The Waipawa Mail. SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1919. CURRENT TOPICS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8200, 28 June 1919, Page 2

The Waipawa Mail. SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1919. CURRENT TOPICS.

Soldiers and Politics.

The very emphatic statement made by Dr. Boxer at Thursday night’s meeting of returned soldiers at Waipawa concerning the attitude of the Returned Soldiers’ Association in regard to its political platform should clear the air considerably on this debatable question. There was a general feeling that the forces were being organised with the object of direct political action, and that the returned soldiers would be called upon to vote solidly at the General Election for the candidates adopting the Association ’s platform. But, as Dr. Boxer very tersely put it, it would be unreasonable to expect the members of sueh a cosmopolitan body as the Returned Soldiers’ Association to hold the same political views, and the introduction of politics into the general policy woudl lead to disintegration. The Association will stand a much greater chance of achieving its aims by its executive keeping in close touch with Ministers than by direct action at the polls. A Weak Link. In the matter of the representation of small branches at conferences of the Association Dr. Boxer’s explanation was hardly so satisfactory. The position is anomalous. By the vote of the conference recently held at Christchurch it was resolved that in future only new branches witli a financial" membership of one hundred be allowed to send a representative. This means that while the branches which had already affiliated, no matter what their membership, are entitled to representation, districts which failed to reach the minimum are disfranchised. It should be the policy of the Association to encourage the formation of branches all over the Dominion, to keep the men together, and if the branches desire to express their views through a delegate to the annual conferences by all means let them do so. The position brought about by the Christchurch conference looks more like an attempt to stifle criticism than to encourage it, and the sooner the Association’s policy is democratised in this respect the more popular it will become.

The Coal Crisis. . If anything were needed to bring home to the public a realisation of the seriousness of the coal crisis it is furnished by the drastic “ cut ” which the Railway Department proposes to make in the train services commencing on, Wednesday next. It puts the clock back a quarter of a century. The new time-table has been framed witli the object of discouraging travelling as much as possible, and every train will stop at every station. How long, we should like to know, will the public be prepared to sit quietly under this condition of affairs. The position has reached such an acute stage that it surely warrants the calling of a special session of Parliament. The Government have proved themselves absolutely unequal to the task of bringing about a settlement, and in the absence of Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward on holiday tour are apparently afraid to move in the matter. The shortage of coal may be acute and the curtailment of the railway service may be warranted, but it really suggests a desire on the part of a week-kneed Government to arouse a storm of protest from the people and force action which will bring about the termination of a very serious struggle.