The Press MONDAY, JANURAY 5, 1920. The Liberal Party.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16723, 5 January 1920, Page 6

The Press MONDAY, JANURAY 5, 1920. The Liberal Party.

The public -will await with interest any announcement that may bo mado respecting tho result of that gathering of members of the liberal Party which is to take place nt Rotoruo. This gathering, it is explained, will clear tho ground for a later consideration of "a "domestic policy, tho leadership, and "reorganisation." We aro glad to see tho Liberal politicians preparing to giro serious consideration to tho position of their party, and wo hopo that tliey -will allow themselves to bo guided by a. disinterested dcMro to make thomFolvm as useful to tho country ns possible. Tho result of tho general election ought to have convinced them that tho policy and tactics <rf tho Liberal Party must bo radically altered. Throughout the recent election campaign wo warned tho Liberals that tho old methods would not do—that tho people had developed a sharp sense of tho realities of politics, and oould no longer bo moved by appeals to party prejudice or by extravagant promises. Tito cry of "Liberalism in danger" left tho people cold, becauso the peoplo knew that liberal and progressive government has bcon given to tho country by tho Reform Party in full measure. The appeal to tho achievements of tho Ballance and Seddon Administrations was loud and prolonged, and tho country very plainly indicated that ancient history weighs lees -with it than presentday facts. The country, in fact, refused to bcGevo that the Liberal Party is tho solo custodian of Liberal ideas. It knows that tho only real conflict of ideas in politics to-day is tho conflict between ordinary progressive peoplo on ono side and revolutionaries on tho other side. "We do not know whether this was realised by tho Liberal politicians or not when th<*y were fighting the elections. Probably nol, for wo have heard that in tho inner circles of the Party thero was a belief tho party might win iifty-four scats. Put Mr Mac Donald, Mr Myers, and Mr JJjV'iiford must be sensible enough to

ivilise now that the position is as wo j t lavo stated it. | ( Tho IjiWrais may <l<?cide that it /will | ic '-uffiriont for them to "wait and sec | ' -to sit as tho largor of tlic two Oppoii ion groups, Mntcntinfj thomsolvrs \ ith rritici«in. 'I his tln v ran do witJi- , <nt jift.'--cssinK r.uy policy or standing i nr nnv r'Kv.r of political prin- i ip'. :-. !>ui Party docs not continue I n I»*.i.-j t»• ■~~ as r. Party unless it hopes <ir -u'cr-■. r.ti'l tlioro is nothing to linpcvl for hy a Party tluit rxists | ;r.i;.lv rs :i (•:' tif>n without prtsltivo and 1 isti"pi: :>'iini! I»nt what is th<* . r :yst. :n <■( p"!' ti?al princip!** that the \ Liberal Party r.dopt if ii ; i;»iiin*t a p<-.li y of ''wait an<l s°o' ■' I ■ iM:cn th< v ispon tho martKr, tli'"' J ; !.il)or::ls : I! /uid tiiat thf.re are only i ' i-,vo cour.—- i.; "n to a. poiitirian Who d«v j -irr«s t-> t a dofinitr ;:.isiticn : be j chrioFf tin 1 proprwwivt'S and tlif rt'volutionarics. I ltininU-iv. ; \V(. thiiiK. :n<i-t of the Liberals will • !!!akr this .•lioiro, for tl'.o <«!d Lilioral : I':>rtv no lcr.'t'T ox:St.< as a r al tonv. — I ' Wooden Homes for England. | Tiu- problem in New Zealand, j as we all Know. < if. rs many difficulties, frr solution. Th" -areity of bouses is, -rent and pre-sin*;. materials are mi .wiert s'ip]>!y and and labour j jd tiv.-1 aiii/i.;aiii:ibU'. !>:it had as • are ;i;;t tiers in t! e-e re.-r,ecls in the, I) .minion, tiny are ,o nnieh worse at; Home as to make our troubles seem almo t li-ilit. bv According; to a recunt ' tati-nvnt by the Minister of Health. IW.O'.U'l houses wero bcinfi | planned. Mm w-re l.oinji built, sclienirs ; for v.et-e in an initial sta;;e, and p!an> for alb ast half a million more i lrid yet to be provided. One would j have to l.now all the 1 actors that ma> i a{Teet, oil" way or the other, tho rate of. future eonstruetion before trying to, estimate how long, at the present rate, | it would take to meet the needs of the j population, but it looks at least a ten j years' job. Other estimates of tho public r><iuirements are even more serious. Sir Charles TJuthen, a member of tho Council of the Society of Architects, declared, in an address to tho Sneiity, that, if the housing problem was to be handled in any way satisfactorily during the next five years, somo •200,000 houses must be erected annually duritij.; that period. This means that five thousand million bricks would bo re-juirod annually, and to secure this output all other work must cease for the time being, or two-and-a-half times the number of workmen engaged in pre-war days m liousc-building must bo found to meet tho demand, and even then it would probably be fifteen or twenty years before the actual shortago

of hou?«\s was overtaken. At present seven million people were improperly hcused. These facts, he argued, showed tho impossibility of producing stiffi- i tuint bride houses, and tho crying need for the instant and wider employment of wood. Although, as a matter of fact, there arc thousands of workers' cottages constructed of wood at Homo, tho suggestion of crccting wooden houses, as a partial measure to meet tho existing shortage, was being discussed with curious avidity by tho English pauers of six weeks ago, almost as though it were quite a now idea, and tho existence of such houses in British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Norway was being quoted in proof of tho argument that they woro not bo unsuitod to tho English climato as somo people contended. Modern building regulations in many districts have hitherto required tho outer walls of houses to be of brick of a definod thickness, and officialdom generally does not seem to have encouraged tho idea of houso construction in wood. In the middle of October tho Ministry of Health announced that as tho result of investigations by a Special Committoo into tho possibility of using wooden framo houses as part of tho Government's housing scheme, stops wero being taken to relax tho building regulations of local bv-laws so as to permit tho use of this material and others. This scheme contemplated apparently the importation of Canadian "mill-cut" frame houses, and tho use of such houses was surroundod by a good many regulations which would not tend to make them any cheaper. Owing to tho excessive price of timber—throo times higher than boforo tho war—and tho scarcity of carpcntcrs and joiners, it was not expected that locally-construct-cd wooden bungalows would bo any cheaper than brick, and might, indeed, cost a little moro. It was estimated that an English-mado—not imported — wooden house, consisting of living room, kitchen, and three bedrooms, with bath room and lighting, could bo erected for about £730. The chief argument in favour of such homes is, howevor, that they could bo built in considerable numbers concurrently with tho auction of brick houses, now sources of supply of , material and labour being drawn upon. i Tho increased cost of insurance would bo discounted to somo extent by tho . fact that the houses would be built singly and not in rows, and against the criticism that they would not last so long as brick houses may bo put tho argument that their condition fifty or a hundred years hence is not of tho least consequence to people who want to live in them now. Further, it has been i proved that an artistic wooden bungalow can bo built at Home in four weeks, , whereas four months is often not long enough for a brick house. To us out • hero, to whom brick, and not wooden, • houses are more or leas uncommon, the argument and discussion that has been ! going on at Homo over this question seem rather amusing. Tho position ' appears to" offer a distinctly good open- > i ng to an enterprising young New Zear- " land architect.

Sir Thomas Lipton, sorely ono of tho most pertinacious Bportsmcn that th® Old Country has ever produced, is reported to bo sanguino regarding his chanco of lifting tho America Cup, tho famous yachting trophy, this year. Thia trill bo his fourth attempt to do

so, the races n 1914. for which, his oliallcngo ha;i been accepted, having b;>on postponed on account of tho war. Shamrock IV., the yacht -which he had had built for that series of contests, was actually on her way across tho Atlantic, under her own snil, when tho escorting steam yacht Erin picked up i from a German wireless staticn tho | news of t!:e outbreak of ::nd she promptly took the challenger in tow, brincing her safely to New York. Acto the original rules governing tl'o America. Our> contest■=. th" c]>.->!-must sail to the holder's conntry. but this :o«m.s to have I>ooti sc-t n-irle on the present occas on, for .Shamrock IV., which has been lying in Amejican waters f. r more than five years, will represent the Kcyr.i lister V.uht Clnb. through whom the challenge was original'v sent in K'l3 to the Now York Yacht Club. « Despite her spell of idleness, Shamrock IV. war, lately reported by iicr designer to he in excellent condi- j tion. 'ri:ere are sever;;! features about her wh>h distinguish. her from I the earlier Shamrocks. She is built I according to tho American rule of nui.isnrements, and is To feet on tho waterline, whereas tho three earlier Shamrock* were W-footers. She is tho first llritish challenger to he fitted with a centre-hoard. Cnder the American vnl"s, a yacht's excessive draught is penalised only so far as tho actual hull of the vessel is concerned; a centreboard goes fre.v It is the possession of t'ne ccntre-lnard which accounts for Shamrock IV, carrying 20 per cont. more sail than any of Sir Thimias Lipton's previous yachts. She i.s to he sailed in tho races, which will take pla:o in July or August, by an amateur, Mr HurUiis, one of the best Knglish yachtsmen, and is to undergo a series of trials with an earlier Shamrcek which is to be refitted and sent across ; the Atlantic lor the purpose. I • —~ I Some exceedingly unpleasant facts w»re mentioned at. a recent gathering of ; the Academic des Sciences. The quesi tion arose how far tho manufacture of | paper made it possible for it to contain | microbes, u point of some importance ! in view of the use of fdter papers in bacterial work. During tho discussion one of tho members, l>r. iialippo, explained that ho had found living microbes in various papers going back to the fifteenth century. If© had even isolated bacteria from Chineso MSS. dating back beforo tho invention of printing. His greatest triumph was the cultivation of bacteria derived from Egyptian papyrus of some 2000 years ago. "Their long sleep," Dr. Galippo said, "does not scorn to have altered their vitality.'' It is not pleasant, as we have said, to think that microbes are so long-lived, but perhaps tho world lias already received all the diseases of past agos.