NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 37, 7 November 1933, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

Public opinion is the real governor in democracies and even dictators, if they are to survive, must have regard to this force. lhe trouble is that too often policies are allowed to go by default; no attempt is made to organise public opinion and secure its unmistakable expression. Hence such gatherings as yesterday s public meeting of protest against the form the Reserve Bank Bill has taken, are to be welcomed as evidence of community vigilance and awakening interest in public affairs. The pity is that the meeting was not held earlier as an intimation to the House of Representatives that the case was not so one-sided as the smooth passage of the Lili seemed o suggest. The main point taken up by the meeting is one upon which there is very wide public agreement —that the door has been oP en Jy far too widely for-the intrusion of political influence in the Banks policy and administration. People are particularly mistiustful ot tus aspect and their doubts are justified by experience in other countries. ** * •

It is suggested that the purpose of General Weygand s visit to Morocco is to solve the problem of the deficiency in home conscripts in the French Army, due to the falling birth-rate, by the reciui - ment of coloured troops. There is already, especially in the large cibes. and notably in Paris, a very large proportion of Africans. ine stiffening of the French Army by additional recruitments of colourei troops may complicate a social problem which already has assumet tangible dimensions. France’s “Black Army” was one of the leas'desirable features of her participation in the Great War, and it will always be remembered against her that she employed coloured troops in the Rhine occupation. In French logic the end justifies the mcan>. but in the logic of humanity in general the employment of black troops to gain a particular end discredits the objective. **. * *

Miss Landreth’s comment in yesterday’s issue-on the subject of the diet of New Zealanders and its effect on their teeth—“the worst in the world,” she declares—raises an interesting point She referred to the fact that the people of this country drink very little milk, one of the most important factors,” she pointed out, “contributing to healthy and normal teeth and bone development.” It is a true bill. Of one of the leading dairying countries of the world, as New Zealand undoubiedly is, it may be affirmed as a fact that its people do not drink milk as a beverage and sustainer except very largely as an accompaniment to tea or dessert. Yet the nutritive qualities of milk are such that as a principal item of diet it should be eagerly sought. If it were, then both hygienically and economically, the result should be for the good of the State. If New Zealanders drank more milk, they would, according to Miss Landreth, have far better teeth. Incidentally, the dairy industry would also be in a more prosperous condition.