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Otago Daily Times, Issue 17319, 20 May 1918, Page 4

The resolution which the Otago Labour Council has passed, -wishing success to Mr Holland in his candidature for the Grey seat, is what might have been expected from that body. There can be no doubt that the resolution will be quoted in the Grey constituency as an expression of the feeling of the working classes in this district. The non-representative character of the Otago Labour Council may not be realised by th e workers on the West Coast, and we may be sure that it will be carefully concealed from them by those who will make it their business to utiiise the resolution for electioneering purposes. The working people in Dunedin know the value that is placed on any resolution of the Labour Council. They know that that body has been captured for the time beinrr by persons who have done their utmost to prevent the dominion from rendering in the most effective way possible the assistance which it is capable of giving to the Mother Country in the conflict with the most undemocratic nation in Europe, with the country that is, par excellence, the embodiment of the system of military despotism that is regarded by the work - mg classes throughout the world as the greatest obstacle to the development of industrial freedom. It involves no exaggeration to say that the Otago Trades Council, as at present constituted, .and allied as it is at present to the New Zealand Labour Party, which is the creation in part of men who may not unfairly be described as anti-British in their opinions with reference to the war, does not possess the confidence of the working people of OtaEro in the mass. The judgment of the industrial classes as a whole with regard to the war is, fortunately, entirely sound. It is realised by them that it is essential that Germany should be defeated in order that, as President Wilson says, the world may be made safe for democracy, and that, in order that Germany may be defeated' it io necessary that gigantic sacrifices must he made by th e nations to which Germany is opposed. It is also realised by them that it would be futile to imagine that the military might of Germany could be successfully opposed without the enforcement of military service on the eligible manhood of the allied nations. To cripple tho fightingr arm of the Allies by resistance to the principle of compulsory service, in accordance with tho views of Mr Holland, the New Zealand Labour Party, and the Otago Labour Council, would therefore be to help Germany ill the war and to contribute to a victory by her.

It was remarked by Sir Robert Anderson, chairman of the Defence Expenditure Commission, at one of the concluding sittings of the Commission in public, that New Zealand was the only country of which he knew that had passed through the war period without some frauds having been discovered in connection with military organisation. The compliment bestowed by Sir Robert Anderson upon the dominion was rather greater than was called for, sinco there have been two or three cases in which tho prosecution of contractors for supplies for not complying with the conditions of their contracts has been necessary. On the whole, however, the experience of New Zealand has been favourable—singularly favourable, indeed, in comparison with that of other countries—and it is a distinct matter for satisfaction that, while there has been unquestionable waste, there has been no recorded instance of the practice of conniption or fraud 01 c\ en of culpable negligence 011 the part of any official who has been brought into relation with the contractors. Great Britain has unfortunately had to pay dearly both through the imposition of extortionate charges by some of the war contractors and through the ne«lect of officials to prevent the victimisation of the nation. A recent report on the finance of the Ministry of Munitions has disclosed flagrant examples of the manufacturer practising the most naked extortion upon the public purse at a time when heavy taxation mokes it difficult •for many people to make both ends meet, hile the public ofheial—the supposoc 1 watch-dog of the national interests has been either too indifferent or too incompetent to frustrate the robbery. The case is reported of a contract for £7,750,000 upon which the vendors were finally' persuaded to be content with £5,750,000—a figure which, it may be taken for granted, left them a satisfactory profit. Another case is that of £20 being charged for articles which cost only £15 to make • and a third is that of a firm, recording (except for depreciation) a return of 340 per cent, on its capital. Ls it surprising, asks tho Pall Mall Gazette, that workmen should go on strike for one increase after another when they know how employers aro helping themselves with both hands out of the public purse?

The claims that are arising out of tho war must be a cause of considerable anxiety to the directors of life assurance societies. Fortunately the finance of most of these societies has been established on a basis of stability such, as protects it from the

danger ci serious peiiranont disorganisation. A large proportion of the claims which the Australian Mutual Provident Society had to meet last year were the direct outcome of the war. The total claims in tho ordinary department of this sr>cicty amounted to £2,092,351. Of thus total as much as £945,507 was represented by war claims, with the result that for the first time in the society's history the total dea,th claihns experienced exceeded tho amount provided for by the tabic used in estimating its liabilities, and that the largest source of surplus was thus temporarily cut off. Another war charge which has fallen somewhat heavily upon tlie A.M.P. Society consists in tho increase in the payments on account of taxes. These have risen from £36,305 for 1913 to £109,534 for 1917. In all the circumstances it is a highly creditable achievement on tho part of the society that, after having placed £120,000 in Teservo for contingencies, it is able to appropriate £554,553 upon the operations of the vear for division among the policy-holders. The figures which were presented at the annual meeting, a few weeks ago, of the Prudential Assurance Company, the principal life assurance institution in the United Kingdom—one that is not conducted wholly on tho mutual principle but is what might be described as a commercial life insurance company—showed that the total payments to policy-holders last year exceeded £9,700,000, or more than £31,000 for each working day. The war claims for the year were exceedingly heavy, and fell mainly on the industrial branch. The amount paid was £1,507,625 on 70,488 claims, of which 65,665 were in the industrial branch, representing claims of £1,109,240, and 4823 were in the ordinary branch, representing claims of £398,385. The total war claims paid up to the end of last year were £3,456,200. It was estimated in August, 1914, that the claims which would have to lie met in consequence of the war might amount to £2,000,000. It will be seen, therefore, that the experience of the Prudential Assurance Company is much more unfavourable than it was anticipated it would be. The company is exceedingly strong, but we note in the speech of the chairman at the annual meeting a suggestion that the Treasury should make good to the life assurance offices the ascertained extra strain arising through the war.