WELLINGTON NOTES

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16500, 30 July 1919, Page 2

WELLINGTON NOTES

THE MORATORIUM. AND THE END OF THE WAR. BV TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT. WELLINGTON, July 30. The publication of the Gazette notice extending the moratorium to August 31, if tho war should end before that date, and the Attorney-General's explanation of the necessity for this have reminded some people that tho war is not yet legally at -an end. The position has been carefully provided for in last session’s war legislation and the Statute Law Amendment Act. Section 24, referring to the “termination of the war,” defines the war as the war with Germany, and the termination is to be from a date to be named, by the Governor-General in a proclamation, That proclamation has not been issued yet, and presumably . it will not be until New Zealand receives formal and official advice through tho regular channels that the Peace Treaty has been regularly. ratified. That will mean the termination of the war so far as such termination of the war is referred to in legislation or in court proceedings, but it will by no means settle all questions arising from the war; for example, the status of nationals of other enemy races than Germany cannot well be determined until the treaties ’ with Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria are in order too. Even then New Zealand action is bound to be affected by the course taken by Great Britain, for this Dominion cannot take upon itself the responsibility of settling whether the -former enemy subjects now included in one of the new States are Jo be treated as enemy aliens, neutrals or allies. WAR GRATUITIES. The promised announcement respecting war gratuities is still awaited. Sir James Allen, when the question was placed before him to-day, said it bad been decided to defer the final decision until the return of the leaders of the Government. THE COAL SHORTAGE. It was hoped that the end of July might see an improvement in the railway service. There are now various factors which promise an alleviation of the present hardships, but, in the meantime, these are discounted by other happenings. For example, the Prinzessin lyis about 3000 tons of coal, but stoppages of work on the waterfront have delayed her unloading. There were two peace days, a stop-work meeting, and a wet day. Then again, as the Hon. A. M. Blyers points out, the Waitomo is available for carrying coal, but the seamen will not take her to Australia. If reports of the end of the Australian strike prove to be correct, considerable relief will be afforded. There will also be some improvement from the diversion of tonnage from the passenger to the goods service. If expectations are realised a fairly considerable quantity of goods should be provided for in. this way. Help for the timber industry will probably be given in a week or two.