WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1718, 8 January 1920, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE COAL SHORTAGE. AN APPROACHING FAMINE,

(Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Jan. 7.

The coal shortage in Wellington has reachod an extremely acute stage—tin- stage of furtiino indeed, and therq'is no prospect of relief in view. Supplies are being doled out to dealers in five, ten and fifteen ton lots, at long and irregular intervals, and those, again, are distributed, as far as thoy will go, in quarter bug and half bag par; cols, the cartage in many, cases costing as much as the coal itself. It is safe to say that not half the homes in the city at the present time have a week's supply of fuel on hand, and that many of the other half are little better off. So' fur the gas-cooker has saved the situation in many households, but the Gas Company has let it be knownthat t.lio supply may be reduced at any timc. ; and if this should occur the house-wives' troubles would bo greatly aggravated.

GOING SLOW AND GOING SHORT, j The main cause of the trouble is, of | course, the limited supplies coming forward j from the West Coast, and the cause of the limited supplies is the "go slow" policy | adopted by the minors there. This, at any j rale, is tiie, opinion of ninety-nine out of every hundred people in Wellington, and the feeling of resentment against the men is becoming very strong. The public understands pretty well the nature of the quarrel between the miners and- their employers. and its disposition is to sympathise with the men, whose work is known to be arduous and perilous and entitled to very generous remuneration, lint the public realise there j are constitutional methods of settling the diit'ercnecs between the parties and contends there is no legitimate excuse for rnnking it a chopping block, so to speak, in this wrangle between Capital and Labour. TIIK HOUSING SCHEME. The housing problem, of which there was much talk on all sides of politics during the recent election campaign, is threatening to require much more money for its solution 'than was expected to be the ease when the ■ legislation of last session bearing on the subject was placed on the Statute Rook. This legislation provides that, the Government may spend £1,000,000 on its own housing scheme, may advance up to £250,000 a year to employers lor a similar purpose and £1.000,000 a year to local bodies. The Government already is practically committed tc the expenditure of the sum it will control itself and the local bodies have applied for amounts which taken together would absorb'another million several times over, 'the (')iristehureh City Council, to take on" instance of local enterprise, wants £200.000, ami several other bodies are eager to operate- on the same scale.