WELLINGTON ITEMS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 1 October 1907, Page 1

WELLINGTON ITEMS.

(By a Correspondent.) ■ WELLINGTON, Saturday. ; For the past few days, including Dominion Day, Wellington has been favoured with delightful spring weather. The illumniations prepared at the Government offices for celebrating Dominion Day were repeated on Friday and Saturday evenings. The Challenger, which was also beautifully illuminated with electric light, was much admired by people in the city. During the week the following infectious diseases were reported in Wellington : — ll cases of scarlet fever, 1 of enteric, lof diphtheria, and 1 of tuberculosis. The question of slates v. \ paper waf raised at a recent meeting of the Wellington Education Boar^j. Members were divided in their opinions, and .Mr Hogg, M.H.R., remarked "there's not much difference between pads and fads. They'll soon be coming to such a pass in schools that a child won't be able to ' sneeze without someone standing by with a disinfectant." The. Trams cars took £470 on Dominion Day. The record, however, is for Easter Monday, £475. In its second annual report the Wei- i lington Automobile Club refers to the rapid progress and magnitude of the motor industry in the colony. The cold action of the Government in regard to the militia, proposals adopted by the Council of Defence has met with some adverse comment from the "Post," which states: — "No change iE needed in the principle of our law to give us a defence force worthy of the name, and very little change in its express provisions. If _a hostile squadron were signalled off Farewell Spit tomorrow, the Minister for Defence has a power, which is not deemed inconsistent with the eternal rights of non-con-script Britishers, to call out the militia. Whether they would come is at least problematical under present conditions They could not, at any j-ate, come till weeks after the enemyV'nad effected a landing, and then theyvwould come individually, brave men most of them; and as capable of making good soldiers as any in the world, but collectively, from the lack of discipline, of marks.manship, of organisation, of equipment, a. disordered and helpless rabble, no better fitted to face a regiment of trained soldiers than a mob of naked savages. Is this the pass to which the patriotic displays of Thursday last and the familiar talk about ruling the waver are to lead us to? Or are we to follow the lead of the Council of Defence when j it says that the power of calling out the militia is useless unless some precautions are taken to teach them their duties before the call comes? These are the alternatives before the people of Nev Zealand, and they must decide upor the merits without ;_payinjr any heed to idle and misleading- cackle about conscripiton.