The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (TUESDAY, JULY 13, 1926.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3774, 13 July 1926, Page 47

The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (TUESDAY, JULY 13, 1926.) THE WEEK.

"Nunquam all mi natura, allud Eapientia dixit. —JUVXXAL. "Good nature and good sense trust ever join.”— Pop*.

Mr Downie Stewart is entitled to con- ' defence in that the circumA First ' stances attending upon the Budget. presentation to Parliament of his first Budget are not such as to permit of any sensational features. Indeed it may be described as a most commonplace document and devoid of any special interest to the average taxpayer. The intimation was gently conveyed .n the Governor-General’s speech at the opening of Parliament that there would be no remissions jf taxation this year; there were, therefore, no anticipations in that direction to be disappointed. The financial uncertainty in regard to the immediate future renders it imperative that no undue risks shall be taken, and that no non-essential commitments shall be entered upon; it is well, therefore, that a Minister so essentially cautious as Mr Downie Stewart should keep watch and ward over the Treasury. The changes that have taken place in keeping the accounts of several of the Government departments make it impossible, save by an expert, to institute com"parisons between the financial situation to-day and in previous years. It is an aphorism that balanoe sheets are made to conceal rather than reveal, and this is certainly true of the statement made last week by. the Minister of Finance. There are, however, one or two outstanding points in that statement which should be taken to heart by the average man; the first of which is that last year’s taxation amounted to £l2 7s lid for every man, woman, and child in the Dominion. Nor is thera much prospect of a reduction in the im lediate future, since the war indebtedness reaches a total of seventyfive million pounds, and thus contributing what Mr Downie Stewart describes as ‘‘an unescapable burden.” Another point to he remembered is that the public dobt of the Dominion now totals £163,500,000, involving an interest charge of over ten millions, while the cost of administration swallows up another ten millions. The total revenue derived from taxation on the existing scale yields less than eighteen millions, so that tho .outlook is none too promising. And, in addition, the programme outlined by the Prime Minister involves some heavy items of expenditure. Under the circumstances, the necessity of economy on the part both of private individuals and the Government cannot bo too strongly enforced; unfortunately, it is a policy which is not too popular, and which is too often honoured rather in the breach than in the observance.

Quite early in the Creation story, accord- . ing to the Genesis allegory, "Let there be the fiat went forth, “Let LlfM.” there be light: and there was light.” For a number of years past Mr T. K. Sidey has sought

to promote the passage of a Bill through Parliament the aim of which is to enable the people of New Zealand to make the best use of the daylight that is given to them. Mr Sidey’s pertinacity in presenting his Summer Time Bill, session after session, has exposed him to a certain amount of ridicule; indeed, the very mention of “daylight saving” began to bo treated as a huge joke. Ho laughs longest who laughs last, and after many days the member for Dunedin South has had the satisfaction of seeing his Bill pui through all the stages in the House of Representatives, with a reasonable hop* of passing the Legislative Council'and of being placed upon the Statute Book. satisfactory an outcome was due in no small measure to the pledge given by the Prime Minister that the Bill should have "a fair rum” in the Lower House, and this despite Mr Coates’s personal antagonism to the measure. Virtually all the arguments advanced against the adoption of ‘‘summer time" in the Dominion are the same as those which greeted the change in Britain, and which experience has shown to be largely groundless. When once the people become accustomed to the alteration in time during the summer months, it may be expected that the benefits will speedily be re recognised, as has been the case in the Homeland. The Prime Minister advanced the objection that daylight saving would mean extra hours spent in sport and recreation, whereas what the Dominion needed was increased production. On the other hand, daylight saving spells the enjoyment of extra sunshine, and ;n New Zealand the early morning sunshine in summer is the best part of the day. Undoubtedly the health of the community will be increased by the adoption of daylight saving.

The practice of medicine is veering strongly in the direction of Preventive prevention, based upon the Medicine. ancient adage that prevention is better than cure. There is a decided reaction against the drastic remedies of surgery, and the craze for operations which a few years back was much in vogue has given place to an organised attempt at providing those healthful conditions and surroundings which render unnecessary the painful and dangerous operations of surgery. To this end, however, careful and patient scientific research is essential, and the representations of the Executive Council of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Council made to the Prime Minister have much bearing on this point. There is some difference of opinion whether it is not sufticent to rely upon the results of medical research in the older lands, where the equipment is more elaborate and where members of the medical profession have the leisure and opportunity to engage in 6uch studies. There is reason to believe, however, that because of its comparative isolation New Zealand offers peculiar advantages for medical research; moreover, the new medical school in Dunedin is the place where such studies might be effectually undertaken and carried *o a successful issue. To mention only one point, some diseases, hitherto regarded as incurable, are yielding to the vaccine treatment, and there appears to be no limit to the possibilities of this remedy, which works in the directon of strengthening the resistance which the human frame offers to the inroads of disease. If research reveals a similar remedy for the all tooprevalent epidemic of influenza, what a saving in health to the community would result. And even although the establishment of a Research Institute in connection with the Medical School will involve a/ considerable expenditure in money, the saving in health would more than cover the co6t.

There appears to be no reason why, with the increase in population, Parliamentary the numbor of the members Representation, of the House of Representatives should remain at 80; or that the number should be as fixed as were the laws of the Medes and Persians. There can be no gainsaying the justice of the claims of the North Island to increased representation in proportion to population ; there is a decided offset in the fact that, under existing conditions, such an increase entails a propevtionate decrease in South Island representation. This has the further disadvantage of increasing the constituencies in the South Island to go unwieldy a size that, as in the case of Westland, Wallace, and Wakatipu, a candidate cannot effectively traverse his district and meet the electors. The suggestion has been mooted that New Zealand might profitably take a leaf out of the book of Canada, where in the case of Quebec there is a fixed representation of 65 members, the proportion of members to population making the standard for the rest of the Dominion. It is suggested that the South Island representation should suffer no further diminution but become a fixed quantity, and that the North Island representation should be increased proportionately to population. The only valid objection to this course fe that it would increase the numerical strength of a Parliament already too large. On the other hand, it affords a good way out of a manifest difficulty.

The discussion ir Parliament upon the report recently made by Sir Scientific Frank Heath showed a Agriculture. general recognition of the importance of the application of the latest scientific methods to industry and agriculture. The Prime Minister emphasised the need of education in scientific agriculture as essential to the progress and prosperity of the Dominion; and it is manifest that Mr Coates went right to the root of the matter. It is futile for the farming community to adhere to the old rule of thumb methods and then expect to compete in the world’s markets with the products of other lands where scientific methods prevail. It is evident that the agricultural college in the North Island is the crux of tho whole

scheme, and Mr Coates advanced the plea, in justification of the selected location, that dairying, which provides so large a proportion of the Dominion’s exports, is more extensively carried on in the North Island than in the South. At the same time, he admitted the usefulness of Lincoln College as an educative centre on more purely agricultural lines, especially in the matter of the growing of grain. This gives ground for the suggestion made in some quarters that while the North Island college must be the centre of the scientific scheme, Lincoln College should be acknowledged as an important adjunct, and the idea appears to be quite practio able.

Our London correspondent mentions that the pictures bequeathed by Mr Wolf Hams to the Public Art Gallery in Dunedin are Shaw’s "The Knight and His Followers,” Barbara Chamfer’s ‘‘King’s Son Found,” and A. Elkey’e "The Fisherman’s Wife of Boulogne.” To Christchurch Art Gallery Mr Harris bequeathed Sir David Murray’s “Tuddington.” He left £70,000 in trust for his daughter, Pearl Rosalinde Bensaude, £SOOO to each of his granddaughters, and large sums in cash and shares to his two sons.

The Chairman of the Christchurch Technical College Board reported at a meeting on July 2 that the need was urgent for early consideration by the Minister of Education to determine a policy for post-primary education in Christchurch, particularly in regard to technical education (states the Press). The enrolment in the Technical High School for 1926 was rather more than 940 pupils, and it was impossible and inadvisable to allow tho school to grow beyond that number. It wa9 regrettable that the college was turning away prospective students ir the elementary engineering course at the evening school, but that was being done solely on account of the lack of accommodation. A scholarship for girls who are in training as teachers of home science is to be founded shortly by the Technical College. It will be known as the Gardner Scholarship, in memory of Mrs Gardner, a pioneer in the Dominion in the work of providing suitable training for girls in the subjects of house-craft and home-making.

Implement and . Machinery Review informs its readers that from 1000 to 2000 milking machines have been installed annually during the last five years in New Zealand, and since 1919 the total number of machines has been doubled. ’Hiere are now about 15,000 installations in everyday use, enabling 53,000 cows to be milked simultaneously. Over 670,000 animals, half tho aggregate of dairy cows in the Dominion are daily milked by the machines. Labour-saving is described as tho main reason for the extraordinary popularity of machine milking.

Further steps have been taken in regard to getting a new police station at Port Chalmers. The Superintendent of Police has consulted with the Mayor and councillors in regard to a suitable site. The Mayor (Mr T. Anderson) has telegraphed to Mr J. M. Dickson, M.P., stating that a site between the 'ost Office and the Freezing W ~ks has been selected, and asking that the erection of a sightly t.wo-storey brick building be expedited. Mr Dickson has acknowledged receipt of the message, and states that the matter will be attended to. With the advent of winter the demand on the Patients and Prisoners’ Aid Society for clothing had increased, and the secretary (Mr F. G. Cumming) informed a Daily Times reporter on July 8 that his old clothes cupboard was now completely empty. He stated that he wou>’ be glad if those who had cast-off clothes, boots, or, in fact, wearing apparel of any description, would help to replenish his stock. Any gifts of this nature may be left in Mr Cumming’s office in King street, or a telephone message will bring a collector to any part of the city. Anyone in tho country wishing to send clothing may do so by first advising Mr Cumming of its despatch, when he will arrange for it to be collected at the Dunedin Railway Station. At the quarterly meeting of the Momington Methodist Church on Thursday last, reference was made to damage done to the leadlight windows of the church by certain mean and destructive individuals. This is the second time within tho space of a few months that the church property has been wantonly damaged in this way. The Postmaster-general (the Hon. W. Nosworthy) announces (reports a Wellington Press Association telegram) that tho new 2s and 3s postage stamps, depicting his Majesty King George V in naval uniform, will be placed on sale on Monday next.

Commenting on the coming introduction of varieties of partridge in both islands (says the Auckland Star) the president of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society says of earlier efforts: "It was mos« unfortunate that the season was opened in North Canterbury in 1877 for the shooting of male partridges only, for if the poisoned grain had not killed tho birds off, the shooting of tho male would’ have exterminated them in a very short time, because all partridges pair, and if one mate (male or female) is killed they do not breed. A remarkable evidence of this fact was demonstrated in regard to the passenger pigeon of North America. It used to go to Oregon and the Southern States of the United States to nest in countless millions, and everyone turned out to kill them, even to the smallest boys. For a few weeks the birds were sent in millions to the markets in the large towns and cities. On account of the hen bird being moro easily secured on its nest than the cock bird, great numbers of hens were slaughtered, till the male predominated, resulting in the practical extinction of the bird. The only passenger pigeon in the world to-day is to be seen at the too in New York. Fortunately the law relating to bird life in tho United States has beert altered so that the extinction of a valuable f bird such as the passenger pigeon can % never happen again.”