Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1888. RIGHT, WRONG, AND SAFETY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 8033, 21 April 1888, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1888. RIGHT, WRONG, AND SAFETY.

Pii/ATE once asked the question " What is truth ? " He received no answer, and to this day a not inconsiderable pmount of uncertainty exists upon tho point then raised, the only people who are blessed with absolute knowledge on ihis and all other points being Radical politicians and Salvation Army preachers. Tv the problem referred to another might well be added, as it must be confessed that few persons over twenty years of age know what right in the abstract is, or, convetsely, what is abstractly wrong. Take an instance The Government is now, we are informed, conducting "a most interesting and important experiment." 'J ho latest craze of blessing the world by scattering disease broadcast is quite the fashion, probably owing to (he ease with which we can cure the ills which oc-

casionally prey upon us, and it is in this direction tho experiment is being tried. A rabbit suffering from bladder fluke was captured in tho Waitarapa recently and sent over to Marlborough, where it was given to a dog which was kept without food for a day or two. The rodent was greedily devoured, and the inspector of live stock has been instructed to ascertain whether tho dog will develop the disease and communicate it to the rabbits in that district. -If this doesn't open up a nice little philosophical inquiry nothing ever did. There was an equally good chance to raise a similar question some time ago, when it was forbidden to inpcnlate rabbits with sj'philis after a met inspector had certified that sheep united with the disease were being offered for sale in Jlie Melbourne markets. Since then wehavohad the Pasteur benefaction trotted out as a rabbit specific, and now tfhis bladder fluke trifle is brought to the front by a Professor Thomas, of Auckland, who blends scientific research with unnssnming piety at a fair salary. In the dull past, before we had learned how to cure all diseases as wo pleased, and wore conse. queiitly not rashly disposed to assist in the spread of any particular form of ailment, there was a feeling in regard to illhealth which our modern scientists can afford to laugh at. In those degenerate days disease was connected with the will of a divine power, and pious people used to sing : — '

Dangers stands thick through all the ground To hurry mortals home, And fierce diseases wait around To push us to the tomb.

The times have altered since then, aud men claim the right to induce or to Spread disease in jnst the same manner as the florist brings about or perpetuates a "sport" among one or other of the inmates of his greenhouse. But at this point step in the disagreeable people who will persist in asking questions, and -who arraign historians, theologians, scientists, soldiers, and politicians indiscriminately. Theso querists ask, " Is it right to torco dogs to acquire disease?" and by their pertinacity make easy-going people uncomfortable. Metaphorically the qnes. tioners take us by the heels and beat our heads against all sorts of "nubbly" pro. jections, emphasising each bang with an emphatic demand to " tell us what you think of that." And the worst of it is that the easy-going people can't answer definitely, and have to submit to fearful nfental smashes, and to impalement on all kinds of dialectical pikes, watching the while their tormentors dancing ecstatic jigs of logic to the tune of " Is it right or wrong?" Consequently nothing ever comes of these interrogations, and, jnst as tho old puzzle of the early wranglers — " How many angels can dance on the point of a needle ?" — lms been consigned to limbo as unanswerable, so will be tho wails of those who doubt the abstract right of sowing and cultivating disease. The fact appears to be that, however much those who think differently are entitled (o respectful sympathy, tho temper of the world is against raising the question of abstract right. The tendency is manifested in everything. The other clay in Auckland some Radicals who have formed an association to regenerate the world deputationised the Premier. They wanted the property tax repealed and a tax j put on tea and sugar instead. The question was discussed, but neither tho Premier nor the " friends of tho people 1 ' ( who interviewed him bothered about the rights or. wrongs of what they asked. On the face of it, as tea and sugar arc much used by the poor, it ought to he fair to assert that a tax upon them would not be " right," but, as we have soon, it is quite idle to raise that spectre, and lho deputation did as they only could do— dealt with tho snbjeet from tho poiut of view of expediency. It is tho same with other matters. Some people think it not " right"- to hold that negroes should not be allowed to work as sailors in New Zealand ships, but the only people to whqni it is given to possess absolute knowledge say that theso doubts are weak, if not wicked, and that the only aspect of the question worth studying is that of expediency and of the necessity for a popular plank in the platform of the many good men lookiDg for honoraria. must therefore conclude that the same holds good with the rabbit question, and that if it is expedient to sow broadcast over Australasia the germs of chicken cholera and bladder fluke, that is all anyone need care about. JJut what is expedient must be safe for us, to whom the world is, of course, subjected, and it may be hoped that while our logislntora and our savanls continue to neglect abstractions about right and wrong, they will take care that in playing with diseases they do not bring upon us plagues we would rather be free from. Let us as raonarchs of creation do what we please, hut let us also pleaso to be careful. Tho warning is needed.