sympathising with the management in being unable to procure coal of a better standard,” a paragraph in the ultimatum runs, “we protest I against the great quantity of inferior ' coal they have bought and are still buyj ing.” 'fhe sting of the protest lies in a notice that unless the 2s a day ara forthcoming the firemen will cease work at midnight on Sunday nex't. The General Manager has deferred his reply till the chief mechanical engineer returns to town at the end of the week, but the men have made it quite clear there will be no procrastination on their part.

NEW MINISTERS. ( The Primo Minister is likely to have a far wider choice in filling- the impending’vacancies at the Cabinet table than he is in finding successors to the retiring judges. There have been quite a number of politicians in Wellington during the past week whose visits to the seat of Government are not, unnaturally associated in the popular mind with the portfolios that are being held in suspense. It is frankly admitted, however, by Mr. Massey’s own friends that most of the members of outstanding ability sitting on the Reform Benches of the House of Representatives already have been moved up to the Treasury Bencher, and that the Prime Minister’s choice, though wide, is not very encouraging. One outcome of the situation is sure to be the assumption of additional burdens by Mr. Massey himself.

LIBERA L-LABOR RAPPROCHEMENT. It is too early yet to say there has been anything in the way of a rapprochement between the Liberal and Labor parties in PtirTlament. There are, however, up and down the country indications that the members of the two parties opposed to the present Government are more inclined to come together than they were immediately after the general election. They have begun to realise that, divided as they are at present, they have no ehance of defeating the Reformers in the constituencies or of exercising any very useful influence in Parliament. The recognition of these facts has brought some of the live men in the parties together in an informal way, and though no great progi’ess towards a renewal of the old relations has been made, it is said the prospect of ft good understanding between the two parties has been substantially improved. On Tuesday of last week, when the thermometer stood at over 100 in the sun, the bush on both sides of the railway line between Tawanui and Puketiro was ablaze (says the Clutha Free press) and the down train to Tahakopa had to dash through a barrage of smoke and flame that “singed the whiskers” of the engine staff. One settler, Mr. Arthur Ombler, of Puketiro, who has been established there for the last twelve years, had the misfortune to lose Jiis homestead, which was completely destroyed within a few minutes. Jt caught fire from without, and It was found impossible to salvage any of the contents. A cowshed containing hay was also destroyed. On the train that had to run the gauntlet of the fire the engine staff swathed their heads in wet towels, and made’ a dash for it through the smoke and fire. On arrival at Puketiro, Where the trains cross, four trucks were found to be on fire, and had to be removed and hosed. On the up trip of the train in the afternoon the fire had spread further afield, and the train men experienced inconvenience, It was at one time thought that the I station buildings and timber yards at [ Houipapa would each fire, but they fortunately escaped.

Matakana, a small town in North Auckland, possesses the first statue of the present King erected ■■ in New Zealand. The figure surmounts a monument to men of the district who lost their lives in the Great Wsr.