NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 112, 5 February 1931, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

Although the actual extent of the loss sustained by the victims of the earthquake cannot at present be estimated, it must be clear to everyone that financial assistance on a scale completely eclipsing that required for the Murchison disaster will be necessary. In times like the, present, when unemployment to an unprecedented extent is making abnormal demands upon the State, and the Government is being forced by economic necessity to watch every penny of expenditure, it is obvious that the public at large must respond in a generous spirit to the demands of this unexpected and very pressing emergency. This is a national disaster which concerns all the people. It is a call to everyone to give what he can of practical service or monetary help for it is a matte? not only of relieving immediate distress and suffering, but of rehabilitating practically a, whole province which in a few terrifying hours has been deprived completely of the means and organisation of economic existence.

In blocking , all traffic except that engaged in urgent business to the Hawke’s Bay earthquake area, the authorities have acted wisely. There is enough to do at the moriient to organise commissariat, medical services and shelter for the victims of the calamity without having to cater for a heavy influx from outside. Some of these people may be moved by the strongest feelings to make contact with those in the affected area with whom, perhaps, they have tin; closest ties of blood or affection. For their feelings at being excluded there must be sympathy but they will see if they reflect that their presence in any numbers must be a hindrance rather than a help in the work of succoutj. For any who have set out for the scene with no other motive than ghoulish curiosity there can be naught hut contempt for their thoughtlessness. Obviously the roads must be kept open for the evacuation of the injured and the homeless and to permit the free passage of supplies inward. When the public realise this, the need for closing the road will cease because, after all. everyone wants to clear rather than to be in the way.

As the result of a Moslem school teacher in India cooking the flesh of a cow, an animal sacred to Hindu sentiment, a disturbance occurred in which the school teacher was beaten by Hindus, fifteen shops were burned by Moslems, a temple was defiled) and a watchman lost his life. Seventy-three years ago. the whole of India was rent by a mutiny in which scores of lives were lost, and much property destroyed, as the result of Hindu Sepoy troops being ordered to grease their bullets with cow fat. These two episodes serve to 'llustrate the supreme difficulty and delicacy of the problem of political reform in India. Religious animosities rooted in tradition are ? large part of India’s social and political complexities. These con- ' siderations are bound, sooner or later, to occupy a prominent place in the administration of those who, in the new order of things, may be entrusted with the responsibilities of government. As has been apprehended in a previous article, the allocation of political privileges and the franchise may conceivably create an Ulster problem in India, with its origins in religious fanaticism.

It is as much a compliment to the calibre of the medical profession As it is to. the dignity of the Dominions so honoured that the distinction of Royalty has been conferred upon the Australasian College of Surgeons. Both in Australia and in New Zealand research and achievement have made notable contributions to. medical science. There arises, however, a question of national principle. The association of the two Pacific Dominions in a single Australasian representative governing body is perhaps inevitable at thi« early stage of their development, but it is necessary that thier separate identities should be emphasised. The term “Australasia” may te a convenient grouping for geographers, but it is altogether misleading, and frequently embarrassing, and should-be dropped. New Zealand is an independent member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, and its institutions should be made representative of its national identity. For some years to come there: may not be room, scope or justification for a separate Dominion -institution but that is no reason to hide our light under the Australasian bushel. Is it too late to alter the name to Australian and New Zealand Royal College of Surgeons, a grouping of two young nations that in 1915 fortuitously coined the glorious name of Anzac?