NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19209, 24 December 1925, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE BASIS OF GOOD HEALTH." "Wo boast of this age as being the health age. Yet there was never a time when disease, in tho true meaning of the word, was more prevalent than it is now," says Sir W. Arbuthnot Lane, in the Fortnightly Review. "Of ten people one meets nine complain of more or less impaired health. At no time in the world's history was tho telling of medic rnents as much in evidence as it is to-day. To millions of people medicaments have become as necessary as their daily bread.

. . . The only true cure of disease consists in right living, which prevents organic degeneration and consequent damage which is more or less permanent and incurable. The greatest medicines of all are air, water, sunshine, right food, rest and proper exorcise. With these remedies of Nature wo have reduced tho tuberculosis death rate in tho most remarkable manner. If with fresh air, water, sunshino, right food and proper exercise we can cure people acutely suffering from tuberculosis, which means in their case that we can bring that terrible disease to a standstill, it is obvious that with fresh air, water, sunshine, right food and proper exercise wo can keep people in health and prevent not only tuberculosis, but a host of other diseases as well." THE HIGH SPEED MOTORIST. "The King's Highway is the common track for all classes of traffic foot passengers, perambulators, bicycles, milkcarts, farm waggons and cattle-—and no person has tho right to behave on tho common highway in such a manner as to imperil the safety of fellow-users of that track," says Mr. Harold Cox, in the Spectator. "Yet a largo number of high speed motorists behave as if they had that right. They will drive at high speed on the crest of the road, leaving only a minimum of space for foot passengers or cyclists on the sido of the road. Further to assert their claim to an exclusive right to the King's Highway many motorists make a habit of constantly using loud hooters with the idea of warning persons even a hundred yards ahead on tho road to get out of their way. The hooting habit is indeed tho typical presentation of tho motorist s mentality—the road belongs to him; everybody must give way to him; and he veils to make them do it. Why the law should tolerate this nuisance it is difficult to understand. Similar offences unconnected with motoring are promptly punished. Nor would the law remain supine if pedestrians acquired the habit of rushing at top speed along crowded pavements and yelling to everybody ahead to clear oat of their way. Tho idea that hooting prevents accidents is a pure delusion. In the United States the rule which made it necessary for motorists to sound a horn when arriving at an intersection of roads has wisely been dropped. Instead of hooting to frighten other people out of his way the motorist has to slacken speed." SCOPE FOR SPEEDING. Mr. Cox suggests a prohibition against the use on the public highway of vehicles capable of travelling at more than a certain speed. "The hundred miles an hour motor-cycle and motor-cyclist should be limited to Brooklands, where they can only collide with vehicles and personalities of similar types. Highway traffic ought to be restricted to relatively slow traffic just because tho highway is the common property of the whole community. For rapid traffic we happily have an excellent system of railways built for that purpose and so planned that it can be carried in safety. Admittedly it is not tho same tiling to sit comfortably in a railway carriage, travelling safely and smoothly at 60 miles an hour, as to rush .along the open road in a motor-car or on a motor-cycle. In the latter amusement there is the joy of personal endeavour with the added joy to the adventurous that risk involves. But the adventurous have no right to seek their joy at the risk of other people. They must be content with more moderate pleasures, or else choose a path where the risk is their own. Happily this path is now available. The development of small aeroplanes offers an opportunity of almost limitless possibilities to the high-speed motorist. Let him learn to fly; let him fly as fast as ever ho likes. He will have no difficult corners to turn, no crowded streets to negotiate, and the chauces are at least a hundred to one that, if he crashes, nobody will be hurt but himself and his machine."

HOUSING IN THE UNITED STATES. Although less acute than in European countries, a shortage of housing was revealed in many of the larger American cities after the war. A report issued by the International Labour Office of the League of Nations states that in the United States, as in Europe, the war came in a period of decline of building activity resulting from the withholding of private capital from building enterprise on account of its diminished profits.' After the war private building resumed proportions considerably nearer to the normal than in any of the European countries directly affected by the war, but toward the end of 1919 and the beginning of 1920, a tendency for the worse became apparent. There was a strong upw'ard tendency from 1917 onward in both wages and prices of materials, and this was particularly marked in 1920. In addition the transport and coal situations were critical in that year and capital was difficult to obtain. As a consequence building ceased to be a profitable undertaking, and the activity which had immediately followed the war fell off. The year 1921, however, was generally characterised by a fall in prices, and, to a much less extent, by a reduction in wages, leading to a general decrease in the cost of building, so that as rents remained stationary or oven rose, capital was onco more attracted and a recovery in building activity took place. The years 1921-1923 show a steady increase in building construction, both residential and non-residential; thus for 258 identical cities, 271.231 building permits were issued in 1923, as compared with 231,373 in 1922 and 156,980 in 1921. In some cities the volume of building " approached a real boom." It is stated, however, that " the booni has largely passed over those groups within the population who have suffered most from the housing shortage. Ways and means still have to be found to help solve the housing question for the low-paid wage-earner. Housing reformers, philanthropic builders, employers, co-operative groups and public authorities still hnve their part to play. In other words, the private commercial builder who continues to build most of the homes of the population is still unable to solve the problem umided."