The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1913.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3098, 30 July 1913, Page 48

The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1913.) THE WEEK.

“ ’fTnnar.aai aiiu-il Datura, aliud dixit. ITuve:;a!.. x . . „ “ Good nature aad good sense must over jo.n. Pope. In the political arena interest has centred around the Grey election, where, thanks to the vagaries of the second ballot, the beet man has failed to seome a. seat. Hut although Mr Michel ha« been defeated, the honours of the contest rest with the Reform party. Hie Grev electorate has always been regarded as a stronghold of Seddonism, and consequently for the peeudo-Liberalism into which Seddonism has in these latter days degenerated. The return of Mr Hannan was made possible bv the intervention of Mr F. C. Webb, the representative of Syndicalism and a “Red Fed’ of the deepest dye. Exasperated at the deteat of their candidate at- the first ballot, the bulk of t-iie supporters of Mr Hannan at the. second ballot cast their votes for Mr Webb, who has consequently been returned to Parliament, The fact that Mr Webb, the champion of Labour Socialism of the most- extreme type, has been elected largely by the suffrages of Opposition supporters, has created an alliance between the Opposition and Syndicalism which a section of the Opposition press has not been slow to aclaam. This alliance, with all that it stands for, has consciously or unconsciously given tne Opposition policy a colouring which is certainly significant. On the other hand, the Reform party, thanks to the activity, energy, and high character of Mr Michel, lias succeeded in the face of almost unexampled odds in creating a substantial Reform vote in a previously hostile electorate, a vote which should virtually ensure a Reform victory at the next general election. Meanwhile, save that the new Speaker has been selected from the ranks of the Government supporters, the balance of parties in. Parliament remains unchanged. The Government has given evidence of the progressive and truly Liberal character of its legislation by the introduction of a Pensions Rill which will considerably extend the benefits of the scheme. Especially is this the case with the provision under which women will be available for pensions at the age of 60, a. provision estimated to increase the liability of the State by some £70,000. Mr Massey is apparently satisfied as to the source from which this increased annual commitment can be met, and this being so the somewhat fatuous criticism of the Opposition in the matter may be regarded as entirely negligible. Apart from the introduction of the Police Fopc-c Bill, the only other political happening of importance during the week was the moving in the Upper House of the second reading of the Hill for Legislative Council Reform. This makes manifest the Government’s intention- to seriously proceed with this important policy measure, and the emphatic warning given by Mr Bell should be sufficient to put the Councillors on their best behaviour. If, however, the Council in its folly decides to again throw out the measure, the Government has a remedy close at hand. When Parliament assembles next year no fewer than 16 of the present Legislative Councillors will vacate their seats by effluxion of time. And it will be an easy matter for the Government to arrange that the constitution of the Second Chamber is "such that tbs passing of this important Bill be no longer imperilled. From any and every point of view it is necessary that the Council be reformed on tile lines of the Bill now before it during the life of the present Parliament. “Who shall decide when doctors disagree''” exclaimed Alexander Rope many years before the “immortal Tenner” made the discovery that enabled the medical profession -to deal with the dire disease of smallpox in an adequate fashion. Up in Auckland, where the infection is most dreaded, there is considerable disagreement among the medical men. The Health Department lias definitely diagnosed the epidemic which has broken out amongst the Maoris as smallpox of a mild type, but a number of independent doctors persist in declaring that it is but chickempox of a severe type. Meanwhile, the Government is insisting upon the fjme precautions being taken as if the disease were smallpox, and the members of the cabinet have taken heroic measures in submitting themselves to the painful process of vaccination, with the result that they have been all more or less hors de combat. Indeed. Mr James Allen has suffered so severely that, greatly to his chargin. the delivery of the Financial Statement has unavoidably been delayed. Of course the voice of the antivaccinists has been heard, but the fact remains that the bulk of the populace, indifferent or apathetic when no danger presents itself, eagerly rush to be vaccinated when infection is in the air. This has been illustrated forciblv in Sydney, where, when the epidemic was at its height, the vaccinators, public and private, were unable to cope with the rush of patients. So soon, however, as the papers announced that the epidemic was abating, there woe a perceptible diminution in the demand for vaccination, a fact that has caused the health authorities in New South Wales some amount ol perturbation. Tills, goes to show that while the average man avoids and hesitates to increase the disagreeable consequences that follow after vaccination, yet be eagerly endures the minor penalty when confronted with the possibility of the greater and more serious evil. Dr W. L. Mackenzie in his little handbook on

Tlip Political Arena.

The SmaTp'ix Scare.

“Health ami Disease” has a chapter on “Fever and Epidemics,” which may profitably be studied at this juncture. Dealing with the .channels of infection, he writes: —“The infective agent once it enters the bod}- seems for a time to_ lie dormant. This is its incubation period. The incubation may last only a Sew hours, as occasionally m scarlet fever. It may last for 12 or*l3 days, as in typhus fever or measles or smallpox. The infective agent seems to lie dormant, but it is only ‘seems.’ Perhaps it is growing as in a laboratory incubator until it lias amassed numbers sufficient to make an attack in force. Possibly this occurs in diphtheria.

where the germ may often be found in masses on the surface of the tonsil. Or perhaps it is' actively breaking down the natural defence offered b\ the blood cells, the blood liquids, the tissue cells, and the tissue liquids. These all probably contain or produce antidotes to those living poisons. Once the antidotes are all exhausted then the germ may advance freely, conquering and to conquer. It may increase in numbers until the do&e of its poison overwhelms millions of the body cells. Then, indeed, the incubation is over ; but is incubation the best name for this war between two species? Or once more, the infective germ, having lost its virulence in passing through another body, may need nursing and nourishing before it can deal a blow at a new enemy. Or yet again, it may enter a body where it is biologically welcome, or not exceptionally unwelcome. In a group of smallpox cases all in one family I have seen every grade of infection from a single doubtful spot on the skin of the youngest child to a well-marked eruption on an older sister. Between the two extremes lay other cases that showed what the extremes meant. In one case appeared an eruption that seemed to be the forerunner of a violent confluent smallpox; but in 48 hours this eruption disappeared. In another some trifling pocks formed and slowly disappeared—a modified smallpox. Is incubation the name for the process that had an issue so different? Surely not. Probably the incubation period covers a various multitude of active processes, each peculiar to the given disease. It may even be that the germ is actively immunising against itself the whole tissues of the body, and that the final outburst that we name ‘the disease’ the ‘fever,’ is only a too rapid, too violent process of immunisation. These are some of the puzzles that cluster round the incubation period. They are a type of innumerable problems that have sprung up since the germ theory appeared; but thev show how intricate the adaptations of the body are to the infinitely various environment. But the increasing application of theories does not, on the whole, result in an increasing simplification of practice." The price of wool means all the difference between prosperity and adversity for the people ot this Dominion. It was the slump in the wool market a few years back that so decreased the value of the exports from New Zealand as to bring them below the volume ot imports, and thus percipitated something that came very close to a financial crisis, and which forced upon the Government an unpopular and unwelcome series of retrenchments. The affaire of one country are now so intermingled with the affairs of other countries that it is impossible to gauge the probable course of any industry without taking a world-wide view. There are two main factors now influencing the wool market, the one a favourable force, and the other a distinct menace. The favourable, force is the probability that wool will shortly bo admitted free of duty into the American Republic. For the past four years the production o£ wool in America has steadily decreased, whilst at the same time the consumption—thanks to the growth of population and the growth of wealth —has as steadily increased. And in the event of the duty being removed it may be taken as certain that America alone will absorb the bulk of the clip from Australia and New Zealand. At the present time there is a duty on wool in America of about 35 per cent, ad valorem, and the placing of wool upon the free list means a sacrifice of revenue to the extent of about three millions sterling. Ihe Tariff Bill, which provides among other things for free wool and free sugar, was passed by the American House of Representatives on May 8 by a vote of 281 to 159. a result considered a personal triumph for President Wilson. Mr Underwood, whose nmne the Tariff Bill bears, says that it keeps the Demo cratic party’s promise to the people, and he is confident “that it will bring real relief to the American people in reducing the high cost of living and better adjustment of our business conduct under modern methods.’’ The Bill has gone to the Senate, and will in all probability soon become the law of the land. The menace to the wool market is the growing complication in the Balkans.. If only the Balkan difficulty could be settled, there would at once be an abatement of the financial stringency which at present is felt in every country of the civilised world. And Messrs Dalgety and Company, in their annual review of the wool situation, predict that, given a satisfactory settlement in the Balkan Peninsula, a demand for wool \yould set in which will prevent the comparatively slight increase in supplies which is assured from having the slightest effect upon the market. Producers can look forward with confidence to a better year than the past, for all the primary products are likely to realise payable prices.

The f'rtcc ol Wool.