THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16202, 12 April 1916, Page 10

THINGS IN GENERAL.

r ■■■:'""■•'■ ' M'' , GERMANY'S ROLL' OF DISHONOUR. We hear much of „> rolls of honour ,in connection with ? the war. ; Every British Instate/ however small, has one. • A "roll of dishonour," it has been pointed out, has yet to be compiled. Some day, however, such, a roll, it is .to bo hoped, will bo prepared for the benefit of- posterity. Such a list should contain the names of. those who have so distinguished themselves as exponents of German "kultur." * -It will include tho names of the leaders of the baby-killing raids on British hearths and homes. Perhaps even tho author of the "tragedy in a.fowlyard," of which the cables told us last week, .v.ill find a humble place in the list. Then, of course,: there aro the individuals responsible; for tho Belgian horrors, the desolation of Louvain, and other inglorious outrages against culture and humanity, The officer who has the blood of Edith Cavell on his head, and the naval officers who torpedoed the Lusitailia, the Ancona, and the Sussex, will compete for pride of place. Many other notorious names will bo inscribed on the roll. The first, of course, ' will bo that of the Kaiser, as the archexponent of advanced "kultur." This will be a scroll of infamy that should be handed down through the ages.

BRITAIN'S .TAX ON MATCHES. History repeats itself even in matters of taxation. The tax on matches in Britain, which "forms part of Mr. McKcnna's now Budget proposals, demonstrates _ the truth of the old saying. This new tax is interesting in view of the fact, now perhaps half, forgotten, that one of the greatest conflicts that has ever taken place in the Old ■ Country in regard to the question of taxation, arose over a similar proposal brought forward by a Liberal financier 45 years ago. It was the late Lord ' Sherbrooke, then Mr." Robert Lowe, who us Chancellor in Mr. Gladstone's Ministry in 1871, introduced a proposal -to tax-matches. "The Chancellor of the Exchequer," he eaid, "is < entrusted with a certain amount of misery which it is his duty to distribute as fairlv as ho can." Accordingly Mr. j Lowe, {is part of his method of distribution, 1 proposed to place a tax of one haltpenny on each box of lucifer matches. The '' tax was to be collected by means of a Government stamp attached to 6ach box and ' was estimated to yield a million sterling yearly. A great outcry was raised, agr.inst tho proposal as being a tax on one of the necessaries of life. A body of women and children, employed in the trade, who marched from the East End of London to Westminster to present a petition against the proposed tax, was dispersed by the police as being a violation of the law, but so impressed were the faithful Commons by, the t spectacle that they " rejected the proposal. It was a sad blow/to the self-esteem of Mr. Lowe who, ?*. after : the manner '.of Napoleon when he ■ proposed to invado England, had been so sure iof his scheme being put into effect that {he had stamps prepared bearing the ' words " Ex-luce lucellum" ("Out of light & little profit"). Tho exigencies of war § no doubt furnish Mr. ■ McKenna with a sufficient safeguard against a repetition of A his predecessor's failure to secure this V- Cr " little profit." if|" THE ODIOUS WINDOW TAX. ' The tax on matches also brings to mind that-other famous .tax on light known as ' % the window tax., People in these en-t;;-'lightened and hygienic times will doubti,;\. less be surprised to learn that this tax on fe;;- daylight was in force in England as late > as the middle of the last century. The U& taxjwas imposed :on .all houses, except j those of the poorest people. It ranged in amount from 6s M to £93 2a 6d, ac- • < cording to the number of windows ,in the i-p. house. This tax on, light and 'air was naturally always bitterly resented by the people, but it was in operation lor. 166 years before it was repealed In 1851 amidst national rejoicings. " Hoardings by I'lw which countless windows had been covered J•» were'torn down and the habitations of . the s*jf people were at last fully exposed .to the &C/V air arid licht of Heaven. Class houses, it I'- need hardly.be said, were not greatly in rogue in' those days. TREATMENT OF - SHELL SHOCK." A form of nervous injury often menj/?:v tinned -in casualty lists'is shell shock. V;?-This'may mean v « very large number of t§ 'things, in which shells have played little or no part. Thfc . commonest form 'is a simple' concussion which may take place : ' because the victim has been in reach of I§-the wind of a high-explosive shell when it ' burst-,' or may have been hit by a sandbag 'behind' a parapet if the shell has burst very near the outside of the trench. In neither case f will the patient be able to say what happened, because concussion „ of this kind will obliterate tie memory of everything that happened for some 0: time, it may be some hoars, before he was injured. The "symptoms of this kind y. of shell-shock are the same those of r p;' concussion in civil life, and are followed •t • by similar complications. . . But, though £ ~ this 'kind of nervous, effect is the only • >. one attributable directly to a shell, there (V s are . a number of other conditions popup;larly termed shell-shock which are only |fe: indirectly due to it.- All these are being closely observed by the medical service; r -ll indeed the war has made possible a tiegree of organisation in medical research ' such pa could uardly have been contem- • plated before. it All the "nerve" cases iJLff which are' sent to the military hospitals pp: are - examined by trained observers, and i;{v.'au the symptoms, injuries and peculiarifejities rioted on a common plan. ' Fifty $§|: neurologists, among '.them' the 'most" brilliant and tho ablest men, give their * ser- : vices to this work, and . the examinationis conducted both in England and in the hospitals In France and Flanders. Thus every^"nerve case" is now card-indexed. 7 r The observers can compare notes and correlate, information, and meetings are held to discuss cases, tendencies and treatment, A standard practice of inquiry-and treat- >• ment will emerge,.and it will be valuable in civil life as well as in warfare. Thus humanity for all time will benefit by the advantage which medical science is taking of the abnormal circumstances of war.

the channel tunnel SCHEME. The activity of the G&iEss-cubmarincs In the neighbourhood of the English -"Channel una the trouble that tho Admiral- has been put to in guarding this important sea-way brings to mind the oftdisrat ed channel tunnel scheme. It is rather .nrnrisiiift that some of the "I told you so" "lasj of experts have not already been deckling that the abandonment of the tunnel project «ms a great blunder. It was over 40 years ago that tho. Society Francats du Tnimel Sous-Marin was incorporated ill France for the purpose of carrying out thin great work. A shaft was actually sunken the French side of ,the channel, about six miles from Calais, ' and the English terminus was fixed near Dover, where some preliminary work was also done. Considerable tunnelling was carried out by tho French company, but after they had spent" about £100,000 tho British Government' stopped the work at the English end, ostensibly for the reason that a tunnel beneath the channel, would destroy the security of Great Britain's insular position and render her 'fable to invasion. The scheme was aul 1 .-quently, on similar grounds, set aside by the Bri- • . isli Parliament in ; 1885. Nine yea-a ago ' • the project was revived, but again it was SV- stormed by i statement in the Houso J, of Commons by lie then Prime Minuter, „ Sir Henry Uainpbell-Bannerman, w% re•peated the old . arguments against- the >/• work, The , last time thrt tho 'tunnel ,was ;>)' ■ publicly advocated was in 1913,- when Sir \i \Arthur Conan' Doyle brought tho matter forward. He pointed out that ever" reason that ,waS advanced against the scheme, prior Ito the; days 1 of; the entente cordial© >■/ between Britain and Fi'anc-J • could • now be employed in favour {of it. It • was urged that wnilst y Britain V' an.-' France " were r ' ji friendly 7 the, tunnel ; would .he of the . : greatest advantage' in time of war, and that moreover if ;these* i.wo nations were . : v at war. nothing' would ;he • easier than •to destroy the tunnel from either end. , These views : were endorsed by. Major-General Sir • Regiaald - Talbot, a former Governor - Of» .Victoria, but the 'discussion' had ' no practical result. . ; -. ; - . . . . 'j v" : X . :

ZEPPELIN RAIDS AND REPRISALS.

•The increased' frequency of the' Zeppelin raids on London and other British towns once more raises the question of reprisals against these breaches of the' laws of war. The military definition of reprisals" is interesting. In the " Manual of Military Law," paragraph 452, it is stated: "Reprisals between belligerents are retaliation for illegitimate acts of warfare for the purpose of making the enemy comply in future with the recognised laws of war." IParagraph 454 runs as follows" Re--1 prisals "are an extreme measure, bocause in most cases they inflict .suffering upon innocent individuals. In this, however, their coercivo force exists, ana they are indispensable as a last ■ resource." Paragraph 456 says that: " ... As rule the injured party would not. at once resort to reprisals, but would first lodge a complaint with tho enemy in the hopo of stopping any repetitions of the offence, or of securing" the punishment of tho guilty." -

—Tire General,