WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15192, 12 April 1917, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

EASTER TRAFFIC. (From Our Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, April 11. Holiday-makers are returning to town with anything but flattering accounts of the Railway Department's arrangements for the Easter traffic." It would seem from some of their stories that the management had deliberately provided the worst possible service this year in order that the public might be the more readily reconciled to the withdrawal of suburban services and the discontinuance of holiday fares In many eases the ordinary traffic was wnspended to make room for excursion trains which ran to the wrong places or at the wrong times and were only half filled. In other ca-ses the excursion trains simply ran in competition with the ordinary trains and merely donbled the cost of carrying an indefinite number of people to a certain number of places. The time-table* insisted upon long delays at some stations, without any regard to their importance, and upon running through others without any stop at all. Probably the official explanation of all this, if the facts •were admitted, would be that the railway staff had been depleted by the. demands of the war ; but as a matter of fact many fewer hands would have been required for an efficient holiday service than for the very inefficient one that was provided.

MEN AND PRODUCE. The iterated and reiterated insistence of the Minister of Defence upon the supply of men boinsf of rv.crc consequence than the production of foodstuffs at the present stage rf the war is being discussed with sonic warmth in the rural districts. There is no suggestion from sane people anywhere, of course, that the strength of iie Reinforcements being .sent to the 'front should be lessened. On this point the farmers to a man are with Fir -Tames Allen. But they argue that the production of food and clothing for ourselves and for the Mother Country and her Allies shuld be made n.n essential industry and that a sufficient, number of men should be exempted from mili>tarv service to keep it running at its fullest capacity. This, they protest, is not, a, }>lea on their behalf. They would be ready to submit to any reasonable scheme of reorganisation which asked from them 110 greater sacrifices than wore demanded from the rest of the community. A farmer should not be excused because he had been employed about a farm ; but, because ho was the person best qualified to give the country the particular service it required at home.

THE DEMOCRATIC FAf?MER. The farmers who are propounding tiiose very admirable sentiments claim to be much more democratic I«han the Ministers who are administering the Military Service Act, or the irresponsible Socialists who are denouncing that measure. The fault they find with conscription is not that it compels men to serve whether tiiey like it or not, buti that it does not sufficiently discriminate in regard to the services they shall render, jt tries to manufacture soldiers out of men who are utterly unfitted for a military career, but who would make excellent farm workers or stockmen o.v dairy hands. "What wp waot in times like these," to quote the words of a Manawatu farmer, wiio has two sons at; the front, "is every man in his right place, doing the iob for which he is best fitted and doing it with all I*in might." Perhaps in due course the Efficiency Board mav lead t»he country some way towards this very desirable goal, but it would be too much to expect a Government dependent for its very existence upon the goodwill of so many diverse elements to make such an heroic venture .in national organisation on its own initiative.

TAkATION. The Acting-Minister of Finance has made it quite clear that an over-flowing Treasury is not going to save the conntry from further taxation, and his candour ha.s encouraged many speculations as to t4ie direction in which Sir Joseph Ward will look for his additional revenue. That Ihere will he no increase in Customs duties on what are popularly regarded as the necessaries of life may be taken for granted in view of the present high coat of living, lint it is pretty certain there will be another turn of the screw in connection with bot-h the income tax and the land tax. It is being urged in some quarters that the exemption should be lowered in both cases, and though this would produce a comparatively small amount, there is a growing feeling in favour of petting at the unmarried men wjKiout dependents who arc earning £2OO or ,£3OO a year. The feature of the Budget, however, is likely to be a very substantial increase in the taxation upon large Incomes and upon large estates. The Minister will require to get at least ,£750,000 a year to meet the charges on the new war debt, and there is litt'e doubt the great bulk of Phis sum will be obtained from those fortunate people who can spare a few pounds a week without any personal inconvenience.