WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 11, 12 January 1918, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

A MUNICIPAL ENTERPRISE. BREAKS DOWN. (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, January 11. After years of preparatory discussion and months of deliberate preparation, the milk-distributing scheme conceived and organised by the Wellington City Council broke down hopelessly after a few hours' trial on Wednesday, and yesterday was "temporarily suspended" by the Mayor with the approval ■of the Health Committee. The case of the Council cannot he compared with that of the unwise man of the parable who 'built a house without counting the cost. The Mayor and his councillors have been counting the cost of the clearing station and its equipment for half a decade, and quite probably their desire to make this as low as possible is the cause of the whole trouble. Anyway, the scheme would not work. The milk suppliers were not sympathetic. Tlie railway authorities were dilatory, and the consumers were sceptical. The net result was a delay of many hours in the delivery, and the practical abandonment of the scheme. The clearing station remains as another monument to the ineptitude of the municipal management of the capital city. WELLINGTON NORTH. It is reported now that the delay in the Hon. A. L. Herdman's resignation of his seat in Parliament is due to Sir John Denniston's retirement from the Supreme Court Bench being postponed for a few weeks. This is scarcely correct, or, at any rate, it is not the whole truth, there being other reasons why Mr. Herdman is not making the contemplated change just now; but the delay will not be unacceptable to the Prime Minister, who has not yet suceeded.in persuading his political friends in Wellington North that Mr. J. P. Luke is just the man that should step into the AttorneyGeneral's vacated 6hoes. The Reformers in the constitutency have been diligently searching for another candidate, and there is some talk of Mr. A. E. Whyte, the secretary of the Wellington Racing Club, a son of an old-time member of the Legislative Council, contesting the seat. Mr. Whyte himself, however, is not looking favourably upon the proposition, and it is likely' his friends will have to go further afield. THE RAILWAYS. The publication this morning of Sir Joseph Ward's statement of the public revenue and expenditure for' the nine months ended on December 31 laft has directed renewed attention to the declining earnings of the railways. The Minister of Finance, of course, "makes no comment upon the matter, but it is an open secret that some of his colleagues —perhaps not so discreet as Sir Joseph always is—nave no sympathy with the present policy of the Railway Department. So far as the public can see there is no lack of workers to prevent the lines being run up to their full earning capacity, and there certainly is no lack of rolling stock. The layman's opinion may not be of much value, but it is more and more inclining to the view that the public finances are suffering through the persistent obstinacy of high officials.

FARM LABOUR. The departure of a number of harvesters for the South Island has been followed by reports from the country districts of an acute shortage in the supply of farm labour. Harvesters in the grain»growing districts of the North Island are said to be demanding 2/0 an hour, an advance of 1/ an hour upon the rate prevailing last season, and, apparently, the farmers are helpless in the matter. The Government underv took, when it was urging the farmers to sow more wheat this year, to see that the necessary labour was available for gathering the crops; but it seem 3to have taken no authority to regulate the rate of wages, and 'the guaranteed prices may be very seriously discounted in this direction. There is little suitable farm labour left in Wellington, and consequently no prospect of the growers obtaining relief by drafts upon this source.