PASSING EVENTS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1536, 7 August 1901, Page 34

PASSING EVENTS.

History is philosophy teaching by examples.

—Thucydides.

In all parts of the colony manufacturers and employers of' labour are complaining of the aggressive legislation which has been passed by Parliament in the interests of labour unions.. Unionists themselves assert that the Conciliation Boards ar© becoming a tax upon their resources, and they cordially, endorse the Premier’s hint to members that they are riding conciliation to death. But the trouble is that the Boards do not conciliate. They but aggravate the conditions by exposing them, and estrange employers and employes almost to irreoonciliation. Such, at all events, are the complaints of many unionists, who would rather the Boards were abolished, and that all disputes should go direct to the Arbitration Court for adjustment. We are not surprised that unionists should complain- A re*, cent sitting of the Conciliation Board, in Auckland is reported to have drained £350 out of the funds of the unions j. and although that represented the pnce of som© concessions to the workers, the grievance is that the price 13 too high, and that if the Board had been willing it could have don© its business in such, a manner as to have saved both unionists and employers hundreds of pounds.

prodncera.in the country are beginning '• io fcoinpiain, that the general effect of conciliation.. has been to raise the values t.of those commodities which are manu-

factured by workers in the towns, and since the value of their productions are regulated by the law of supply and demand, .they are now realising, that to Rome extent .they are being handicapped. in the industrial race. Employers of labour, are likewise feeling the pin oh of too much conciliation. Large manufacturers may have six or seven different unions represented in their employment, and when these in succession file complaints before the Conciliation Board, which is incapable of conciliating, it must be apparent that the process is vexatious and expensive. We would not, of course, see the employe oppressed and compelled to work long hours for starvation wages, but we must confess that the Conciliation and Arbitration Act is being unwisely used, while this incessant interference with industrial pursuits is calculated to do the colony • from , a manufacturing standpoint considerable harm. Should a period of depression overtake this country, we are afraid that the advantage workers have forced out of employers may be reversed with interest. It behoves unionists therefor© to be wary, lest as one employer puts it, they slay the goos e that lays the golden eggs. The desire to use the power the Act confers upon unionists ought to be restrained, for it is possible to “squeeze” employers too much.

It is very gratifying to learn that the Minister for Public Works sees no reason to doubt that the Main Trunk line from Wellington to Auckland will be completed now within three years. " This will be in keeping with th e promise made last session by the Government that the railway should be running between Welling- . ton and Auckland at the end of 1904. The line i s essential to the development of the North Island. It will do much to enhance Lhe prosperity of the two cities -v and move towards the settlement of almost inaccessible areas of fertile country in the interior. On these points there is no difference of opinion. Auckland members of Parliament, far more in earnest concerning the line than those representing southern and Wellington constituencies, are continually reminding the Government of its * promises and urging the Minister for Public Works to tell what pi ogress has y been made and when he intends to call for tenders for th©_ construction of this bridge or the building of that viaduct. Sine© Auckland became unified as to the route no place could be more persistent in its demands for rapid progress being made with the railway. The Auckland League appointed an inspector to watch the work and report at regular intervals upon what is being done. This official’s reports Eire invariably satisfactory. His latest says “the work is progressing as fast as the weather will permit.” That is at the northern end, and the rails are actually laid nine miles beyond the Paro-o-tarao tunnel to within four miles, of Ongaruhe, which is a rapidly growing township and will he the terminus of the railway for some months. On the southern side the Minister for Public Works says the work is being pushed forward with all possible haste. The Makohin e viaduct is practically complet. ' ed, and a train will be running through to Mangaweka this summer. For the Mangaweka viaduct, which will be over one thousand feet long, the material is on the ground, and the iron work is. wml forward. The other viaducts at Toitois, Hautapu and Mangatoto would be offered to English or American contractors, but the Minister believes that the construction of these works would be more expeditious were they undertaken by colonials under the direction of the Government’s engineers. There are two or three bridges yet to be built, but tbe plans and specifications are now almost completed. Tenders for the largest bridge will be called for in England and America, and, if satisfactory, these works will be finished well within the time the Minister ha® mentioned for the completion of the line. The statement of the Hon. Hall-Jones is one tha£ will be received with satisfaction throughout the North Island, for it carries with it the conviction that the Government is pushing the work on with all possible and is determined to keep faith with the people’s representatives that the railway * will be finished within the time limit already announced.

Recently it was reported that an eminent European scientist had cultivated a bacillus to destroy the microbe of cancer—a disease that is the despair of the medical profession. It doe s not, however, appear that this has been received with favour or been generally adopted by the faculty. At all events, the ravages of this disease have not been arrested. The number of deaths du e to cancer is on the increase throughout the civilised world, and notwithstanding all that doctors have been able to do in fighting this terrible fecourge, they have been unable to lessen the number of its victims. It is possibl'e j iliat improved methods of diagnosis and a more careful certification of the cause of death may account for some <jf the increase, but after making due allowance for advancement in that direction, the number of deaths due to cancer has more than doubled during the past twenty years. So -widespread has the disease .become that anything

becomes at once of general interest. The surgeon’s knife lias not always been a success, but Dr J. H. Webb, M.R.C.S.E., of Australia, has just intimated to the faculty of the Commonwealth that he has made successful experiments in the cure of cancer with so commonplace a commodity as ordinary soap. In the latest “Medical Journal” of Australasia Dr Webb cites many cases in which this simple remedy has acted as a charm. In one case—, that of a breast scirrbus—of which a brother doctor had “not the slightest doubt,” Dr Webb’s injection of soap proved efficacious. There was “a hard tumour, the size of an orange,” which in six months, under this treatment entirely disappeared, and for fifteen months the breast remained perfectly healed. Then an unmistakably cancerous growth reappeared, developing a malignant ulcer, the size of half a crown, which was treated in the same way, and in two months it was entirely disposed of, not again to return. The lady, Dr Webb says, is ready to show her breast to any medical man interested. Several other less complicated case s are narrated, but the case on which Dr Webb is inclined to stake his reputation was that of a man whose face was utterly disfigured by the disease. “The whole of th e interior of th§ mouth and cheek was one mass of cancer,” and while the man had not quite recovered at the time of Dr Webb’s writing, yet there had been “an entire disappearance of all outward and visible signs of cancer.” It is a law with the faculty that when they have found out the cause of a disease they have discovered its cure. Dr Webb’s scientific methods may 1 therefore he severely criticised, since h© claims to have found a cure without discovering the cause of the disease. Still, it ought to be remem--bered that some of the greatest discoveries have been more the result of accident than of research ; and if his cures are proved to be permanent the public will not be too particular about Dr Webb’s methods.

The Transvaal war has now degenerated into the practice of “ruffianism, brigandage and outrage.” This was the language of Mr Chamberlain when replying in the House of Commons this week to Sir Henry Oampbell-Banner-man’s enquiry touching the South African situation. The military outlook is, however, - more satisfactory than it has been for a long time, and there are indications that though the finish may be desperate, it is not now far distant. The report of the Commission s e t up to enquire into the Transvaal Government’s concessions discloses how implicated the members of the “Amsterdam gang” were in -the war. With regard to the South African Railway Company, the Commission is of opinion that its concession should be cancelled, and that the company should be deprived of the possession and management of the railway. This may seem at first sight a harsh proposal, because the tendency among modern nations is in the direction '-of acknowledging such contracts as were in existence tte time of one State being annexed by another. According to international law, however, the State whfbh annexes another is not bound by any contracts or concessions mad© by th© State which has ceased to exist; so that the British Government apart from any other consideration would he justified in adopting its Commission’s report. But it appears that the company is deserving of no mercy. According to one of its active agents, Mr Van Kretschmar, “the company has helplessly compromised itself in deed, word, and writing.” Now the Dutchmen in Amsterdam vainly imagined that the Boers would succeed in driving the ’ British out of South Africa, and the South African Railway Company gave the Kruger party every assistance t© attain that end. They gloried in their conduct so long as the Boers - were winning, but so soon as the tide of battle turned against Britain’s enemies the Amsterdam gang changed their policy. If not wishful to defend the British, they wanted to do noth., ing that would be injurious to themselves afterwards. . Mr Van Kretschmar, strange as it may seem, scorns poltroonery of that kind, _ and writes to his directors in this strain : “I would have liked to hear your judgment, you who were proud of it when you 'heard of the Z.A.S.M.’s (South African Railway Company’s) deeds of heroism in the destruction of brjdges, etc., who wished for special data in order to make mention in our yearly report of the active part which we took in the defence of th© country. The adversity of the Republics must have sorely touched you. in order to make you all of a sudden So anxiously neutral.” Who will say now that the Boers wer© not relying upon support from Europe, and in the end such intervention as would secure the independence of the Republics? The hope still exists. However, notwithstanding Kruger’s telegram to Botha, De La Key, De Wet and Steyn to continue fighting, as alleviation would he sent when needed, the end of the military operations in South Africa is in sight. The country is being pacified. Settlement and industrial activity supported by constructive statesmanship and administration will rapidly obliterate the loss and devastation wrought by the war.

Mr J. W. Poyntoa, Public Trustee, has lectured with much acceptance dur-

sc’entific progress during the last century. It is a most interesting study, and .Mr Poynton handled his subject in a concise and popular style. The lecturer has something to say of that French science, chemistry, which was founded by Lavoisier, who was one of the brightest intellects of his day 7. In the early part of the century Dalton published the first part of his “Chemical Philosophy;” and there we have the At. ornic theory discoursed on in a way similar to that our contributor Mr C. C. Ross has been dealing with “The Atomic World” in the course of several essays. Mr Ross, however, claims to have made a new discovery. Dalton admitted that he borrowed something of his theory from ancient Greek philosophy; but he established his thesis on a firm basis of fact. It is from the idea that . a compound such as water is formed with atoms of another kind, and that in all the varied transformations of matter no particle is either created or destroyed, that all the complex theories of interatomic action have arisen and are now matters of every day thought. Professor Tilden tells us that the idea of arrangement of atoms in space can be traced by the scientific use of the imagination is now as well founded as any other theory in physical science. To the demonstration of this hypothesis Pasteur devoted some time, and everyone knows what benefits he has conferred on society. The oi'dinary layman is not, however, greatly interested in the work of celebrated chemists, of noted doctors, natural scientists, or these famous inventors who have achieved much by the application of steam and electricity to modern industry. Still a review of the victories of science during the past century forms an interesting subject, and Mr Poynton made the most of it within the tira© at his disposal. In place of the goosequill we have the typewriter. The farmer of 1801 used a scythe, the farmer in 1901 a reaper and binder. The hand press has given place to the Goss cylinder machine- Gunpowder is still used, but we now have nitro-gly-cerine and dynamite. Farthing tallow dips have given place to electric light, and the beacon-signal has been supplanted by the telegraph, and continents widely severed by miles of ocean are linked together by electric cables. Where our forefathers in the Peninsular war fought with flintlocks, we- to day are. fighting with Maxim guns. We have besides wireless telegraphy, the bicycle, the -steam loom in the factory instead of the handloom in the home. Indeed, the scientific discoveries of the past century have added to our length of days and enhanced human enjoyment by lessening the sum total of human suffering. It is well at times to pause and count the gains of science to humanity before declaring in glooin and despondency that life is not worth liv L ing. _