WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15128, 24 January 1917, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE ABSENT MINISTERS. RUMOURS AND REGULATIONS. (From Our Special Correspondent.) , WELLINGTON, January 22. The prospect of the meeting of the Imperial Conference not taking place till the middle of March has set in circulation a fresh crop of rumours concerning the movements of Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward. It is reported now, on what seems to be fairly good authority, that Sir Joseph will come out in advance of his colleague and that on ’ his arrival here he will assume, by virtue of his office and seniority, the position of Acting-Prime Minister. The alternative to this arrangement would be for both Ministers to attend the conference on behalf of New Zealand, exercising, of course, only one vote, and for the meeting of Parliament to be postponed to such time as their absence might make necessary. The general feeling is, however, that Sir would prefer resuming his work here to unnecessarily prolonging his stay in London, and that this division of labour and responsibility would be more in the interests of the Dominion than would dual representation at the conference. It might he a great advantage to the Minister remaining behind, indeed, to have his colleague in New Zealand conferring with the otner members of the Cabinet and. advising him as to the local developments of sentiment and opinion. SUCCESSFUL CONCILIATION. The acting-Minister of Labour was confronted last week with a much more difficult and delicate problem than the one he had' to handle in connection with the drivers’ dispute a month or two ago. An Admiralty collier had arrived here with a cargo of coal which the waterside workers, under the Impression that it had been loaded for strike-breaking purposes, refused to touch. Representations through the usual official channels having 'failed to move them from their determination, Mr Kerries decided to make a personal appeal to their good sense.' This he on Friday, addressing several hundred of the men in their own waiting room on the Queen’s Wharf, and with such admirable effect that on the following morning the coal was being poured but of the vessel with a right good will. The Minister assured the men they were mistaken as to the character of the cargo, which was required to enable the Government to keep its engagements with the Imperial authorities, and promised them an extra sixpence per hour on account of the dusty nature of the coal. The conclusion of the incident was entirely creditable to both parties, particulraly to the Minister, whose frank statement of the position appealed no less to the men’s sporting instinct than did his ready good humour to their sense of fair play. WAR AND RACING. Enquiries from a numebr of prominent sportsmen attending the Wellington Racing Club’s summer meeting have produced a' fairly representative expression of opinion from one section of the community on the propriety of racing in war time. Almost without exception they prefaced their remarks with the assurance that if the curtailment of racing or its suspension altogether would appreciably assist the Empire in its present crisis they would throw in their lot heartily with the abolitionists. But they could not see that this would tie the case. Racing itself was making very substantial contributions to the public revenue, and racing men were not among the least generous supporters of patriotic funds. As for the supply of men, sportsmen as a cleass had not been backward in volunteering, and the' Military Service Act, whether racing were continued or not, would reach every man fitted to take his place at the front. His appearance there would not be hastened a single day by throwing him out of a job. One of the gentlemen interviewed, a large North Island owner, suggested that the racing clubs should be required to furnish a return showing the amount of their payments to the Treasury and the number of owners of military age and of trainers, jockeys, and stable hands residing within their districts. From this return, he contended, the Government could decide if abolition were necessary or desirable.

NATIONAL ORGANISATION. Although Ministers decline to give any definite information on fhe subject, they do not discourage the prevalent idea that lately they have been discussing a scheme of national organisation of some kind or another. Just what is on the board it is impossible to discover. A member of the Cabinet, replying to a direction question put to him yesterday, hinted that an announcement of some consequence might be ipade in the course of a few days, but beyond this he refused to commit himself. Probably it will be found Ministers never have entertained such heroic measures as are being attributed to them by their more sanguine friends. In the absence of the party leaders tl/sir colleagues collectively are not displaying a great deal of daring fn grasping the various soc’al and industrial problems arising out of the war, and it may be doubted if Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward, judging from what the public has been permitted to learn of their attitude towards such questions as have been submitted to them, would prove much more courageous if they were on the spot. Mr W. D.S. Mac Donald, with the assistance of the Board of Trade, has succeeded in staying the upward tendency in the prices of certain commodities, but beyond this the Government has done very little to meet the exceptional, conditions by which It is confronted. , ’