ECHOES OF THE WEEK

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 89, 9 January 1926, Page 13

ECHOES OF THE WEEK

PRESS OPINIONS ON :: NEW ZEALAND TOPICS

Extension and improvement of agricultural education is a policy made necessary by our conditions and the .ever-increasing pressure of foreign competitors. The Government’s task will not be easy, for two reasons; it lias to find a large sum of money (the idea that higher education for farmers can 'be provided cheaply is absurd), and it has to deal with a problem that is complicated by vested interests. There is already an Agricultural College in the ' South Island, and both Auckland and (Wellington have established Chairs of ' Agriculture. It seems to us, however, that it ought not to be very difficult ’ to make use of these three foundations , without endangering the whole system by dissipation of effort.—Auckland j ‘‘Star,”

Undoubtedly the development of a (public health policy in this country has produced good results. The infant mortality rate, thanks largely to Sir Truby King and the Plunket Societies, is the lowest in the world. The death-rate [from tuberculosis has been moving downward and is now lower than those of all other countries except South Africa and Australia, while the mortality resulting from a number of infectious diseases has been decreasing steadily. Cancer, goitre, and diphtheria are diseases with which we have not yet coped very successfully, and our maternal mortality record is unsatisfactory. Though we are now comparatively healthy, much remains to be done.— (Wanganui "Chronicle.”

I Striking testimony has been given in many ways of the gratitude with which (the Samoan people accept what New Zealand has done for them, and of their confidence that their future is in safe keeping. Nothing yet done by them to express their feelings, however, equals their dispatch to the Gov-ernor-General of the gifts handed to him bv the Administrator. The articles, with their historic significance and the manner of their conveyance, prove with an eloquence which cannot be mistaken that this is no empty gesture or conventional courtesy. Every word that has been said has also been meant. It has been done with a grace and a graciousness typically Polynesian.— ‘‘New Zealand Herald.” 1 To the phrase-makers 1925 must seem one of the most difficult years of modern times. It has been a year neither of victory nor of defeat, neither of astounding progress nor of unreliev-•cd’-depression.' Nothiiig has happened in any part of the world, with one possible exception, that seems destined now to make this year a landmark of historians. In our own Dominion 1925 will mean the year in which Air. Massey died. It is strange, even after all these months, to be entering on a new year without one of his heartening messages, and we are sure no one feels the strangeness more than Mr. Coates and those colleagues who are carrying on Mr. Massey’s tradition. But wc must of course recognise that leadership means more than carrying on another man’s work and tradition, and that the Dominion has passed already into a new political period.—Christphurch "Press.” While there still is cause for doubt as to whether progress in these Dominions is being achieved more effectively than anywhere else in the world, there can be none as to the happier conditions. Life generally is sterner and more exacting everywhere else than it is in this country, or in Australia. Industrially, there is no ground for comparison at all. Work is anything but slavery, and the reward for it is relatively higher than in many lauds where labour is measured by exhaustion, and not by easy industrial enactments. If there has been more opportunity and reason for happier New Year , holidays than New Zealanders have had, the chroniclers of affairs all the world over have failed to observe it.—Christchurch “Sun.”

Probably it would be well for parents while on holiday with their children to bear in mind the simple precautions against, infantile paralysis which they observed last sumiiicr. It would be equally well for the health authorities to issue notices on the subject, tolling parents just what is necessary to guard their families against a possible danger. Infantile paralysis is a particularly devastating disease, leaving in its train troubles that arc very hard to cure. Prevetition is the best remedy to apply.—“Wanganui Chronicle.”

i Authoritative statements regarding the spraying practice in New Zealand, and , the possibility of any danger attaching to the consumption of the fruit which is so treated, fortify the view that some- ■ thing in the nature of a scare has been created on a very trivial foun- • elation. It is possible, of course, that some of the American exporters have not exercised sufficient precaution. Mr. ' Campbell, Director of the New Zealand ' Division of Horticulture, has suggested j that the cheapness of arsenate of lead ' in the United States has no doubt led To its lavish use there, and most likely the present trouble is due to the free use of dry arsenate, quantities of which may have accumulated round the stems of the fruit. Mr. Paynter, Inspector of Government Orchards, while holding that "this is just a scare which will ■ soon be forgotten, just as one or two previous scares have been forgotten.” insists, as docs Mr. Campbell, on the necessity that growers should continue operations with the sprays at present in use, since no other effective substitute is available for coping with the codlin moth and the leaf-roller caterpillar.—"Otago 1 Daily Times.”

Some months ago draft regulations were submitted by the Government for the consideration of local authorities and motoring organisations; but these have not been gazetted, and nothing has been beard of them. They dealt with some aspects of motoring which have been dwarfed by its more obvious perils. Amongst other things, they promised an attack on the nerve-shattering noise in which many motorists indulge, such as that produced by an unsilcnced 'exhaust. No less offensive is the use of the horn or hooter. The hooting habit is the typical presentation of the motorist’s mentality. The road belongs to him; everyone must give way to him, and he yells to make them do it. It is difficult to understand why people should be condemned to tolerate this nuisance without legal remedy.—Dunedin “Star.”

The Maori is fortunate in that he escapes lightly from the ravages of some diseases which fall heavily on his white fellow-countrymen, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and exophthalmic goitre being among the number. On the other hand, epidemic and infectious maladijs take a much heavier comparative toll from the Natives than from other people. Typhoid fever is especially deadly, with tuberculosis not far behind. To similar diseases the high Maori infantile mortality rate is also ascribable. The reasons are not hard to find. It is contact with Europeans, the abandonment of the old primitive vet healthy conditions of life for an imperfect form of the civilised manner of living. It savs much for his inherent vitality, his tenacity of life, that he has withstood as well, as other facts show, the devastating effects of the change, which have worked much greater havoc among other Pacific peoples.—“ New Zealand Herald.”

The timid newspaper correspondent still occasionally appears in print with a warning against the dire results that may follow upon the speeding-up of the express trains. The daylight train between Auckland and Wellington has been coming in for very special notice in this respect during the holidays, and a correspondent in a Wellington paper declares he has timed it doing “a mile a minute” over quite long stretches of line. Of course, there are places along the Main Trunk where a high speed would be permissible, the track being clear and level and practically without crossings; but the authorities say that no such speed is ever attempted, and never will be till the lines are relaid with a broader gauge and heavier metal. Forty miles an hour, or even a slightly greater speed, might be travelled in certain places without crossing the margin of safety, but this, say the authorities, is not done because the additional tax upon the rolling stock would not be justified.—Wanganui “Herald."

/V feature of the development ot Taranaki is the continued growth of its capital town. Some may regard it as an undesirable feature. Certainly one would like to see . rural Taranaki advancing at least in the same ratio as urban Taranaki. There is, however, this to be said of New Plymouth—the town remained stagnant for many years whilst others no more favourably situated, nor endowed with greater natural resources, forged ahead. It is only during, the past seven or eight years that New Plymouth has come into its own and got into its proper stride. Several factors have contributed to this result. The improvement of the roads surrounding and leading to it, and the consequent development of the motor traffic has been one. Probablv no other provincial town in the North Island has benefited more than it has by the motor traffic, which received a big impetus bv the opening of the through road to Te Kniti. Then there has been the development of the port and the institution of direct shipping services with the United Kingdom and America. —"Taranaki Daily News.”

The film proprietaries are apparently a good deal annoyed by. Sir James Parr’s remarks on the character of the posters which are displayed to advertise the films 911 exhibition. They publish lists of pictures which they declare to be quite above criticism. The argument is, of course, absurd. No one denies that many posters are quite inoffensive; but that is no answer to the complaint that posters are from time to time displayed which are exceedingly offensive. What is asked for is that the posters should be censored in the same way as the films, and we cannot understand why the film proprietaries should make any fuss about it. If they are ically concerned with the welfare of the people—and thev profess to have seme concern about it—they cannot surely object to any regulation which will have for its object the protection of the young from injurious matter, pictorial or otherwise, publiclv displayed with the object of attracting their notice and interest.—"Hawke’s Bay Herald.”

A southern county council, having made application for Government assistance in repairing flood damage, has been given a definite refusal. The teason stated is that as its area is higlilv developed, and its rates are low, the countv should be able itself to carrv the financial burden of the work. This is fullv consistent with an explanatory warning to be found in the last Public Works Statement. The Government should not be called upon to restore all works swept away by flood water. At the same time the widespread deforestation in many districts, and the possible consequences of a sudden thaw where there aic snowfed rivers, mean that the liability is always present. Even a rich local authority might at anv time find, itself faced with a repair bill far bevond its resources. Settlers, especially those in isolated districts, should not be the sufferers. A reserve fund is the proper method of provision against the possibilities.—“ New Zealand Herald/’

Wilden owes its outstanding success to the splendid balance between high and low countiy, and to the judgment in the system of working and in capital , expenditure on improvements, which has taken all possible advantage of that balance. Tins balance is now to be rudely disturbed, and the mainspring of success is thus deliberately destroyed. The four new settlers who are successful in the ballot next month will have holdings that may possibly enable them to carry 1500 to 2000 sheep apiece. The areas vary from 0205 to 15,000 acres, the annual rentals from £l6O to £3BO, and the valuations for improvements (payable immediately) from £209 to £526. There will be fencing to be erected in country where packing the material, instead of carting it, must be adopted, and where snowdrifts pnt the annual renewal of fencing into the category of a financial impossibility. The only access to the homestead blocks will be bv a ridge road, impassable for two or three months every winter because of snow. Three of the four runs are disjoined, the summer country lying at some distance from the homestead blocks. But the main fault of the scheme is want of balance. There is far too little winter country in each of these —.us. The summer country, therefore, cannot be put to anything like full use.—Dunedin "Scar.”