WELLINGTON NOTES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 8271, 16 October 1915, Page 2

WELLINGTON NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) > WELLJIVUIOiS, October il. Details are not available rcgaitluig cho Da-ten or sick and we untied -Now Zealanders due u> rea-cii I'orx, L'naiaiers in the transports' .vviuochra and loiua in about .10 days' tiino. Iha mcv aro going to t>y uisemoared at x'oib Chai-,

iiiors because the vessels are required to relit thoro in preparation i'cr a recum voyage with uio iiiigiifch. iiein--1 force-ments. Compliance with the Army Council's request for tiie acceleration of tiie drafts for the front lias made new demands upon the transport arrangements, and every day has to be cdunted if the men are to got away promptly on the now dates. Alany of the invalided soldiers will como north in another steamer on their way to the convalescent camps, at Jtianmer and Rotorua.

The close of the session has cleared the capital city, of tho politicians. The 12 members of the iNat-ional Cabinet are still here ,but some of them will be travelling shortly. ■ One gathers an impression'in making a round of iha Ministerial offices that some of the. Ministers are finding rather more leisure than they want. The Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of Defence are very busy men, and there are othor members of the Cabinet who^ have their hands fairly full. But "apparently there is not enough work available to keep .12 Ministers, fully employed at the present time. The activities of many of the Departments have boon curtailed on account of the war, and naturally no Minister whose work is not connected in some way with the vital issue of the hour caa-es to make any move invo-lv-ing increased expenditure.

Applications for the Public Works loan will be invited on Monday next, October 18, and will close on November 1, a fortnight later. The Minister of Finance (Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph 'Ward) stated, this afternoon that all the indications went to suggest a highly successful flotation.-- Enquiries re-: garding the loan had been coming from all parts of the country,* and he had heard of many intending investors, some of them proposing to place large sums with the Government. There seems to be an impression in some quarters that this is a war loan, but that is not the case. The War Loan of £10,000,000 is being raised in instalments as required through the Imperial Government. Tho local loan is for public works purposes. The Defence Minister never admits that he has been in error, but the Records Branch has accepted the services of a number of volunteer workers in connection with a scheme of reorganisation that may or may not ha.ye some relation to the complaints that were uttered by members of Parliaiment during the session. The Records Office has made a great many blunders and tho fact seems to be that it has not grown as rapidly as its -work. When the first body of troops left New Zealand nobody imagined that the casualties would have to bo ooimtod in thousands and that tho monthly talc of recruits would mount to 4000 or so. Consequently we have incidents like the delivery of a dead soldier's effects to his mother before his donth has been notified, and the calling -up at 24 hours' notice of a business man who had stinnia-Rrl on bis registration'form for a month, in which to make his arrangements.