NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1732, 24 April 1913, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The battle-cruiser New Zealand, which sails for Napier this morning, has attracted such a large sliaro of public attention in Wellington for nearly a fortnight that her departure will leave quite a blank in the community. If theenjoyment of the officers and. crew during their stay

has been equal to the pleasure the people of Wellington have receive;! 111 entertaining them, they will take away with them many happy memories of their stay with us. As a matter of fact, our naval guests have probably done more in the way of entertainment than their hosts, judging by the enormous crowds of men, women, and children that have been shown over the warship, and all are enthusiastic in their praise of the unvarying courtesy which has been extended to them. Nothing was a trouble, and though the \asitors at times seemed almost to take charge of the ship, the. officers and crew accepted the situation with the utmost good humour and probably enjoyed the experience.

The United States Sccrctary of State (Jin. W. J. Bryan) has outlined a plan for maintaining, the peace of the world. The idea is that the nations should enter into a treaty by which they would agree to subfnit any matter in dispute to some international tribunal, and not to prepare for war until this tribunal had placed tho facts before the world. This having been done, it would be left to the nations involved to decide whether they would light or arbitrate. It is to be feared that Me. Bryan's plan, which is as old almost as tho hills, will not bring in the era of universal peace. It certainly. would not put a stop to the building of warships or the increase in armies, for no nation could possibly know_ beforehand what tho court's decision would be, or what action the other party to the dispute might take. It would, therefore, have to be ready at all times for every emergency. Courts of Arbitration and Peaco Tribunals may serve a useful purpose in settling many minor disputes and vexed questions which might otherwise develop sufficient irritation to cause a war; but a quarrel may arise at any moment which can only be settled by the sword. Therefore, if Mil. Bryan's plan were given a trial there would be no diminution in the burden of armaments, and war would not bo abolished.

The urgent need for a campaign of enlightenment among tho Maoris, to which we referred a few days ago. is emphasised by an incident which lias just occurred at Wanganui, aB reported in another column. A party of excited Natives went to the hospital and demanded that a Maori girl suffering from typhoid fever jhould bo handed over to them because her sister, suffering from tho same disease, had died in the institution. Many of tho Maoris arc still distrustful of civilised methods of dealing with disease, and prefer to try their own ."euros," which have, so ;often resulted in disastrous conscquences to tho unfortunate patients. Eventually the .hospital authorities agreed to lot them take the girli away on receiving a promise that she would bo isolated and treated under medical advice. Nob knowing the whole of the circumstances, it would not bu fair to express a positive opinion as to the wisdom of the courEC taken, but it ccrtainly seems a very risky method of dealing with a ease of typhoid, a disease which has wrought havoc in many Native settlements. It is high time that the Maoris knew something about the elementary laws of health, and 'a combined effort on the part of the Native clergy, the school teachers, and the health' officers in this direction is much to be desired. It is a matter for surprise that in view of the thousands of Maoris who have passed through our public schools, there should still be such a lamentable laxity in health matters. Suspicion and superstition die hard.