NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15566, 25 March 1914, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

READY TO TALK. The Governors General-Designate of Australia, Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson, means to be accessible. When the' appointment was first published in the press he was at Raith, is Scottish -home, near Kirkcajdie, and, he did not go to London until 10 days later. He has travelled in the United States, Canada, and India, and the effect of his travels is apparent in the wide range of information he has at his disposal,; in the easy freedom of his manner, and in the pleasure ho has in exchanging views with those with whom he comes in contact. Towards the close of an interview a pressman had with him, it was suggested that in Melbourne Government House he would be able to seclude

himself from visitors, even from importunate press interviewers, bx hedging himself round with the formalities of viceroyalty; tut the prospect was far from pleasant to him. "Why should not a Governor or a Governor-General be accessible to those who want to see him?" he asked. " I have seen much of vice-regal courts, but I could never understand the reason for such seclusion. The President of the United States is accessible to every-* one who wants to see him." The interviewer suggested that Governors and the Governor-General, as representative of His Majesty, , thought it necessary to i d-1 low the practice of royalty in England in maintaining their official and social eminence, and, in addition, found that seclusion was the safest method of avoiding questions of a political kind which might bring them into conflict with the Colonial Office or the Parliaments of the country. " But there aire so many other things, than politics to talk about," said Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson in support of his view of an accessible Governor-General. Sir Ronald is a ' tall, well-made man of 54 years. His thin, greV hair is worn short. He is clean shaven, and is bald over the temples. In 1 his voice .he has no indication of Scottish accent or English drawl, though to a few of his words he gives a Scotch pronunciation. Sometimes there is a suggestion of a lisp i.i his voice, but this disappears when he becomes animated and talks quickly.

CODDLING THE UNFIT.

A daring speech delivered by Sir "William Ramsay has set charitable institutions and social, reformers '■ thinking furiously." Was it right, he asked, that the lives of the unfit should be preserved? Where was the modern trend of feeding and clothing the destitute to end? Why not let them die out ? " Sir William Ramsay's speech," said a London member of the Eugenics Education Society, "is not untimely. There seems to be no limit to the coddling which the unfit receive, and it is because of the multiplicity of. charitable and free institutions that we have so many unfit in the country to-day. We , cater for these people, who would really be better out of the way, for many can never hope to be anything but unfit, and drag out a frightful existence, always on the borderline of starvation. The question of preserving these lives is one that must be faced one day. If, as has been suggested by both medical and social authorities, the unfit were separated and kept under observation, so that they gradually died out, it would be a much more •economical plan than allowing them to wander haphazard through life. ' They must be kept somehow, for they 'cannot keep themselves, and our present j machinery for dealing with them is hopelessly inadequate and ■ antiquated. The average of children among the mentallydeficient class is something like i 7 per cent., ajainuS less than 4 per cent, in the healthy irtftan class. The late Dr. Forbes Rosy made a calculation once that if this was allowed to continue the day was not so very far off when there would be more insane people, in the world than sane people. . In England and Wales the total number of all classes of paupers in receipt of relief on January 1, 1913, was 794,227, or one in every 46 of the population. In England and Wales during 1912 the total expenditure in relief to the poor was £14,50(J,000 sterling, while nearly £4,000,000 were spent-in London alone.

MONUMENT IN THE ALPS. A monument has been erected to Captain Scott/at -the Lautaret, high in the Alps, where snow, is rare, but where the temperature is almost Polar. It was at the Lautaret that Scott and Dr. Charcot tested the motor sleighs to be used in the Antarctic expedition, and Dr. Charcot, in the course of the motor trials, conceived a strong affection and admiration for the English explorer. It was owing to his initiative that the monument was subscribed for and raised. The monument is symbolic, taking the form of an Arctic cairn surmounted by a flagstaff., built in cement and granite, and capable* of withstanding a century of assaults of storm and frost. It is pyramidal, with a square base of about ten feet and the same height. The commemorative tablet of bronze faces east, overlooking the Briancon road. It stands at the highest point of the Alpine garden, and. is surrounded by specimens of all the finest and rarest Arctic flora of the universe. The inscription runs:—"The English captain, R. F. Scott, who perished on his return form the South Pole, bravely with his comrades, for his country and for science, about March 25, 1912, stayed at Lautaret. in March, 1908,. to prepare for his memorable expedition."

ARMENIAN REFORMS.

Turkey and Russia have come to an agreement concerning the Armenian reforms, which for the., iast 50 years have been a subject of diplomatic discussion. The happy result is undoubtedly due more to the immediate Turkish need of money than to any rooted desire for reforms, and it' yet remains to be seen how the agreement will be carried out. The Porte virtually consented to the Russian demands some time ago, but for various reasons Russia requested, the Quai d'Orsay not yet t« permit the issue of an Ottoman loan, and alleged that the Turkish guarantees were not ' satisfactory. The Porte . informed the Embassies that it wishes the Powers to draw up a list of names* of subjects from the lesser Powers as candidates for two posts as inspectors-general for reforms in thq two Armenian zones. It will then make a selection, and afterwards transmit the whole scheme as drawn up, and make the appointments of the two inspectors. The duties and powers of the European inspectors and councillors, who will be in constant touch with the ioreign Embassies, have been most elaborately studied lately, chieny with the assistance of Boghos Ntibar Pasha, who was delegated to the European Chanceries by - the Armenian Patriarch, aad if the Porte earnestly supports their efforts, there seems a genuine prospect of the introduction of orderly ■ and just administration in Ar-. mema- These provinces, indeed, offer a splendid opportunity to the Turks to prove the sincerity o! tfieir professions. • - - >