THE H.B. TRIBUNE. FRIDAY, NOV. 17th, 1916. WHAT WE ARE NOT DOING.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 285, 17 November 1916, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. FRIDAY, NOV. 17th, 1916. WHAT WE ARE NOT DOING.

It is €o be hoped that the people of New Zealand have not been so absorbed in reading the cabled accounts of purely military incidents as to overlook the messages that have come to hand during the last few days with regard to the efforts Germany has in view for enabling her to continue the war, and so have missed the serious lesson we must learn from them. Organisation has for so long been the source of Germany’s strength, from the standpoint both of military and commercial efficiency, and submission to it has become so much « a habit ot mind with her people, that its extension into new channels will provide a comparatively simple problem. We may thus take it without reservation that she will be able to extract the last ounce of available energy from her own population and from the other resources at her command. We have surely seen enough of her means and methods to know that we have before us a resolute and determined foe, who will spare nothing and stop at nothing to avert defeat, and to recognise that, however confident we may justifiably be of ultimate victory for our own side, it will only be achieved effectively by our exerting ourselves to something near our very utmost. It is much to be feared, however, that this realisation is as yet far distant from many of our minds, and that there is a large proportion among us who simply note that the tide has turned definitely in our. favour and lay the flattering unction to their souls that we may rest upon our oars, assured that the haven of triumph will be reached without much further endeavour on our own part. Those in closer touch with events and prospects are,, however, suffering from no such insane ana maleficent delusions. In the Old Country we can see that the people have had the need for complete unity of effort and of sacrifice forced upon them, and know that very much has yet to be done and suffered ere the desired end is reached. In every direction we see more and more of the people of all classes being absorbed, and willingly absorbed, into work that has as its sole object the winning of the war. On all hands, too, we see them studying and practising the economies that they now perceive are essential if the resources of the Empire are to be made to see us through to the finish, however remote it may be. But as yet we have out here in. this prosperous Dominion but little indication that any like conviction has been borne in upon us. And for thisj we cannot but think, those who are responsible for our government are greatly to blame. They have done little, if anything, to compel the stern realities of the position upon our attention, or to direct our efforts, or to organise our resources. As for inculcating any spirit of economy, they have failed utterly. By economy we do not here mean necessarily the skimping and paring of the petty daily expenditures of those in the more humble walks of life, although even here there might be found room for a substantial measure of reform. But it is hopeless to ask these to further stint themselves, while the well-to-do and prosperous indulge in what might in normal times be considered relatively innocent luxuries, but what are under present conditions nothing short of wicked . extravagances. But our Government has done next to nothing to minimise unnecessary and useless expenditure, but has rather done much to encourage it, instead of limiting the opportunities to indulge in it. In very truth, our rulers have almost stopped short at contentment with equipping, sending away and maintaining those who have of their own free will volunteered for service abroad of one kind or another. So far the people of New Zealand, as a body, have not been organised as an effective unit of the great Empire to which they belong, nor taught to recognise that not only their capable men folk, but all their material resources, should be put at its disposal in order to maintain our national freedom and to preserve us from any like menace to it in the future. In fact, but for the men that have given themselves directly to this greatest of great adventures anil our association with them, we are out here almost as much detached from it as any of the neutral nations and profiting by it a good deal more than most of .those. Our other obvious responsibilities sit very lightly upon us, and little is being done to make us feel their real weight. Possibly what our two political party leaders will have seen and heard at Home may have awakened them to a sense of their shortcomings and induce measures to remedy them. We are wont to point the finger of scorn at greedy American commercialism. But it may, perhaps, be doubted whether we are ourselves very much better..

Strangely enough, while, as a result of tlie war, adult crime in the. Old Country has decreased in a most remarkable way, the number of juvenile offenders against the law has increased in almost as great a proportion. A London exchange commenting on this discomforting development says that this is emphatically the day of the small boy. Life has never been so rosy for him ; City magnates compete for his services in their offices; out of the good wages he is paid he retains a liberal allowance as pocket money; and, above all, his existence is permeated bv the adventures and romance of war. As Boy Scout he is also doing excellent national service in many ways, as well as filling the places of men released from industry to fight in the trenches. That is the good boy. The bad boy is also very active, for there has been a remarkable in- j crease in juvenile crime since the war broke out which is almost entirely traceable to him. In London alone the number .of young persons brought before the Courts increased from 1304 to 2005 for three months this year, as compared with the corresponding period of last year. The greater part of these

offenders, 1314 were charged, with larceny. Here, as so often, it is apparently “the sight of means to do deed a makes ill deeds done, for we are told that the form which this offence commonly takes is chat oi Differing parcels from delivery vans in the incr-’Tsert datkness of ti e streets at night, ihe .youths who commit it lend romance to their depudations b\ pictcndin-. they au British troops ambuscading Geunan eonvovs bringing supplies io tncfront This increase oi juvenile crime arising out ot the war. is not peen'iar to tne great industrial ventres Judging from reports in German newspaptis the state of thing... is much worse in Germany, where there"~is the additional incentive of actual want.

Mr. G. A. Aitken, M.V.0., head of the Children’s Department at the Home Office, in a paper read at a conference held at Birmingham, submitted the following as the causes of the increase in juvenile crime:— First and foremost is the decrease in parental control owing to the absence of many of the fathers with the Forces or at work at a distance from their homes. Again, the lack of teachers in schools has led to want of individual attention, and the taking over of school buildings for military purposes has necessitated the shortening of school hours in many 7 places. Moreover, the war has caused a certain spirit of adventure to be in the air. Children hear from friends and relatives thrilling accounts of trench warfare and other excitements, and many 7 of the offences they 7 have been committing are really the result of childish imitation. All these are more or less inevitable results of the war. Besides these, harm has been done of late vears by gaming machines in small shops and by cinematograph films -depicting crimes of all sorts. Of the evil results of many films there is not the least doubt. A letter had been received from a fatlni stating that he had found his boy trying to throttle his sister, as he had seen a film in which a mtn throttled a woman. Films are not responsible for all the evil which has been laid to their charge ; ind it seems to have become rather the fashion for youthful offenders. In way 7 of excuse, to attribute their offences to the evil influence of the cinemas which they have visited. There can be no doubt, however, that children often steal money in order ’ s obtair admission to cinemas. In a- recently received number oi

the London “ Times ” there is a veryfine tribute to the work of the surgeon. the physician, and the bacteriologist. in the field hospitals. Typhoid, the terrible scourge that has been the despair of medical men in past wars, has been practically 7 ousted, or at any rate deprived of its epidemic character, but not without having claimed a number of victims in the earlier stages of the war. All novel indications and symptoms are the subject of the closest observation. lest any new epidemic malady should develop. The bacteriologists, who are likened to the criminal investigation department, are at once hot on the trail of any new microorganism suspected of being the cause of unorthodox diseases. Tnese investigations, we are told, involve most painstaking research —comparable to that, done by 7 Scotland Yard in a murder case where there is , no tangible or trustworthy clue. The micro-organism whose isolation is being attempted may be the unknown product of the conditions under which the troops have to fight. However difficult such a bacteriological investigation, it is vital, in the interests of the health of the Army, to carry it. if possible, to a successful issue. The discovery- may reveal much valuable and necessary information, upon which may depend the urgency of isolating the infected men, iii order to avoid an epidemic : morepver, it may indicate a successful line of treatment of the disease, as well as the introduction of further preventive measures, by which the evolution of the disorder could be controlled or even arrested. Conservative surgery, as it is called, which aims at avoiding amputations and mending limbs, has become quite a new religion with the profession, and preservations little short of marvellous are effected. So jealous are those in control of the limbs of their soldier patients that every hospital district at the front is provided with a consulting surgeon whose concurrence is necessary 7 before any major operation may be performed. This method, among other things, ensures for the wounded man the benefit of the best expert advice, and it helps to infuse among all the medical officers a desire to avoid as much as possible operations involving serious mutilation. The fiendish device of “gassing” introduced by the Huns made a notable demand upon the capacity of the Medical Department. The appalling intensity of suffering among the victims was at first beyond the reach of relief, since the incidence of the symptoms was new to medical science. Happily, in time, a method of treatment was evolved that has proved eminently successful. Not the least incentive to the keenness displayed by the Army 7 Medical Staff is the consciousness that every day 7 they are advancing medical science through the exceptional opportunities afforded them of gaining fresh knowledge under unexampled conditions. The experience that is now being gained is opening up a new vista of knowledge that must prove invaluable to the profession, and through it to the community, in ~!e years to com«

| After reading what is thus said of the fine achievements of the Army Medical Corps, it comes as something of shock to gather, from what the writer of the article has to say, that this devoted body is made ; the object of a- considerable amount I of adverse criticism. He says in con- [ elusion: “Is the nation to believe that all is not well with the medical care of our forces—-a tragedy suggested by irresponsible, public statements, biassed preconceptions, and ignorance of the facts? Criticism as a means of enforcing reforms has its uses. But it must be necessary and just, or its object will be defeated ; then it becomes venomous and harmful. . . Let encouragement, therefore, and willing praise, not heedless, carping criticism, be extended to those striving their best to do their part in humanity’s cause. Indeed, criticism is disarmed, in view of the great work the Army Medical Service is accomplishing.” Even in our own small community we know enough of the splendid and selfsacrificing work done by medical men who nave left our own shores to be able to re-echo these sentiments with all sincerity. General Brusiloff is notoriously sparing of words, but of late he seems to have become positively taciturn, and to-day we have, up to the moment of writing, heard literally nothing from him. General Cadorna, too, is similarly reticent, with regard to Italian movements. From Salonika, however, we not

only 7 have news of continued success attending the Franco-Serbian operations in the region round Monastir, but also the report of revived activitv on the part of the British on the Struma front, where they have achieved a definite victory over the Bulgarians and forced them back appreciably. We are, perhaps, justified in hoping that this may mean the initiation of the scheme of coordinated pressure on Bulgaria from north and south outlined as being tn contemplation. From north of the Somme news is received of some, further slight progress made by Sir Douglas Haig on the Ancre. as well is further to the east; and also of the French repulse of a furious German attack between Les Boeufs and Bouchavesnes. This latter was delivered simultaneously with a like assault in the Chaulnes region south of the river, which was followed immediately by a French counterattack that drove the Germans out of a wooded position they 7 had succeeded in momentarily 7 occupying, and ended in our Allies advancing their lines slightly. A notable message received to-day is that outlining the destiny which Herr Beth-niann-llollweg has laid out. for Belgium and her King.