WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 35, 9 February 1917, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

RECRUITS WANTED. THE' RETURNING EXPLORERS. (Special to "Star.") WELLINGTON, February 7. The mobilisation of the Twenty-sixth Reinforcements was begun yesterday and will be continued during the week. Official figures regarding the strength of the various drafts as they reach the training camps are not being made available by the military authorities, but it is clear enough already that there is going to be another shortage. The attitude of the Minister for Defence and his officers in the face of the recurrent shortages is a trifle perplexing. The plain fact of the situation is that the Military Service Act is not being enforced with sufficient firmness to ensure a full supply of recruits month by month. Many hundreds of reservists, drawn in the ballot's, have gone into camp, but • they have been men who responded to. the call wtihout waiting to be "fetched." Other men have disregarded the call. They have failed to present themselves for medical examination, and in defiance of the orders of the Commandant they ! have been absent on the days of mobilisation. These men, who now rank under military law as deserters, have been left alone up to the present time. The authorities indicate that at some time in the future strong action is going to be taken, but in the meantime the shortages in the monthly drafts ot recruits are stated unofficially to be even more serious than they were in the months preceding the proclamation of the Expeditionary Force Reserve, and the initiation of the ballots. SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON. An informal meeting was held in Wei lington this morning, at the invitation of the Mayor of the city, to consider a proposal for making a presentation to Sir Ernest Shackleton after his arrival here at the end of the week. The gentle men present adopted the proposal with enthusiasm, and appointed an influential executive committee to accept contributions and make the necessary arrangements. The conveners of the meeting felt that the people of Wellington, and, indeed, of New Zealand, ought to recognise, even in war time, the fine courage and perseverance displayed by Sir Ernest Shackleton during the last two years in the face of almost overwhelming difficulties and dangers. It will be remembered that the expedition had actually made a start before the declaration of war on August 4, 1914, and when Sir Ernest offered to abandon his plan for further exploration in the Antarctic continent, and place himself and his men at the disposal of the Admiralty, the Imperial authorities told him to proceed southward. King George personally expressed a wish that the war should not be allowed to interfere with the work of the expedition, and so the Endurance and the Aurora proceeded on their ways. The loss of tbe Endurance in the Weddell Sea, the crippling of the Aurora in the Ross Sea, and the efforts of the leader of the expedition in the rescue of his men from their perilous situations, are familiar history now. Sir Ernest is not the man to complain in the face of misfortunes, but it <s obvious to everybody that his losses iv the struggle with the grim forces of the frozen South have been very heavy, and the people of Wellington are to be given an opportunity to express their sympathy and their appreciation in a tangible" way. Whatever is to be done must be done quickly, but doubtless the Mayor of Wellington will be glad to hear, not later than Saturday, from sympathisers in other centres. WHEAT AND FLOUR. Complaints regarding the proclamation fixing tiie price the Government will pay for wheat and the maximum prices of flour, bran and pollard were to be expected. Somebody would have been dissatisfied with any price that the Government could have selected. The points emphasised by the members of the Board of Trade as bearing upon some of the criticism already published, include:— (1) That the price of wheat had to be high enough to induce farmers to grow wheat at a time when the high prices of other products offered special inducements in other directions. (2) That the price fixed for flour was a maximum and need not interfere with sales if millers were able to quote lower, rates. (3) That the maximum price fixed for flour would not involve any increase in the price of bread. The Government has now reimpesed the duty of £1 per ton on flour. Tho price of Australian wheat for export is 5/6 per bushel, and with duty and freight added the cost to the importer will be greater than the local price. The price of bread has not been made the subject of any regulation up to the present time, and there is reason to believe that the Board of Trade does not propose to interfere with the bakers so long as they leave retail prices at the present level. The Board contends that with flour at £15 per ton the price of bread should not be more than !)">d per loaf delivered in the wheat-producing districts, and a proportionately higher rate in the North Island. WELLINGTON'S MILK. Wellington housewives pay 5d per quart, or 1/S per gallon, for what probably is the worst milk sold in New Zealand. Some morning 3 they do not get any milk at all, or perhaps they receive meagre pints in place of the anticipated quarts. Most of the milk, moreover, is more than 24 hours old, and some of it is 48 hours old, before it reaches the consumers.. All thie is veryi unpleasant, but the dairy farmer, speaking through the Wellington Dairymen's. Association, refuses to take any share of the blame. He says that he receives no more than 9J>d per gallon for the trtlk on truck at country stations, and he insists that the vendors, who pay 10Jd per gallon for the milk, the City Council and, by inference, the citizens generally, are to blame for the troubles of the consumer. Recently the Board of Trade checked a threatened increase in the wholesale price to ll_d per gallon by fixing the maximum price at IOJd. The dairymen have replied with figures intended to show that if they cannot get more than IOAd per gallon for their milk in the city, equivalent to Did on the trucks, they can secure a better return by dealing with the cheese factories. If the Wellington municipal authorities do not take this matter in hand intelligently the dairymen may carry their implied threat into execution.