WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 December 1917, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

OVERHAULING THE DEFENCE EXPENDITURE • (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, Dec. 11. According to a Press Association message from Xhmcdin, the Defence Expenditure Commission is to consist of Mr. Justice Stringer, Mr. Peter Barr (Dunedin) and Mr. Charles Rhodes (Auckland). This would be a strong team, and if given time and a sufficiently wide order of reference the commission ought to be able to satisfy public opinion regarding the possibility of economics in the Defence Department. The names have not yet been announced officially, and h is understood that the delay in this respect is due to difficulties with regard to the order of reference, which is being drafted by the Attorney-General. If the range of the commission is restricted, the people who have been demanding inquiry will not be satisfied. One gathers that the Defence Department, adopting the traditional military attitude, does not court investigation from outside. Some of its higher officers are, to put it mildly, Tather intolerant of civilian opinion. MILITARY PRISONERS. The new Minister for Justice, the Hon. T. M .Wilford, stated to-day that he is handing over the Wanganui gaol to the Defence Department for the accommodation of military prisoners. These will include objectors and slackers who have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment for refusal to obey orders in the training camps. The men will be drafted out to the prison camps, but it is necessary that they should be confined for some ].art of their sentences in a prison and the authorities wish to keep them apart from ordinary prisoners. The use of a distinct prison will simplify matters a j great deal. HARVEST LABOR. | The problem, of labor for the coining harvest is receiving the attention of the Executive of the New Zealand Farmers' Union at the present time. The Union is working in conjunction with the Labor Department and the National Efficiency Board with the object of ascertaining what labor is likely to be available in the various districts daring the harvest season and what the requirements of the farmers will be. The district unions have been asked to furnish reports on these points after inquiry among their members. There seems to be no doubt that there will be a shortage of harvest labor, but it is not easy to ascertain just how acute the trouble will be. The resources of the country districts have proved during the war to 'be more elastic than was anticipated. Co-operation among the farmers and the fuller use of the available labor, male and female, effected" a great deal last year, and similar measures will be adopted this season. A great deal depends, naturally, on the season, since the difficulty will be accentuated if the crops come ill with a rush. The proposal to use schoolboy labor under central direction is not being pressed. The boys can do a great deal of useful work o« the farms of their relatives or friends, hut there are' difficulties about sending them among strangers. Lads who wish to undertake harvesting work arc not likely to have much difficulty in finding places where ithey will be welcomed, and they can, make their offers in the first instance ■to the Labor Department or to the district efficiency committees. |