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Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 16295, 23 November 1918, Page 2

It is with very great reluctance, and with a full knowledge of what he is 1 asking of relatives, that Dr. Walker has , been compelled to place restrictions on the visits of relatives to death-beds. This step would not have been taken but for the fact that many most severe cases have been directly traceable to these visits, and the success of the campaign against the menace is thereby greatly endangered. Dr. Walker appeals to relatives to refrain from these visits and assures them that the restrictions would not have been mad© unless they were absolutely necessary. It should be remembered that in the last stages the danger of infection is greatest, and also that persons who have been hurriedly called to a bedside, and naturally in a more or less highly emotional state of mind, are probably more than ordinarily liable to catch the infection. Tho nurses at the hospital are too busy and too overworked to be in constant attendance at these sad scenes, though they know that it is desirable that they should take as much care as possible of tho relatives of the patients. It is therefore on their account also that Dr. Walker feels it his duty to make this appeal. He has the power, if necessary, to absolutely prohibit these visits, but ho relies upon relatives responding to his appeal without compelling him to us© his authority.

Many of those who complain of the exodus from the country into the towns do not realise that this is the necessary outcome of successful farming. In the early days of the world' a man in the temperate regions by hard work could produce just about enough from the land to support his family, hence everyone was then an agriculturist. The division of labour and improvements in implements‘and methods gradually made it possible for one man to produce enough to support two or even three families and the result was that it was not necessary for more than half the population to engage in agriculture. The introduction of clover and turnips largely did away with the necessity of fallowing the land as well as improving its fertility, while the use of artificial manures increased the crops grown. None of these changes did much to reduce the demand for labour, though they vastly increased the production per head. Of late years, however, the introduction of machinery has lessened the number of workers The reaper and binder, the milking machine, and now the motor-driven plough have all . tended in the same direction of making a few highly trained men do, with the aid of machines, the work which formerly required the muscular effort of many men and animals. It is thus certain that the drift to the towns cannot be checked and that every effort must be made to prevent overcrowding and insanitary conditions, so that the dVellers in towns may bo as healthy as if they enjoyed tho fresh air and open spaces of the country.