The Star. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1915. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11511, 6 October 1915, Page 4

The Star. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1915. EDITORIAL NOTES.

'■' Months ago the officers of the Citizens' Defence Corps urged that ref cruits. temporarily rejected on account •' : - of defective te'tb. should bo sent to Z camp and attended to by dentists the-.-o. : .'. Thoro must be hundreds of young fcl--1 - lnw& i'J the Dominion who, bei'ore tlu-y -art join the forces, nut so find the money to pay some dentist to do whatever 'is necessary. As the Zvlink-ter of ■,-. ' IX-Lone:- stated in the Houso yesterday, ilw members of the Dental Asofiation are prepared to do the work for ?■ moderate fee, and it is ;•. tik't tJir.t ':- many of them have worked long ami " arduouslv without asking for any payment. But there is a principle imvur- ;.". Ed, and we cannot help thinking that the Minister of Defence has failed to- \ realise that fact. Tho decision to enlist is probably the most momentous doci- « „.-~6ion a man can be called upon to make, iafid once it is made he wants to act The sooner he can get into u. . camp the bettor for him and the sooner "he starts his period of training the ' better for the country. The prospect • of waiting six or seven weeks tu get •teeth fixed up dampens a- mans ardour, to many the question of cost ■ presents a very serious obstacle. It is admitted that everything should "be done to make the path of the wouldbe recruit easy, and as defective teeth at present bar many a man's way, that problem must be tackled earnestly. Tho <■ Minister's solution of the difficulty is that if a man cannot pay to have his ", ■ "teeth put right, the patriotic fund' raised in the various districts should be / tapped for that purpose. In making this suggestion Mr Allen advanced no reasons in support of \i, because, in brief, there, are no reasonable reasons -to be advanced. The patriotic funds - were raised for very different purposes, and must b& conserved in every possible way. It surely is the duty of Che State, if it wants these men, to - have their teeth attended to, and if, to-day, minor teeth troubles are treated in camp, the dentLts to do the work are already available. It is all very well say that it is the duty of each and Mffllevery man to have his te:th attended ■Efjpto. Man-*- recruits living in the coun-■P-'''~trv must come to the city for that purW* 'pose, and make the trip not once but »- several times. This means considerable I expense to the man and inconvenience 1. to his employer. Many men could not I visit a dentist and get back to their I homes the same day, train arrange- | ments make that impossible, and it will I be seen that the expense incurred must I be heavy. i On Monday a burly fellow oame to ) this office seeking advice. Bja had [. passed the medical examination easily, L but defective teeth caused the examinI crs to reject him temporarily. He had I very little money and when ho found I that it would cost about £7 to have f his teeth put right his prospects of £■' seeing Trentham did not appear bright. The first thing to do was to find work, bait broken time prevented him putting much money aside, A dentist assisted him by giving him very liberal terms Knd the young fellow, according to his own statement, hopes to have the account paid and be in camp in seven or eight weeks 3 time. Were it possible ' for that man to obtain denial treatment in oamphe could give an order ' /on his pay and the country would not be put to any expense. His training wbuiU proct-eu wituout any delay and he would be ready to leave tor the front in January. As things now stand he will not go into camp until November, and possibly December, and will not be ready to said until March or April. And we need the men at the earliest ;»ossible moment. Any delay should be avoided. The idea that the patriotic funds should be used to assist these men cannot be entertained, if only for the reason that the work can bo done in camp and be paid for by the men themselves. In Chmtchurch alone there are orders, representing some hundreds of pounds, given by recruits for dental work. The Defence Department .will not recognise these orders and consequently the dentists and the Hospital Board must stand the loss. But .an order given by a recruit in camp would bo quite legal and in that way the men would pay for all dental work done. The cost would not fall upon the country—and even if it did the country would not object—and the patriotio funds would not be reduced. The Dental Association has offered to -assist the Minister in any way it can /and it would soon find dentists to do - the work in camp. There in a tendency • on the part of the Government to leave too much to the generosity of the people. It is responsible for finding the men, and Mr Allen admits that more men are urgently needed. Here are men whom a little attention would make perfectly fit and the Mia-

isifv has it in his power to provide the necessaiy attention.

Now that economy, national avid individual, is the order oi : the day, someone will be suggesting also perhaps a revival of the ancient sumptuary laws, whereby it was sought to curb the propensities of the lieges to dr~ss beyond their means and stations. During the Tudor period these edicts were very numerous, as appears from an article in the "English Historical Review" by Dr Wilfrid Hooper, who supplies some interesting details. Thus, by "An Act agaynst wearing of costly Apparrell," passed in 1510, it was laid down that no man under the dsgrre of a lord was to wear any cloth of gold or silver, sables, or woollen cloth made ousida England, Wales, Ireland or Calais; velvet of crimson or blue was prohibited to anyone under the degree of a Knight of the Garter; and so tho regulations continued right down through the ranks of the social scale to the very humblest'.

Women as well as men were, of course, included within tho law, although in those days male attiro waa even more variegated and extravagant than female, so that, as a contemporary writer put it, ono would have "some Bmithfie'd Ruffian" flaunting "some new disguised garment, or desperate hat, fond in facion, or gaurish in colour," in vulgar aping of his betters. Extravagance at tho table was also aimed at by similar legislation. Thus in 1 17 the number of di.-hes at a meal was fixed according to the person of highest rank precnt, and was limited to nine for a Cardinal, to six for a Lord of Parliament, L.-rd Mayor or Knight of the Garter, .and to three for persons who could spend £■!() per annum or were worth i'sof>. Ibd it was in nvoviding for the regulation of' the dress of the community that tho Legislature expended the greatestenergy.

It was one thing, however, to pa-s such Acts and quite auether thing to secure th.cir eiifoec'raent, and so tho authorities wer:> foncinuaily being incited to ired: ed'ort., to bring oifeiidera to book :-i:k! conipcl regard for tlio law. With il'o ticiiD object, too, more aud more stringent penalties were continually pres'Tiked in successive edict-, hut with ih • same resulr it; evevy e,!se. The public declined to bo diet-cved to. and tile Acts were ; n o-'virly ail instance;, virtually- dead letters. Now ami aeuki cffcri-; v.ottki be nic-d- t<? eomp. i their observance .-i.nd :■ persecution or ceo would bo :orrean:ue) : but in ceeevel tli'-ir f-it iiir-y vras rccog-ks-.-d, and after Die begijmiii'r of ih" seventecmi; i 'luuey no furtiicr attcmni-? in this direction were made.