The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1926.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3756, 9 March 1926, Page 51

The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1926.) THE WEEK.

“Nunquam all ml Datura allud sapientia dixit* —Juvenal. “Good nature and good sense must ever join.”-* Pop*.

The visit of Dr M. T. MacEaehern and the opinions which he is Hospital entitled to express on hosManagemcnt. pital systems -will doubt-

loss evoke wide attention. His estimate of the efficiency of the Dunedin Hospital is satisfactory, but his strong advocacy of voluntary effort in building up the hospital system wi r be read with mixed feelings. There is un questionably a strong disposition to regard the hospital and charitable aid rate as an unnecessarily big burden. Yet this emi nent authority makes out a strong case for voluntary effort. He has never seen research initiated and developed yet other than by voluntary effort, and lie instances what voluntary effort has been instrumental in bringing about in the case of hospitals in Victoria. The develo: ut of voluntary effort, with a lessening of the need for Government and municipal assistance would be dependent, it may be imagined, on the possibility of a considerable awakening of public interest in a community such as this. The results attained through voluntary effort in instances cited by Dr MacEaehern must mean the evolution of something like a habit of giving donations for hospital purposes, such as it might be difficult to stimulate in communities such as this, in which a different hospital system obtains.

This week promises to be momentous in tho history of European Germany and politics, charged with the League. great possibilities for the further perpetuation of peace. Sir Austen Chamberlain Ml carry to Geneva the mnnn won by his Locarno efforts, but it would be futile to overlook the gravity of the situation. There exists a deep feeling that Germany should be admitted to the League of Nations, but her admission opens up considerations not easily dismissed, some of which were not apparent in the first pronouncements on her admission. The prime quo * » now is whether Germany can be admitted, with representation on the Council, and Poland and Spain denied. It is very hard to appear to give preference to the *’omy of yesterday, but Germany is so great a factor in future European peace that the position must be faced. Britain is in the unfortunate position of appearing to quarrel with her Allies and to favour her late enemy. The best that, can be hoped is that the new spirit will save the situation, and that the men who made Locarno possible will not fail in face of the present difficult situation. The movement for peace lias made real and solid progress, ami a setback will he deplorable. In the future Germany will be either a bulwark for peace or a potential war-maker. For the sake of humanity and for the preservation of Western civilisation an effort must be made to win her for peace. In his notable book, “Twenty-five Years,” Viscount Grey puts the position accurately: Germany is, in numbers and efficiency combinod, potentially the strongest country in Europe* For the present

she is disarmed, but in the long run there can be no security in Europe without a Germany that is working genuinely for peace. If the present ami rising generations there have learnt nothing from the experiences of the wr then, indeed, the Allies, particularly Belgium, Britain, and France, cannot help themselves; they must adopt die policy of Bismarck after 1870, make themselves secure for the future in the old way, and try to avoid the mistakes of Bismarck’s successors. But this will be a last resort, and almost a counsel of despair. It rests ou an assumption which ought not to be accepted till it is clear that there is no better hope.

It is as unfortunate as it is inevitable that the misguided British seastrike men who followed the bad Chickens. advice of the Australian

strike leaders are suffering so acutely at the present time. Mr Havelock Wilson is appealing for assista^^ o in an effort to mitigate the hard lot of the strikers and the still harder lot of their dependents. It is noted with displeasure that those who were most blatant in their attempts to persuade ami to prevent seamen from working are least prominent in the effort to relieve the suffer*’ As a matter of fact, some of the most prominent are very busy quarrelling among themselves, making serious allegations- as to the management and disposal of strike funds. It is deplorable, after an exi ience of scores of strikes, that rpen not profit by sad and bitter suffering. The weapon of the strike has, in a large number of cases, had a boomerang effect, striking those who employ it. The Australian leaders of the strike, as well as those who aided and abetted them in the Dominion, should be sorry for the results of their handiwork, but the egotistical nature of some begetters of strife makes it impossible for them to recognise and to accept actual facts. In truth, they are the least fitted to give advice and to lead men, but when industrial trouble arises they appear always in the forefront, and always, too, with the nostrum of extreme action. They call the tune, and in too many cases the misguided rank and file pays the piper.

The tour of Central Otago undertaken last week by the Prime Central Otago: Minister and the Ministers Land of of Lands and of .AgriculPromise. tare appears likely to bear

fruitful results for *the Dominion.' Mr Coates lias been long convinced of the possibilities of the land aided by irrigation, and Mr M‘Leod and Mr Hawken appear to be equally enthusiastic. The full development of Central Otago is equivalent to an addition to the territory of New Zealand. To have discovered that such a large area is capable of producing untold wealth in products instead of remaining a waste is no small thing for a country possessing limited acres of workable land. It is a great undertaking, fit only for men possessing enterprise aH imagination, and. judged on his pa performances, Mr Coates has both. His fel-low-Ministers are men of experience, and they cannot fail to be impressed. ‘‘You have the climate and the sunshine, and we are going to give you the water,” observed the Minister of Agriculture at Cromwell, thus tersely attesting his appreciation of the salient facts impressed upon his notice during a rapid but instructive tour. The Ministerial party’s progress and the discussions in which its members were engaged at various points have drawn attention to the diversity and the magnitude, considered as a whole, of the schemes cither in hand or projected for the irrigation of the Otago Central region. Particular interest attaches to the proposals of the Public Works Department in the projection, in the Manuherikia Valley, of the biggest irrigation scheme yet contern plated in the Dominion. The cost of irri gating many thousand acres of waterless land in that district is expected to approximate £900,000. Subsequent to an inspection of the scene of these prospective operations Mr Coates observed 1 ’■he question at issue was whether the demonstration of what the country could do when irrigated warranted the expenditure of public money, and whether the time had arrived when the Government could, with safety, undertake the first big scheme * Central Otago. We trust that the personal observations of the Prime Minister and of his colleagues have given them reassurance, if they felt in need of it, on that point. There can be no qlinr* ’ 'ith the stress laid by Mr Coates on more than one occasion on the necessity of conp?,,AWing irrigation schemes as business undertakings. Attention was usefully directed by him, also, to the extent to which the work is yet on on experimental basis, irrigation being, as he observed, in its infancy in New Zealand. On this consideration the Minister of Lands also touched in his suggestion that, as time goes on, the farmers who at present think they know all about irrigation will discover how little they know. But it is gratifying to note the optimistic touc discernible in the many Ministerial references to irrigation during the tour. At Cromwell the Pn* rinistcr expressed his firm belief that a wonderful future lies before Central Otago, and the character of his latest tour of the district, accompanied by his ministers, lias been itself suggestive of confidence in Ts capacity to repay amply the attention which tho Government is disposed to bestow upon it.

As a result of their strenuous struggle with the ice in the Ross Sea, the five Norwegian whale chasers are now at Port Chalbers to undergo docking for overhaul and repairs. Nos. 4,5, 6. and 7 are to undergo repairs, and they will be accompanied here by Star 1 to take the crews back to the base until the repairs to tho others are completed. Star 1 had ice plates fitted at Port Chalmers last winter, and later on she served as ice-breaker to make a passageway for the others, when the expedition was delayed by the ice. She was evidently more fortunate than her four sister chasers, for the latter require new hull plating and deck planking as a result of being squeezed in th ■ ice. Star 2 and Star 3 remained at Stewart Island throughout th season, their places having been taken by Star 6 and Star 7, which were more capable of withstanding the rough conditions experienced in Ross Sea.

While the fire brigade competiti .is were in progress on the Exhibition sports ground on Saturday afternoon a demonstration was given with a collapsible steel fir. escape. T > escape is very nple in construction. It folds neatly against the wall of a building, and does not look unsightly. When closed the escape automatically locks, but in case of fire and when urgently wantr;. the apparatus can be quickly released. The device can be fitted with an electric bell contact to serve as a fire alarm. The device was favourably commented upon by the firemen present.

Several members of the crew of the wrecked steamer Karu have had more than their share of hard luck at sea (wires our Auckland correspondent), one fireman having been torpedoed on four occasions during the late war. The loss of the Karu was his fifth shipwreck. Keith has been in two wrecks, within a little more than 12 months. He was mate on the brigantine Jeanette, which was caught by a heavy swell and carried on to one of the islands of the Ellis group on December 5, 1924. The crew got ashore safely, and succeeded in saving one of the vessel’s boat. 3. The latter was rigged by sailors, and as there was little hope of any white men visiting the island she was prepared for a long voyage to Funafuti. The captain of the brigantine Mr Keith, and only two natives, c' 400 odd on the island, who could be persuaded to make the trip, then set sail. Stormy weather was encountered, but the voyage of SCO miles was made in five days and six nights. Two weeks after their arrival at Funafuti the party were rescued by a Government varht and taken back to Suva

The annual conference of delegates to the New Zealand Pharmaceutical Association was brought to a conclusion on Thursday. The business portion of the conference was conducted in private, but amongst tK© many matters dealt with was the question of Sunday hours, concerning which the conference passed a resolution reaffirming the desirability of seeking an alteration in the law so as to permit of the hours being regulated by requisition It was decided to hold the next conference at Nelson, ana votes of thanks were accorded the chairman (Mr G. Hoffmann) for the impartial and capable manner in which he had conductea the business of the conference, and the Otago division for the way it had entertained th© delegates and their wives. In the evening a social function was held in the Tudor Hall of the Savoy, at which there was a large assemblage of ladies and gentlemen. Mr Hoffman welct ed the guests on their arrival on behalf of the Otago division, under who? auspices the social was heldSome time was spent in social intercourse, and subsequently dancing was indulged in. The evening proved to be a very enjoyable one. and everything passed off very pleasantly.

Sitting in Chambers on Friday, his Honor Mr Justice Sim granted probate in connection with the following deceased estates:— John M’Kinnon, "unedin (Mr R. R. Aspinal); William Henderson. Dunedin (Mr E. J. Smith); Margaret Grant Oamaru (Mr A. Hamilton); Annie Crawford. Dunedin (Mr J B. Niehol); Elizabeth Routledge. Dunedin (Mr R. S. Bremner); James Watson. Dunedin (Mr A. C. Hanlon); Mary Clent, South Dunedin (Mr E. Aslin), and Elizabeth Williams, Dunedin (Mr P S. Anderson). Letter of administration were granted in the deceased estate of Richard Driver. Oamaru (M* F. W* Ongley).

Dr O’Brien, of Christchurch, gave a timely warning in an address to the conference of Rotarians on Friday. He said that a mother had come to him with a child to have it’s eyes tested. He had found nothing wrong with the girl’s eyes, and the mother, in conversation, had then told him that the girl was very slow in her lessons. She was indeed only in the same class as her sister, who was two years younger. This information moved the doctor to ask further questions. He supposed Maggie, we shall say. Wue often told that Mary was much the smarter child. The mother agreed that that was so. “And I suppose . ther also rubs ,t in, and that Maggie has come to imagine that she is quite a duffer.” Mother again agreed. “Is there anything that Maggie can do?” asked the doctor. The mother admitted that Maggie was very useful about the house, that she could make the beds, and so on. ‘‘Well,” said the doctor, ‘‘why don’t you praise her, and keep on praising her for this. I tell you, if you allow the girl to get the impression that she cannot do anything, when she reaches the age of about 14 she will probably run away.” Then the mother hung her head, and said that Maggie had already done this once The parting advice from the doctor to the mother was to go home and praise her girl for tho good work she could do. and not hold her up to ridicule because she was not as good a scholar as Mary. Later in his address Dr O’Brien wanted to know why girls reaching the age of puberty were taught algebra. Euclid, and rubbish of that sort instead of tho principles of motherhood.

“The worst season we have experienced for many years,” was the remark of a Hasting farmer to a Napier Daily Telegraph reporter. He added: “I've never been so poor in all my life, and mos* other farmers are in the same box.”