CALAMO CURRENTE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7222, 10 January 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

CALAMO CURRENTE.

SUPPLEMENT.]

That the spirit of, a democracy is often-war-like is not by any means a new truth of political philosophy ; but there is something at once novel and amusing in much that lias recently bten written and said about the warlike spirit of this little democracy. VI 3 possess half a dozen torpedoes, it is 'rue; and we have a man who is to he paid three or four hundred a year to look after_ them. (The appointment of an Inspector of Torpedoes, by the way, is not so idiotic as some people have supposed, for torpedoes are not infrequently a source of greater danger 0 those who use them than to those against whom they are intended to be use .) though we have a handful of torpedoes, we have neither a ship of war nor so muca as a single soldier that we can call our own. An yet it is gravely suggested that we should annex, and of course hold aga.nst allcomers those islands lying between New Zealand and San Francisco that we think would be of most service to ourselves. A young and small colony is none the worse for being a little ambitious, but it is well to be cautious, and New Zealand might find that to annex a few islands is to get hold of a few white elephants.

There may, perhaps, be more than at first meets the eye in the cruise of the Ilinemoa, provisioned for a couple of months, and carrying with her a poaso —that is to say, three or four members—of the Armed Constabulary Force. But even supposing that the wildest conjectures that have been made are all true, what follows 1 If the Government of this colony were to take upon itself to annex even the most insignificant and worthless of the islands of the South Pacific, does anybody seriously /suppose that the Home Government, to say nothiug of the European Powers, would recognise the validity of the act, or abstain from tearing down acain, if necessary, the newly-planted flag 1 the other hand, the policemen woo ijJSIeJ in the Hinemoa the day came only to wait on Sir J. Vogel, then it might very well be asked whether this is the purpose for which »ve maintain a costly and comparatively useless force. _ The Armed Constabulary have been of service in their day, there is no doubt, but that flay is now nearly past. They wear a serviceable uniform, and, on the whole, look very well in it ; and they give a quasi-military appearance to the place in which any of them happen to be seen. If these are the objects for which they are kept, all well and good. It is probably not everybody who would consider the money well spent—but that is a trifle in a place where public money is, and always has been, recklessly squandered. But it may certainly be said with confidence that this money is not spent in order to supply Sir J. Vogel or anybody else with attendants and body servants free of expense. Ministers are paid, both directly and indirectly, full value for the services they are called upon to perform, and the sooner this simple fact is recognised both by them and by the community whom they serve the better it will be for everybody concerned.

That a large proportion of those who go to race meetings neither know nor care anything about horses is probable enough, but it may be doubted whether many men could be found to show ignorance and indifference of the kind that was shown by the man Patterson, who, on New Year's .Day, calmly walked in front of a crowd of horses racing at full speed. As a matter of course he was killed, the only ' wonder being that he was not killed on the spot. It is in some wayß a aubject for congratulation that the injuries which he received were mortal, for it seems quite certain that if they had not been mortal, everything was done that could be done to prevent his recovery. The accident 'occurred a little alter five in the afternoon. There was any number of carriages in the enclosure at the time, but not one of them was made use of, and at seven in the evening the man was lying on a stretcher no nearer home than Newmarket, and no one with him capable of giving any' other directions than' that he should be put into an " express "in order, probably, that he might be jolted to death before he reached the Hospital.; -4

The carelessness, however, with which he was treated on the way, was nothing compared- with the hopeless and criminal stupidity that marked his treatment when he did at last reach the Hospital. . When he arrived there, there was no one in authority in the place. In this, unfortunately, there was nothing remarkable nor, if this had been all, would there have been any occasion for comment on the case. But this was not all. The porter of the place, who can hardly be thought to have had. any authority—but there is no telling—entrusted to him, seems to have taken charge of the case, and to have forbidden Dr. Evans to have anything to do with the injured man. , The porter has since been censured for his conduct, but there is really some excuse for him. He had doubtless been reading the accounts of what the Hospital Committee have been doing about the small-pox nursery, and how they had patronised the . visiting staff and set them right on important medical questions. And if the committee knew more than the visiting staff about the danger of infection in smallpox, does it not seem natural that the house porter should know more about broker, ribs and their treatment than he could have any reason for thinking Dr. Evans was likely to know about them ? The analogy is complete, and therefore some excuse, aa was said, must be made for the porter Seiby. By and by, one or two members of the staff turned up, only, to find that Patterson's case was past praying for. But suppose, aud it is not an impossible case, that his ic juries had been of such a kind that timely attention to them, though nothing but timely attention, would have prevented them from ending fatally ; on whose head would then have been the blood of the neglected and dying man ?

The Hospital by right should never be left without someone there who is properly qualiSed and authorised to deal with any patients who may be brought in. Whatever reasons then* are for having a house surgeon at all are equally good reasons for having a Burgeon theie always. To expect that any one man will or can be always on the spot, and never leave it, is to expect what is impossible. Let a man be never so thoroughly devoted to his work, he must take air and exercise, and mix with his fellows sometimes. What is wanted is, not that one man should do more work, but that there should bo more than one man to do it. It will be answered that the committee have not the money to work such a system. For the present such an answer is final. But what cannot be done at present may yet be done in the near future ; and there is no doubt it ought to be done, and done quickly. But even now much might be done by rearranging the work of the honorary visiting staff, it only the committee would recognise the fact that in trying to copy the arrangements of a London hospital, in the matter of the visiting staff, they have made a mistake. There is no reason whatever for thinking that a system ought to be adopted here merely becausc something at first sight similar to it is in vogue in too hospital* of another country. As a matter of tact the two cases are not only not parallel, but they widely diverge.

In a London hospital the house surgeon IB a young man who takes the duty for a nominal salary, in order to gain experience and to learn more about luii work. The visiting staff are men of distinguished ability, and it is worth while for a young and newly qualified' doctor to sit at their feet and learn the lessons which they have to teach. But there is nothing of that sort here. Dr. Bond would not taank anybody for Baying that this is his position. He does not regard himself as the pupil of the visiting staff, and, indeed, why should he? Speaking generally, he is quite as well qualified as they are, and it is ridiculous to suppose that he will bow to and acquiesce in all their decisions in the way in which a young London house surgeon bows to the decision and carries out the instructions of the greatest surgeons in England. The visiting staff here, in its present arrangement, is an anomaly, and, except so far as it lightens the work of the house surgeon, it is Of. little use. Whether it is ever a cause of mischief, it is perhaps not proper to say. ut there would be no occasion for surprise i mischief were sometimes caused through pacing the house surgeon in the false posiion of a man who, though nominally in arge of the Hospital, is expected to submit mself to those whom he is unable to recogv !?♦■' 18 m any way superior to himself. The we doubtless an ornament to institution. If their services were ren«

dered at a time when the house surgeon is away, then they would become not merely ornamental, but useful* as well.

It is too soon as yet to attempt to estimate the political or social importance of the Educational Institute, which has this week been holding its meetings in "this fair city" as Mr. Worthington calls it. The Institute has only been in existence for two or three years, but it is growing, and will continue to grow. But to whatever size it may grow, its usefulness will not depend upon its numbers so much as upon the method of conduct which it adopts, and the objects at which it determines to aim. At present there seems to be some danger of the society mistaking its vocation aud overestimating its powers. The members of tho Institute are all men engaged in teaching. If they can content themselves with forming a trades' union for the protection and promotion of their interests a* teachers, they may become a powerful body, and one that will have weight in the community, and they may even influence largely the administration of our educational system. But if they begin by playing at legislation before they have thoroughly organised themselves, and agreed upon what exactly it is that they want, they will end by taking the position of a Parliamentary Union dealing with educational questions—an honourable but not a very important occupation.

It is generally understood that education flourishes best in the province of Otago. They have, and have had for years, a University of their own, which we have always been told has produced wonderful results. It has been a sort of Trojan horse, from which, as the Roman orator said, Men principcs cxievunt. And so it ought, considering that it has been costing the country something like tan thousand a year. A University, however, must be judged by its fruits, and not by what its friends say about it. And what are the fruits of the University of Otago ? A short time ago the Education Board of Dunedin wanted an English master for their High Schools. There was not a man in Otago fit for the work. The Board were so thoroughly convinced of the fact that they never took the trouble to make inquiries, but at once sent homo for a man. At the same time they wanted two or three men to teach other subjects, at salaries varying from a hundred to two hundred and fifty pounds a-year. These appointments they were able to fill up in Otago itself. The question inevitably suggests itself, What is the real value of a Uuiversity which, after working for years, cannot produce a single man fit to teach boys and girls the elements of English ? To make a practice of sending out of the country for every man whose appointment is worth more than three hundred a year is of course an admirable way of encouraging teachers and getting good work out of them. It is to tell them that, whatever their abilities may be, and however conscientiously they may do their work, they need look for no reward from the Education Board of Dunedin. All this is in Otago, but it is a subject which might very well occupy the attention of the geutlemeu who haye recently been talking about education " in this fair city." Index.

Our contributor " Asmodeus" sends the following : —" Dear ' Index,' —In last Saturday's ' (Jalamo Currente' you mention my indignant • protest against the piracy of the nom de plume under which I have written for some ytars past, and proceed to hunt out the derivation of ' Asmodeus' from the book of Tobit. Whether or not it is in the book of JL'obit I neither know nor care; for I have never seen that apocryphal book since I saw the title in the big family Bible of the days of my childhood. I adopted that literary cognomen from a novel in my father's library, written, I think, either by Smollett or Fielding. This novel describes how a student, named Zambullo, wandering about one night in search of adventures, climbed in through the open window of the laboratory of an alchemist and magician, and heard a voice imploring him to break the cabalistic seal that confined a spirit in one of the phials on the shelves. Zambullo did so, and a dense smoke rose from the phial, which resolved itself into the shape of a lame devil on orntches, who proceeded to introduce himself as ' Asmodeus,' and, in return for the service, offered to give Zamballo anything he wished. Zambullo therefore wished to see all that was : going on in Madrid (the scene of the story), the time being midnight. Whereupon Asmodeus carried him up to the top of the highest steeple, and, by his magic power, unroofed all the houses around him, so as to show what was going on in the in» teriors. The remainder of the story is taken up in the descriptions and explanations by Asmodeus of the various scents going on in each house; the whole forming a biting satire on the effeminate manners and erratic habits of the times of the Georgian era, during which the book was written. A a I was then writing a series of papers for the Herald, exposing 'the ways that are dark and the tricks that are vain' of our public bodies, I adopted that nom de plume as suiting my self-constituted mission to a T, which nom de plume has since been pirated in Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, and Sydney.' "Asmodeus" is somewhat mistaken as to his own history. Passing over the mention in the Book of Tobit, Asmodeus was, according to writers in the Middle Ages, one of the ministers of Belzebubhe having the superintendence of gamblinghouses. The writer who introduces him in later times is Le Sage, not Smollett or Fielding.