WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 April 1921, Page 12

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

COAL MINE DISPUTE NO SETTLEMENT IN SIGHT. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, April 18. The conference between the representatives of the Miners’ Federation made little progress on Saturday and it looks at the moment as if it were resolving itself into a trial of physical strength between the opposing delegates. All that was done on Saturday was to draw from the representatives of the men a re-assertion of their determination to stick to their demands—a five-day week, a six-hour day, a minimum wage of £6 ,a week and the rest —and though Mr. Arbuckle, the secretary of the Federation, half implied that his side might consider counter proposals he took care his words bore no suspicion - of a more conciliatory mood. On previous occasions the men’s delegates have obtained minor concessions by persistent iteration and reiteration, and with a less insistent chairman than Sir George Clifford proved to be they seem to be hoping for better results from this policy on the present occasion. THE NEW ECONOMICS. How difficult the task of the Mine Owners’ delegates is may be judged from the somewhat strange code of economics propounded by the delegates on the other side. The chairman, a very capable official of the Mines Department, had prepared figures showing the cost of producing coal and delivering it to the consumer, and to this Mr. O’Brien, one of the men’s representatives, objected on the score that interest and depreciation were not proper charges. He did not see, he said, why mine owners should be allowed to make these charges. All they were entitled to was what the miner got —th/ee meals and a bed. If the mine owners charged interest and depreciation, so should the miners. Then replying to a suggestion by Mr. Reece that mines could not be developed without money, Mr. O’Brien retorted that he could go to a mate and get 5s without interest. Then Mr. Reece laughingly subsided, exclaiming “All right. I am done.” STR JOSEPH WARD. In a private letter to a friend in Wellington Sir Joseph Ward, while admitting the difficulty of judging the conditions in New Zealand from the other end of the world, expresses the opinion that the financial stringency in the Dominion will not be long continued. “We cannot expect a return to normal conditions in Europe for a year or two,” he says, "but there already are signs of improvement, and when Germany learns there is nothing to be gained by delaying and bluffing she and the other countries suffering’ from the war will recover very rapidly Of course I still am taking the keenest interest in New Zealand, which always will be my home, but I .am not talking or thinking politics and Nils is a relief which you and my other friends will understand.” Sir Joseph declares himself to be in good health, but makes jio mention of his return to New Zealand. PROHIBITION IN Mrs. Lilian Fitch, who is accompanying her father, Mr. Charles Francis, on his world tour, is in Wellington ju.st now. and qn Saturday she gave an interviewer a most enthusiastic account of the effects of prohibition in the United States. The women of America, she would never a/low the liquor traffic to return to their country, and in the course of a year or two they would have th£ support of a vast majority of the men in this respect. Mrs. Fitch, of course, is a somewhat biassed witness on this question, having fought strenuously on the prohibition side during the liquor campaign, but she certainly marshals an array of facts and figures with a facility and adriotness that leave the indifferent person a little ashamed of his apathy. With half a dozen advocates like this charming lady taking the platform next year the Trade will find its hands fairly full. 11