WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15194, 14 April 1917, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE MINEBS' STRIKE. MINISTERS INTERVENE, (From Our Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON. April 13. As a result of representations madq to the Cabinet yesterday the Acting Prime Minister and the Minister <*fi Mines left for Westport last wight trt investigate the conditions pre**iU»g 0« the West Coast- It is reported hero that many of the men would wefcosa« anv reasonable excuse for retailing ten work, and if Sir James Allen and Mjp McDonald find them in that fzaine ofi mind they will place no difficulty m the way of their taking up their tools &gapv« But the Ministers are not going td trifle with the position. The qnestwsi of conscription will not be discussed. The mines hav« to be worked and ma* Government wishes them to be worked under entirely satisfactory ©anditions>3 but it will not allow the men to dio-. tate the terms. This much has been; made perfectly plain, and the attitude* of the Government has the full approval of the public. If the miners had any real grievance they l-nade *» eg**» gious blunder in associating their pm** test with a declaration against mifi~ tary service. The people of New Zealand are not going to be deterred atJ this time of day by the sophistries of a handful of wrong-headed agitator? from discharging their obvious duty tp the Empire. The whole subject wip be open for review after the war, bn| till the Germans are decisively beaten there must be no slackening in the Dq»* minion's effort.

LAND FOR SOLDIERS. Juat how far Mr G. E. Sykes, in difk cussing soldier settlement, Ls justified in saying "the people of Wairaxapa ana out to t:e© to it that holders of suitable land for subdivision are made to do tbeii? duty/' only tim« can tell; but there i« a growing feeling throughout the Nor4si Island that the Government ought to h<B displaying some of the zeal and vigilance the* member for Masterton **«» tributes to the electore of his own difi* triot. In normal times the land ques* tion is the most controversial of all the problems that divide the political parties, and Mr Sykes himself—if sooifi matters may be mentioned at such a> time a? this —owes his seat in Pariia* ment mamly to hie espousal of a policy differing widely from the one he-is nowt proclaiming. B\it politicians of all colours have had their eyes opened byf the conditions created by the war, asttFj are beginning to see that both the eaJU mtion of the returned soldier and the! salvation of the, country lie along th« road that Jeads to close settlement and) increased production. This being thjf case, the party leaders associated in thji National Cabinet ought to ha.ve no difficulty in devising a system of land eetttei ment which would be acceptable to fcha great majority of their followers andi go a long way towards satisfying' th« crying needs of the country, (

THE DOMINION'S EXPORTS. The figures concerning the exports <0 the Dominion prepared by the Qovernment Statician throw some instructive ligfot on these questions of settlement and production. The monthly returns!! showing large increases in the valees-of the exports are apt to convey a wrong impression of the country's progress in, this direction. The casual reader sees that the exports for t*-e twelve months ended February 28, 191& were nearly} two million sterling more valuable tfcaa those for the twelve months ended February 28, 1017, and his heart swells! with pride over what he conceives to bo proof of a great national expansionj But a closer examination would she** him that the expansion was in the price* not in the volume of products. The «** ports of wool, for instance, actually <fc-« clined between the two periods by 3$ million pounds, of mutton uy 14$»W carcases, of lamb by 363,000 cajrcases, ol tallow by 6000 tons, and of hotter hf 85,000 hundredweight. There may b* compensations in the case of sheep and lambs in the conserved flocks, but tha fact remains that the Dominion, with all its new land brought into cultivation and its <huge expenditure upon public works has not materially increased, its output for several years. The only feasible explanation of this unsatisfactory state of affairs is that many of the people holding land are not putting ifc to the best possible use. If the condi* tions are allowed to continue they will mean after the war stagnation.

REGULATING PRICES. The members of the Board of Trad« have returned from their northrn trip, with a. very creditable report of what has been accomplished in the way ofi regulation the prices of meat in Auckland and in some of the provincial towns. The establishment of State meat/ depots has had an appreciable effect on both wholesale and retail prices in the "Queen City/' and instead of ruining, the private butchers, has induced them to adopt better business methods. Tmj depots are supplying over 2000 customers daily, and tfeeir trade is rapidly w* creasing. The Board ,has also effectect agreements with the retail butehers m Napier, Hastings, Palwerston Worth* and Masterton, and in each of theso towns have been able to check contemplated advances in prices. Its seem to be giving general satisfaction and t#ie regulations it has issued und<pf the authority of the Minister- are evidently curbing the desire of interested parties to play fast and loose with to* intentions of the Legislature as witf done in the case of the regulations formed during the early days of thf< war. Of course, the Board cannot verse the operation of all the inextHjc able laws of economics, but it certainrji' has done something towards ensuring the community against their distortion and unfair application.