NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 615, 18 September 1909, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The question aa to whether insurance societies should fight'disease, arid especially consumption, is one ; that cannot be answered offhand. As a general rulo the societies do'not feel called upon to do so, despito the fact that were it possible to. do anything in the way of prolonging life'they would bo great gainers. In America some of the offices are taking up the matter, though not in a broad way. In February,, at a meeting of the Association; of Life Assurance, Presidonts, held in New York, Me. Haley Fibke, Vice-President of the Metropolitan Lifo Insurance Company, said that his company was ready to expend £20,000 a year towards prevention of tuberculosis, if it Could be shown by the authorities that a real saving could bo effected. Since thon the Metropolitan Insurance Company has mado application to the State Insurance Department for permission to purchase a tract of land of threo thousand acres or more, and to'build thereon a sanatorium fortroatment of policy-hold-era having tuberculosis. The Metropolitan has outstanding about nine million policies. * An appreciable reduction in mortality, among theso holders, such as it is believed can bo brought about by such methods as actual treatment and a campaign of education, would bring about a tremendous saving. According •to figures-compiled, it is estimated that a roduction of one-third in mortality would enable, .the premium to bo lowered by more than. 15 per cent., The Now Xork afliw is. distributing nmong Hα industrial .PffMiffi-hAJififtrH & jjjutwiilct cutitded. "A

War upon Consumption." Tho text has been written in a popular form, so as to make it attractive and readable to the averago policy-holder.. .It describes the nature and extent of the disease, and the methods of prevention and cure. The company beliovea that this-pamphlet will materially help its policy-holders in fighting tuberculosis, and aid in reducing tho mortality from the disease. Should the Metropolitan Company's experiment bo given effect to and prove at all successful, it will probably bo followed by developments of interest not only to insurance companies and policy-holders, but to the public at large.

It is_ quite apparent that tho second ballot for the Itangitikei seat is going to produce an oven more etreriuous tight than took place at the initial stage of the contest. The candidates, who iavoured tho Ward Administration appear to have entered into some, sort of compact under which-those who have been defeated'are compelled to support the. candidate left in the second ballot. It would seem that Aeymay even go the length of addressing meetings in the interests of Me. Smith, but in any caso they are committed to assisting him. This would'place Mr. Hockly at a serious disadvantage but for the fact that his late opponent, Mr. G. Hutchison, has generously consented to again take the platform in the interests of tho ' Reform party, and - it appears that Mr. Massey. has also been drawn into the fray. In all probability the participation of, Me. Massey would, under normal conditions, have induced the Leader of the Government to enter the field, but the Acting-Prime Minister is not given to the strcnuqus life, and ho may endeavour to unload" this responsibility on to one of his moro active colleagues, probably Dβ. Findlay. Should this happen, the campaign, though short, will indeed be a merry one. De. Find? lay, with his Socialistic ideas, would certainly be an entertaining lecturer to send into a country constituency to teach the farmers tho virtues of tho Waed Admin-' istration. An exposition from him tho art of increasing valuations so that the great burden of the incrbase will fall on the unimproved or taxable value would be_ decidedly interesting. Some very pertinent questions might be put to him by farmers who havo suffered from this ingenious means of raising revenue at the expense of the farming community- - .- . ...

In ita relief from tho alarming proof Me. Hockly securing a win out* right' dt the first ballot, our very indiscreet morning contomporary indulged in a wild series of exclamations at what it professed to regard as a triumph for tho Ward Administration. It totalled up tho figures recorded for tho. various candidates arid _ professed to seo in them an overwhelming majority favouring the Ward Government. Having unburdened its feelings in this way,-and after firing at , the Reform party a broadside from its i extensive repertoire of.chbico and wellworn expletives, it suddenly descended from the clouds to realities/ It remembered that after all there was the second ballot, and it sent up,a.soulful appeal to Liberals to rally round'the.Ward candidate andahnihilate what, in its'own elegant fashion,' it styled the' party r of "Funk and:lnaction." It is instructive to note the reason for this sudden change of front,, It is,probable-that the.ro has not for many years past been a poll at which the personal, as.apart from the party, vote was so distinctly ,traceable through the figures recorded at the. principal polling-booths., Take, for instance, the . case of ' the' v ßU(!(ies , siul' ; ' , - Gbveriment candidate, Mr/ Smith. ,, This gentleman resides at Taihape, and is: very popular there.. Out of some 700 votes recorded at. Taihape ' he secured over 400, or more than.one-third of the total votes registered in his favour. The'two other- Min-.j isterial candidates, with the Independent candidate thrown in, did not between them socure half that number at Taihape. How much of that 400; odd was a personal vote? At Mangaweka, out of a total of some 330 votes, recorded, Mr. Georoietti obtained ill votes, and 1 Mr. Hornblow 72 votes.: Mr. : Georgettes total polling for the whole electorate was only 340, and Mr.- HORNblqw's 333, yet in the town in which they resided they completely eclipsed all tho'other candidates. At, Hunterville. ; Me; Meldrum scored 257 votes, while the two other Ministerial candidates totalled botween them only 20. Mr. Mkldeum lives at:Hunterville, and who can protend to say how much of this vote was personal,' as distinct from party 1 In each case the Ministerial and Independent candidates polled overwhelmingly stronger at the centres at which they resided than they did elsewhere, and in each case there can be no doubt that the personal vote was a substantial one. Upon ■ the extent :to which voters have bqen propared to sacrifice their political convictions to their personal inclinations will depend tho result of tho second.ballot/ Naturally Ministers and-their journal do not like to face, this aspect of the position. But what is the use of attempting to cover up actuation which must be plain to everyone! ■ . : . .

The canvass for funds to enablo the much-needed extension of Victoria College buildings to be carried out has reached a stage when a fresh stimulus is required. The aim in view is to obtain j a sum of £1000, which, with the assistance of a Government subsidy of £2 for every £1 collected,; will secure the £3000 necessary.to.add a hew wing to the building. The College, despite tho excellent work it has done, and is still doing, is badly hampered by the congested state of the olaescs, duo to lack of room. The number of students, continues- to grow, and the staff.grows, but tho class-rooms appear to shrink, and th o work is carried on at great inconvenience and under serious disadvantages. So far a' little less than half tho amount required has been .collected. A sum of £560 still remains to be gathered in. i' There can bo no doubt that those who contribute are investing their funds.in.a worthy,cause. The work of the University Colleges'must have,an important influence on the future of the Dominion! and the better'equipped the Colleges are to carry out their work the better.equipped will be tho men arid women they turn out to play their parts in the. future shaping of the nation's destiny. The sum of £560 is comparatively a small amount to look for from s.o large and so wealthy a district as that covered by Victoria.College. A generous donation would probably stimulate others. "... ■. •-..'■■ ; ■ .'■ -

It is a little surprising that the Natiyo land question' has not figured' more in the Rangitikei election contest. Certainly each of the candidates has made somo reference to it, but a short time ago it was a burning question amongst the rcsidonte of soino of the towns along'the Main Trunk line. It says a good deal for 'the personal ■ popularity of Mil. Smith that he should receive bucli solid support at Taihapo, in view of the attitude of the Administration which he supports towards the Nativo land question. ■ The chief stumbling block to the removal of the obstacles Which have been placed in tho way of a propor settlement of Native lands has been the attitude of the Native Minister, the' present ActingPrime Minister. Tho creation of a system of Maori landlordism has beenonc of the outcomes of the policy pursued by him—a* policy under which settlers.have Kono but into tho carvdd out • thcmaiilYCflt mid liuilt fln^rjffh..

ing townships, while idle and tax-free Natives have looked on and afterwards reaped the harvest. Maori landlordism is said to be a sore point with a great many people in and around Taihape; yet Mn. Smith, who supports the Government, which has pampered tho Native population and enabled them to grow wealthy on land which the white.settlers have made valuable, polled more than three times, as many votes as any other candidate at Taihape.