WELLINTON NOTES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 9154, 31 May 1915, Page 8

WELLINTON NOTES.

(From' Ou^: Own Correspondent.)

Talk of a Coalition. WELLINGTON, May 24, 1915. A little additional light is thrown upon the coalition rumours by an article published in this morning's New Zealand "Times." The article mdi- ! cates that, as your correspondent stated some days ago, certain discus-' aions wore initiated earlier in the year by persons outside active politics with the object of bringing the party leaders together in an arrangement calculated to prevent party strife during the war. The discussions were entirely informal and non-committal, and it -appears they did not progress very far. The party lenders were, nof brought together, and it would seem that the whole matter was dropped in view of the uncertainty created by the election petitions. The prevailing opinion here, in Ministerial n* well as Opposition circJori, is that the Government will not be ready to talk about coalition or.even a party tnioe as long up. there remains .a .possibility'-of the Kef oral Party win^ ■.aing" both*the seats still vacant. ll' the Government, succeeded in holding Bay of Islands and winning .'Tnumarunui it would have a nominal majority of four in tlie House of Representatives, including the vote of the -"member for the' Northern Maori district. Probably it coiiicl carry on over the" present year with such\a, majority, especially :v> the Opposition would b<unwilling to force; a struggle unnecessarily while''the war was in progress. if the Government wins one only of the feats, or loses them both, more may be beard of an arrangement between the parties. The two party leaders themselves- are dumb' on the ; subject, and as far aa the leader of the Opposition is concerned the silence is easily' explained. The man who is not in office cannot tell the .man in office vow to arrange the .business" of 7\irllament without inviting a smib. and "Si!"'-Joseph. Ward always plays the oolitic-;:! 'n^-nv.' with a nice regard for its proprieties'. - ■ ■ Tivs Recruiting O.uestion. Miuiy people were startled to read in ilia MAVsp&peJ'ii the other day that there was" a-'shortage of recruits and ill at tiUi Minister ol Defence was calling i.-i: the married men to come forward. The* impression luid prevailed previously that tho Government did not want to enlist married men, ant that there v/yro still _plenty of unmar t-ied recruits coming forward to fill tin ranks. Ab a matter of fact, the Minister's word/i have been misconstrued to some extent by the reporter resp.on sible' for the original article. Tht Minister wanted more recruits then, and lie wants them now, but he was not asking married men to till vacant places in. the ranks. Before there is a direct appeal, to married men to come forward ■ there is. likely to be a modification of .the regulations in regard- tc recruits gaaorally, with .the object of making room for the" unmarried : men who ha-vo been ruled out for some reason not amounting to actual unfitness for service. The age-standard, the height standard, and other con ditions are all capable of modification without appreciably affecting- the gene..ral fitness of the recruits. The fact that no move has been ma.de in these directions is an indication that the Dominion has not yet begun to experience an. actual shortage of recruits. The' Minister of Defence explained the position in tin interview with 'your correspondent. "I have no reason tc doubt .that sufficient men will be available for the units that are going into camp at the end of this month and tho beginning of next month," he said Those unite comprise the two additional infantry battalions and the Seventh Reinforcements, and they will bring up the number of men in training at Trentham to about 7000, the highest number we..,have had since the war began. E, want to make this perfectly clear: L did not make any special appeal to married men. 1 made n special appeal to the unmarried men, and I was asked what wars my opinion with regard to the married men. I said that each man ought to decide for himself where his duty lay; I said that we wanted a large number of men, and that it vr&ti harder to get- them than it had boeu in the early days of the ivcn'itmy: campaign. J am not frightened that we are not going to get tha men we want. The only alteration wo hare made in the conditions of service since the beginning of the war has been' tho raising of the age-limit froiii ?>o to 40 years, and jvc made that change because we thought'it n reasonable tiling that- the man of from 35 to 40 ycar-s should bo';nllowed- to go to the front .if hti wanted to do so. ' Many additional -men. could be secured at onco-,vbv>.< o. :•' mod ificfttioii'; "of* the conditions.' It ,cw«£-ht not to go forth' that rJu; men of this Dominion are not doing thsi\r duty. The fact is that our big .■.fTorfc— the raising of nn additional Force' fif 2500 men over and above the ordinary monthly reinforcement drafts —h'sv, boon m-iae successfully, and the men v. ill be in camp within a week or two. Now <v» hsvo to provide for fnturo roinfi.uvemonts drafts, but the nuirih"-- of awl required within ;: given rieri'.nl u?li j>.:tt !),-■ nearly so large as if-_h:v-. Uv..:>^ during the last few weeks. Wo Wi'.wt nuuv i-er-ruitK. W<<- want i-'vorr -i-.^ti '•j'jflljfit'd to .serve :-mk! Abie to g.> {"■ tb<% front to register his name. tf*ny t'vo-r.v/vmis of n/lditional recruit?, ivil' h- '-,v>n!vd this year. But I do not. v.-.r-' 1' ii ti !>•-> understood that I !i,-iVi' -t;,] Ur,•»!•,» :<.- ;• shortage at tho . pre?-i'vf tinvv Sn far we have done pvevvllii-.iK tn-r '.vi-> undertook to do 1 in ti!:> r'.cipfti^li of troops." '