NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 252, 19 July 1920, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

*- It must !)0 somewhat depressing to members of Parliament' to find that in all Now Zealand there are only 117 persons who valuo "Hangard" sufficiently to pay for it. The Government Printer in his annual report tells us that these 117 subscriptions yield t.ho' princely sum of -828 15s. It would be interesting to have the figures on the other side showing tho expenditure on the preparation, printing,, and distribution of the unabridged eloquent of Parliament. Tho total must bo considerable, and the question is whether it iB worth while. Tho United States is talking of suspending its "Congressional Eecord" because of the shortage of papor. Britain throughout its history has managed to get along satisfactorily with official Parliamentary reports which merely givo summaries of private members' speeches. A chief uso of our extended reports of members' speeches has been to provido ammunition for demonstrating that the opinions of Mr. Poter Robinson, M.P., to-day aro

diametrically opposed to those expressed by Tiim ton years ogo. The pul>lic would survive the loss of this line of argument with equanimity. Of course, wo must consider tho'7ooo odd persona who hove their "Hansards" posted to them free by the local members. It would not bo wide of the mark to say that 90 per cent, of them would find "Hansard" a more acceptable and useful gift if it camo clean and white without the disfigurement of printer's ink. •

Wellington citizens must face tho possibility of being deprived of the use of tlie wharves as a waterfront promenade. This is a matter which, is to como up at the Harbour Board's inquiry into the best means of checking the prevalent cargo pillaging. One proposal is that tie gate system be adopted so that only persons who have business on the wharves are admitted to them and all will come under scrutiny on admission and departure. This is the' Custom at many docks abroad in large seaports. It means inconvenience and reatriction, but

the extent of systematic robbery of cargo now going on throughout tho worTd is so great that draatic steps would be justified to check .it so-far as it is taking placo locally. ,The evidence indicates that thieving operations aro being carried on on ,a wholesale, scale, and with the connivance of numbers of people, at some point in transmission. A search of every person leaving the wharves would catch only the petty thieves. These gentry might be ttfsoouraged if acceas to and egres? from

the wharves were confined to a few points with officials stationed at each whose duty it would' bo to call upon •portions leaving with packages to acoount for them and if necessary to open and examine the packages. An essential to au effective campaign, however, la the more gevero punishment of thieves caught red-handed.

An Auckland oouit case provides the moral that if there is a. place where an appearance of affluence beyond one's means oan result in financial tragedy it is the doctor's consulting room. An Auckland resident, possessing no property in this world beyond a horse and cart, fell ill one day and went to a medical man, A slight operation was performed and o fee of one guinea requested. As the man had no more than hall a guinea in hid pocket tho fee. was roduccd to this sum. Three days Inter he waa' admitted by the saiae doctor to a privato hospital, whioa l'o was told ■would cost him four guineas a week. He waa there to undergo an operation, but waa not told what it would coat. He I v,aa in the hospital iive weeks, and each week his wife come and paid the hospital bill. Aftor his discharge the doctor presented him with a bill for £7i lus., including a fee of -850 for a major operation, which, it was alleged, »avod the patient's life. The doctor, in suing for his bill, said that the man was told that

treatment in a private hospital would cost "quite a lot of money/' but had deolared that he preferred it to going to a public hospital. Medical fees, it was explained, wero regulated to some extent by the patient's ability to pay, and his standing in life. Another doctor called in evidenoe stated that a man with

limited means ought to inquire in advance what the fees would be. The Magistrate, however, considered tho doctor to blame in not placing the financial side of the contract before tho patient, and reduoed the bill to £i 0 10s. —presumably taking into aefcount the defendant's financial position. * * * *

Australia's efforts to free herself - of I the handicaps of her diverse railway gauges are still dogged by unsuccess.-The three gauges make through railway traffic impossible, and tho growth of the different systems makes tho cost of unification greater with each year's delay. This morning we are told a deadlock has occurred at the Premiers' Conference on tho subject. The difficulty is the gauge to be adopted. New South Wales votes for its own, the world standard gauge of Ift. B{m. This is supported by the Commonwealth, which has adopted it for the transcontinental railway to Perth, and by West Australia, which, known Its owu 3ft. 6in. gauge is out of the question. Victoria not unnaturally votes for its sft. Sin. gauge. It ■is supported by South Australia, which has both the 3ft. Gin. gauge and tho sft. Sin., and by Queensland, a State with a system on the 3ft. Gin. basis. Why Queensland should side with Victoria is difficult to understand,, unless it is with the object of ensuring that ita next-door neighbour, Now South Wales, shall not. escape the expense of altering its lines and rolling stock. In 1912 the cost of universal conversion to a sft. 3in. gauge was estimated at 51 million pounds, as against 37 millions for the 4ft. B!|in. gauge. The cost will be vastly greater now. In 1897 the work could have been done for 4J millions for the wide gauge, and 2J for the narrower. The task is one in. which procrastination is expensive.

Another indication of the splendfil progress that is being made in British sMpvards is given in some figures cabled today. At the end of June 3,578,000 tons of merclfant shipping were under construction in the United Kingdom, more, that is to say, by over 200,000 tons ■ than the shipyards of tho whole world were building in the early part of 1914. The increase of 184,000 tons in the volume of British construction, and the coincident decline of 405,000 tons in foreign construction, distinctly suggest that the British shipbuilding industry is in little danger of losing the commanding position it held before tho war. The decline in American shipbuilding was not unexpected. The rapid expansion of tho United States mercantile fleet constituted a spoctaoular achievement, but the cost of tho recently-constructed Amorican ships was in some instanoeg nearly twice as much as that of similar ships built in the United Kingdom. Rapidly as the British shipyards are expanding their operations, they are in /little enough danger of outpacing the demand for ships. The ocean-going tonnage of the world last Apri1—42,500,000 tons—just about equalled ooeon-going tonnage whein the war broke out, and in pormol times there would have been an ann.ual gain of about two million tons. On this basis, and taking no account of new and increased demands ou shipping space, there is still u world shortage of some ten million tons of shipping. * » # »

It muat be counted to tho credit of Mr. Hoover that, although all tho other Hopubliean candidates for tho Presidency wore button-holing delegates to the convention, he carriod on as usual in Now York in his daily task of directing the distribution of foe'd to the homolcsa children and destitute peoples of suffering Europe. To a Nov YV>rk journalist

who attended to witness the unique spootacle of a candidate for the Presidency hanging up his hat in his own offico in New York on tho critical day of his party's nominating convention in Chicago, Mr. Hoover explained something of his work. His food administration has now warehouses in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, and Germany, and also conducts tho greater part of tho distribution in the Near Bast, bo that its.work reaches, virtually over all Europe and extends as far as Armenia. Mr. Hoover's efficiency as an administrator has been well tested since he first bogan his war work by shipping home his distressed compatriots stranded in Europe in 1914, and afterwards saw through tho task of feeding Belgium. The demand for Mr. Hoover as President camo from the people, but if tho American people desire efficiency at tho TVhito House it is by no mentis clear that the party leaders do. '