WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1466, 22 February 1919, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

RAILWAY SERVANTS. WAGES AND CONDITIONS. (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, Feb. 21. A deputation from the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants waited upon llio .Minister of Railways yesterday and idaced before iiim the demands of the men for increased pay and better condition.*. _ Mr Merries was interested and sympathetic, but he gave the deputation no indication of Ins intention.-. He still has to receive a deputation from the higher officers of the Department, and after listening to the representations it has to make he will set about the preparation of the new schedule and endeavour to have it completed by the end of next month. The men still hold firmly to their detem,ination to press their demands and to resist any compromise thai would fall short of the concessions they are seeking. They have a strong body of public opinion behind them anil the active support of maliy members of Parliament. ■ifip: fourth party. In commenting upon a statement concerning thy new political party made In this column some days ago, the Dominion .-ays it will be time' enough for the party to choose a Ministry when it has secured a majority in Parliament. "Al "he same time,' 1 it adds, "both Mr Masscy and F.ir Joseph Ward are liable to lincl their hopes and aspirations somewhat rudely disturbed by the activities of the t.ew political organisation. The country, we believe, would prefer to fee a re-grouping of political forces, and it is quite within the realms of possibility that an organisation such as that which is' being formed front the ranks ol the more activo and progressive elements in the present Parliament might, capture popular sympathy and support and score a decisive win at the coining election-. - ' Evidently the best informed ot the Wellington journals does not regard the talk oi a new party as idle street cornor gossip. FRUIT AND VEGJWABLES. The exorbitant retail prices charged ill Wellington for fruit and \egetablcs constituted the grievance a deputation carried to the Minister for Internal Affairs yesterday During these late summer months when supplied ought to be abundant, consumers are paving "as high as 7d per pound for apples,';)d per pound for peaches, 6d for half a dozen small carrots, and as much as Is 3d for a shop-worn cabbage. Mr Russcl's advice to the deputation was, in effect, to stir up the municipal authorities to a better conception of their duty in matter of this kind. Under the Municipal Corporations Act the City Council had power to establish markets for the sale of foodstuffs,

and if it would exercise its power in a sane, businesslike way, it would confer an enormous benefit upon the public and upon the actual growers of fruit and vegetables and other produce. SUBURBAN TRAMWAYS.

Mr R. A. Wright, the momber for Wellington Suburbs, has approached the Minister for Railways with a suggestion that the legislation prohibiting the construction of a tramway along the Mutt road should be :e----pealed and that Petono and the rural laud beyond should be opened up for the relief of' the congested, population of the city. The Minister's inept reply to' the suggestion, published this morning, is that he can find no statutory restrictions upon tramway extension to Wellington suburbs except :n (ho ease of the Hutt load. Whether this is intended to be. simply evasive or wholly humorous the, citizens are not troubling o inquire, but Mr Hemes ;s being roundly assailed on all sides as an obstructionistrnd an enemy to progress. Feeling is running so high, indeed, that even his colleagues may hesitate to support the Minister m lis extraordinary attitude.