WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue 13047, 10 January 1917, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

NATIONAL SKI!VICE. WORK AND WAR. (Special to the Oauiaru Mail.,) Wellington, January S. People here who have been urging lor months past—some of them from the very beginning of the war—the mobilisation of the whole strength of the Dominion—men, women and wealth —in support of the Empire in its struggle for existence, have taken heart of grace from Mr Lloyd George's attitude towards national service, and are now pressing their views upon the Acting Prime Minister and his colleagues in the National Cabinet. Mr Allen is not unsympathetic. lie admitted to an interviewer the oilier day that "a gtear- deal more ought to lu> done to get the best- out of our own people," hut lie suggested that a levy en masse was too big a problem "to face in 'the absence of the Prime Minister and Sir Joseph Ward in London." A preliminary step towards the institution of national service would he a session of Parliament, and it is believed there is a tacit, understanding between Ministers that members will not- bo called together. during the absence of the partv leaders. A MATTER OF URGENCY.

The feeling that this is a matter of urgency which should not- bo delayed until the return of Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward is growing anil extending, and even the .Post, \ which usually takes some, time to assimilate

revolutionary ideas, ventures to observe that a "suspension of high policy because of the absenco of-the two leaders is a. disadvantage to which, there should be limits." It is pointed out, too, that the extension of the two leaders'" visit to the. Old Country by a couple <i' months or more has very materially altered the position and that waiting for their return will mean deferring effective action -by Now Zealarfd till the middle, of our own whiter, when the campaign by which the Allies hope to end the war will be in full swing and

the Dominion's ability to help in the •supreme effort will bo at its lowest ebb. That the Ministers on the spot recognise the need for better and further organisation may be gathered from their public utterances. Mr Allen has mentioned the matter again and. again, Dr. M'Nab lias urged it on many occasions, Mr Myers has found the need for closer cooperation in the munitions and. supplies departments, and Mr Maedonald, as acting-Minister of Industries and Commerce, has given practical expression to the idea in a. score of ways. PR ACTICAL EFFORT.

The.operations. Mr Mac Donald is carrying on in connection with wool and meat and butter and the negotiations he has in hand in regard to wheat and flour are in some sense an application of the principle of national mobilisation, but they touch only the fringe elf the subject and apparently the Cabinet is prepared to go further than this without waiting for the mandate of Parliament. Speaking at Gisborne a week or so back, Mr Mac Donald said Ministers had discussed the organisation of agricultural labor and were going to ask the. several State departments concerned and the farmers' unions to assist in forming a scheme to ensure the best 'results to the producers and, adequate wages for the workers. A Wanganui citizen, again, has s-nggested. that all the racecourses in the Dominion should be put down in wheat this year with a view to augmenting the country's supplies of foodstuffs at a very small cost. But these can be only spasmodic efforts, leading to nowhere in particular, unless they are taken up as part of a .national movement- and carried through in the most efficient way possible. ■ COST OF LIVING. A little knowledge is proverbially a dangerous thing, ana it seems a great deal of statistics might bo included in the same category. The -Evening Post has been examining the Monthly Abstract issued by the Government Statistician, and has discovered some dreadful facts concerning the differences in prices of various commodities in the chief, centres of population. "It' is amazing, except to those, in the. trade," it says, "why groceries should be 7 per cent, dearer in "Wellington than in Christchurch and why Uunediii should obtain its groceries 1 per cent, cheaper than Auckland. Dairy produce foodstuffs," it continues, "have risen by 8.11 per cent, in Tnihnpo and 9.36 per cent, in Gore, while in Wan-

ganui and Palmerston North they have advanced 24.36' and 26.14 per cent, respectively." All this, of course, is very startling stated i in bald figures, but the truth is the large percentage increases have taken place in centres where prices were comparatively low before the war. The Post should have looked at another table in the Abstract' which would have .mado the position clear. 1 RELATIVE PRICES.

Just before the outbreak of war the cost in Auckland of what are known as the three food groups—grpr.onos, dairy produce, and' meat—was represented by the, index figure *IO9O, in Wellington by the figure 1082, in Christchurch by 1049, and in Dunedin by 1042. At the end of November last the figures had risen to 1322, 1309, 1303, and 1281 respectively, but the percentage increases in the northern cities, owing to the high prices prevailing there before the war. were substantially lower than those in the southern cities, the actual figures being Auckland 21.28, Wellington 20.G7, Christchurch 24.21. and Dunedin 22.94. Expressed in another way the quantity of commodities that could be obtained l'nr 20s before the war now cost in Auckland 20s Ojd. in Wellington 26s OJd, in Christchunji 24s ll<d> and in Dunedin 24s 9Jd. As for Wanganui and Palmerston, they seem to lend themselves to special criticism on account of the prices they were charging before the war. Their index numbers then were 1030 and 990 respectively, the two lowest on the whole list. Their soiling prices now, taking the three groups together, are. appreciably lower than those of Auckland and Wellington, and substantially lower than those of Taihapc and Gore.