NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14807, 10 October 1911, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THINKING / AND ' DOING. The brooding discontent of the masses, which in England and elsewhere has led to disastrous strikes and riots; has set a good many people thinking. v What to not a few seems to be wrong with the social system -is the existence of slums m all the great cities. They are the breeding grounds of disease and vice, ■£ All who are forced to live in them are sucked into their demoralising vortex. They are converting thousands into hooligans and savages who, ' but for them, would be decent and reputable members of society. In these abodes of destitution and dirt, all the joyousness of life is extinguished. Until- they are swept away and clean and wholesome ' arid humane . surroundings are provided for those who now. crowd their dark and noisome allies, 1 society will always" be exposed to a menace. The betterment of the ; lot of the masses must begin at their homes. v But mere thinking will not' effect any improvement. We must be doing as well as thinking. Every city should at once start" a crusade against slums. Glasgow is setting a good Example. The Town Council has just decided to allot its profits^ on the trams £55,912 this year— application by » the corporation for the purpose' of acquiring and removing buildings in congested areas within the city. ' The housing problem is one of the most pressing jproblems-of the hour, and yet it is the one that is receiving perhaps the least attention. Our own New Zealand cities are sadly lacking in their ■ duty in • this connection. ' They are tolerating the ; gradual . creation of a state 'of slumdom which'bids fair to equal in time almost anything ,■ that •;. the cities in older lands can show. Everyone but the slum landlord is agreed that ; this is an evil and ugly thing, - but 'little; or nothing is done to. grapple . with ;- it. Yet it is ; now, before it has grown too collossal,; that an - effort' should -be made \to stamp it out. The cities of New Zealand should be among the model cities of ; the world. ' But they 1 can only be made" so by a vigilant and . healthy ; ; public opinion insisting on no - blot or ' blemish being allowed to defile and disfigure them. i In a word, we" must act as .well as think.

; THE EMPIRE • AND • ITS DEMOCRACIES. ' :- It is a frequent source of interest among political theorists to speculate ; ■whether democratic institutions and an Empire can possibly be combined. The practical answer to" the question is : -that, since Chatham's t time, the gradual development of democratic institutions in Great Britain, with their gradual extension to the peoples ■ of the Dominions, has alone ; made possible the Empire as it stands to-day. "The result -of this gradual' development ; has been," says. the .London.Times, ■*.' to.make public opinion "an always r stronger" force • in r the shaping •of r policy, • whether in domestic or Imperial or foreign affairs. It is : a truism- now- to say that no l statesman -.; 'can* l idnf purine a - lin«fe of of keeping with the general trend "of- national s] ideas; but ;we have* been,, slow, to:extend ! our understanding of the fact to , the Ejm- r pire as a whole, For that reason much*

of our * speculation on the means of closer Imperial co-operation is still beside < the mark. :We continue to discuss measures for *: focussing the . public ..opinion* of -the Empire upon the political .worldi at home without, apparently, realising that such a focus is as necessary in all the selfgoverning Dominions., it being quite as important that they , should understand - each other and us as that we ; should understand them. Imperial • policy must now be representative of five separate centres of democratic opinion,- or • it-will fail in its chief end."

:■ : -v WHERE AMERICA LEADS- : . ; America, as Americans are fond of telling us, licks creation" in many things. But in nothing else is her pre-eminence more pronounced than in what is known as the packing industry. Here she leads the world. ';C In order ■to grasp adequately ; the magnitude of this industry in Chicago, it is necessary to form some idea of that* vast institution known there as the stockyards. - The,/ following short description ; may . be. of . interest:—The ; stockyards cover an area of some 500 acres, of which all but about 50 acres are paved with brick; -With the limits of the yards are some 300 miles ,of railway line, [' 25 miles '■: of streets, 16,000 single pens, 8500 double-deck pens,' 25,000 gates, 1 two '• banks, six ■>. restaurants, a; hotel, . waterworks plant with daily pumping ;■ capacity of 8,000,000 " gallons, 90 miles ~? of: water mains, 10,000 hydrants, six artesian wells, 50 miles of sewer pipes, 450 electric : arc lights*,, and 10,000 incandescent lights. More than 45,000 persons are employed in the yards and in "packing town," as it is called, and some aQo,COU;;others { are directly dependent on these for their liv-' ing. * -i On an average, about L 1000 ' car- ) loads of cattle , are received ■:;daily,;;: with an estimated value of £200,000. - ■ Within the limits of the yards about 75,000 cattle, 300,000 pigs, 125,000; sheep, and 6000 horses can"oe accommodated. During "a single day in 1908, 2933 carloads, of beasts, including 1303 calves, •87,000 = pigs, 27,000 sheep, and 33,000 -cattle were received.

THE ' COST OF " LIVING, ". Unless come means are found of arresting the increasing cost of living nobody but millionaires will soon be able to live at all. And curiously euoug.i the cause of ,the present dearness of everything is said to be the plentifulness of gold. The purchasing power I of' the sovereign depends .upon-its scarcity. s -"yVV;h€tt..it!,isvxiard'Vd ; .-get : tuings are cheap; wnen it can be got ipr the picking up tilings ; are dear, •' 1 uis explanation sounds a , trine paradoxical, but it haisthe sanction of" the Highest economists. The world is suffering iroin a surfeit of gold, and, unless -all the ; gold 1 mines cease turning out the precious metal tor a time, or r something happens to use up" the present supply, the cost of living is nkely to go on mounting up. The following table, compiled-:by the Board: of Trade, shows the .' various differences between the prices ruling in England in 1b96 and "in 1910. The ' prices quoted are in each case for' the same quantity bought in either of the years mentioned —

■;■"" v : - ; 1896 v 1910. Increase. _ „ £s. d. £a. d. £s. d. Broad • ;.. ... 413 u„ 514 0>" 110 Flour ... ... 4 8 0 : 60 0 112 u Beet ... : ... ... 4lao .. 513 0 : 111) Mutton ... ■•■.'..;',4 9 0 540 in 15 u Pork : ... - ... ;414 0 ,5- 510 -o 11 u Bacon ... ...-3 18 0 : 618 0-3 u u Butter ... , ... 415 ; o:^s0 :^5 6 0 * 011 0 Eggs ....-',,, ... ... 4110v5 12 0- 110 Cneese" ... ■••'«.- 40 0 : boo i 100 Tea ... ... -^ ... 410 0 ~5V0 ? 0 " 010 0 Cocoa . ... ... 413 o>s 0 0 07 0 Sugar * ..;... 50 0: 6 4-0140 Jam. treacle, mar- . . '■<:';'-.'■- .■./<;.:■. malade 500 590 ■ 090 Currants "... ... 4 3 0;-; 66 0 ;2 3 0 Raisins ... ..; 317 0 : 5 5 0' ; 18 0 Bice' ... --;.. - ... 412 0 ■; 4 13:0* 0 10 Tapioca ... ... 41 0 0 55 0 15 0 Oatmeal ~, ~.5 0 0 513 0 013 0