The Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1928. NOTES OF THE DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18577, 27 September 1928, Page 8

The Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1928. NOTES OF THE DAY.

/\ CONTRAST between promise and performance on the part of the Reform Government is provided by the statement that the Public Works Department is to “ proceed vigorously ” with the Westport-Inangahua railway connection. Unfortunately something similar has been promised in every Public Works statement for years past, and very little has been done. Photographs taken five or six years ago on the uncompleted portions of this line appear in today s issue. They are a reminder that the Government has been marking time on this very valuable connection with the rich bituminous coalfields of the Buller district for many years. Rails have been allowed to rust and sleepers to rot, and station buildings have been allowed to fall into decay, without even a coat of paint being put on them, whereas\the expenditure of a few thousand pounds would have completed the line. Year after year Ministers say it is an important link and must be completed, and year after year it is postponed in order that more moneys can he spent on extravagant and unnecessary lines Iliat will never pay axle grease. Neglect of this railway is nothing short of a scandal, and Ministerial promises in regard to it have been broken so often that they lack sincerity. r\N A GREATLY REDUCED STAFF, the infectious diseases hospital at Bottle Lake handled 374 patients during August alone, the total in hospital at one stage being 230, or thirty in excess of the record of 200 established during the great influenza epidemic. The Public Health Committee reported yesterday that it was “ not unusual for nurses to be sent to the institution to assist, and within three or four days to be among the patients.” A member of the committee said she found the matron in a crying state, the institution understaffed throughout, and patients arriving at the rate of fourteen a day. And yet, in face of these facts, the chairman of the Hospital Board says that the matron “ has not applied for more staff.” The board, we think, should not wait for the staff to make complaints before investigating their conditions. It must be perfectly clear to everybody who has followed the board’s own reports from time to time that so long as nurses have to be worked ten hours a day and seven days a week, maximum efficiency' will never be attained. It is very- gratifying to the “Star,” however, to know that the question of nurses’ hours is being taken up in Wellington, because it is possible that concerted action may bring about a reform that is badly' needed. IGNORANCE, MADAM, pure ignorance,” said Dr Johnson to a lady who asked him how he could have described the “ pastern ” as “ the knee of a horse.” Dr Johnson’s reply would be quite appropriate to the definition rapped out by the Minister of Health yesterday morning, when he said that “ anti-social ” meant “ criminal.” That, indeed, may’ have been the definition that the draughtsman of the Mental Defectives Bill had in mind, but it is worth remembering that the jargon of the “social reformer” and the “ after care expert ” is not going to alter the plain meaning of words. “We have long preserved our constitution,” said Dr Johnson, “let us make some struggles for our language.” It is in this spirit that plain men, and above all politicians, should resist attempts to fasten new meanings on old words. Society', social science, sociology and socialism all have precise meanings, which the inquirer would do well to look up for himself; and “ anti-social ” has its meaning, too, but it is not the meaning that the Hon J. A. Young jumped at. Ills meaning, indeed, is the creation of ostrichminded persons who are trying to drop the words “ crime ” and “ criminal ” out: of the language in an attempt to persuade themselves and others that there are no crimes and no criminals. AS FAR as the Mental Defectives Bill itself goes, it is not quite clear even now what is left in it. The Bill is an attempt to meet social problems in a way that will more effectively protect the community than it has been protected in the past, but on the main principles of the Bill the Government has given way, and some of those that remain are highly debatable and are not unanimously endorsed by the experts. What is most objectionable about the Bill is tlic way in which it has been rushed through Parliament in the dying hours of the session, as if the very existence of the Government depended on it. It is four years since the committee of inqiiiry on mental deficiency presented its report, and instead of a Bill being drafted then, and the country being given time to consider it in all its bearings, it has been sprung on the House in the last session Of Parliament, and driven through in an all-night sitting. It is possible that under wise administration the Act may be highly desirable, especially in a young country, and its administration will be watched with very great interest not only in New Zealand, but also in other countries that are contemplating an advance along similar lines.