WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 30 November 1916, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS

MILITARY SERVICI*' 1 *' VOLUNTEERS AND COMPULSION. ' (Fro,ii uur Own Ci'..,<sspondcnt). Wellington. Nov. 27. The smallnest of the number ot' "starred'' names appearing in the list of men drawn in the first ballot# under the Military Service Act is now explained. The Defence -Department found it impossible to trace every man in the Reserve who had offered his services under the voluntary system and been rejected, but it announced, thrcugh the newspapers that anyone in this position by submitting the required evidence to the proper authority woiud have his name marked with a ''star" if it should happen to be drawn in the first or any subsequent ballot. As it was estimated that at least a third o\' the men in the Reserve had volunteered and failed to pass the medical examination it was expected a large number would safeguard themselves in this TV ay against the possibility being regarded as , "shirkers," but ,as, a matter of fact only a few, comparatively, took this precaution. The .result is that several hundred men who ■ have been ea?cr to get ntvay are now nndistinguishable' except by their intimate friends from thos< who have not seen their duty so clearly.

A HARDER CASE. But the case of the volunteer whose name appears in the list without any mark to indicate his readiness for service is scarcely so hard aa that of the fourth son of a widowed mother residing in Wellington. One son has given his life to the Empire, another has served with great distinction since the beginning of the war and a third is on his way to the front. .Vow the fourth son, who by agreement with his brothers restrained his military ardor in order that they might get away, has been called up for service undc-r the compulsory clauses of the Act. Of course, he will be exempted by the Military' Service Board, but it is a' pity there was no provision for the recognition at an earlier stage of the sacrifices made by his family. However, the case illustrates the soundness of Mr. Allen's contention that no discrimination must be made between reeruitf on account of the svstem under which they join the Forces. It may be in the knapsack of some joimir man who has taken up arms reluctantly that the baton of the first Xew Zealand fiekl-marshail is now reposing.

THE DRIVERS' DISPUTE Fiiither pronedings in the drivers dispute lmve been suspended till after a conference between representatives of the partie under the presidency of the Actina; Minister ot Labor which is to take place to-morrow. Tn the meantime the local drivers' union is receiving expressions of'sympathy and promises of support from labor unions all over the country, but it evidently is determined not to' in* put in the wronir by any precipitate action. The sub-committee set up to supervise the strike ballot unvested that' the announcement of the result should be delayed "pending ihe decisions of the conference" and tlmt "the best interests of the men will be pained by the exercise of a spirit of conciliation." and its suggestions were unanimously adopted yesterday by a largo meeting of members of the union. This is interpreted to mean that the men will not proceed to extreme measures except as i very last resort, and that they will continue to makv every effort to keep public opinion or. their sale.

BACKWARD WELLINGTON The mild spasms of reforming wol occasionally displayed by sections of tiicgood people of Wellington are of more than local interest, because the political capital is often accepted by visitors as the measure of social progress and municipal achievement throughout- the Dominion. The current spasm concerns the building by-laws, which seem to have been framed with the object of permitting a maximum of building on a minimum of space. The residents of Hataitai, one of Wellington's most attractive suburbs, are piotesting against dwellings being erected on sections having only ■?oft frontage and are warning the Greater Wellington Municipal Electors' Association that this is the way that leads to such slums as already disfigure the lieaVt of the city. The Mayor has been seen about, the matter, but so far he has given the suburban residents little comfort. The war, lie would have them believe, is the main cause of the trouble While Parliament is busy with other things it cannot look after "the landspeculator and the jerry-builder.'' But Parliament had been in existence for over sivty years before the war began and in that'time the other cities appear to have got what legislation they required to prevent the growth of slums. The truth is, of course, that Wellington has shamefully neglected itself municipally for years and has become so siccustomed to its crowded tenements and its other defects that it dc« not recognise them as defects at all.