NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1848, 6 September 1913, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Probably no one takes the shrill daily scoid of the local Anti-Reform journal seriously these times. Its inaccuracies and misrepresentation would in themselves be sufficient to discredit it, even if its .wearisome harping on its resentment of the Reform' Government. holding office had not exposed the mean and petty influences which prompt its incessant railings. But it is perhaps desirable now and then to expose the methods of that unhappy journal, not with a view to showing how ill it takes its beating, but in order to illustrate the depths to which some of the opponents of tho Government have sunk in their anxiety td find excuse for maligning Ministers. One of the latest cases, which we take by way of example, occurred on Thursday last. Tho Prime Minister, speaking in the House, on Wednesday, said:

"I venture to say that the candidate who camo before the electors and told them that ho was in favour of placing tho school teachers under political co.vtrol would never see the inside of the four walls of Parliament."

It will be seen that Mr. Masse? was speaking against 'the teachers being under political control. The New Zealand Times, however, published a report in which Mr. Massey was made to say that a candidate who' suggested that teachers should be placed "under the Commissioners" would never see the four walls of the House of -Representatives. In other words, the Prime Minister was made to appear to have attacked control by the Public Service Commissioners, whereas ho was attacking political control of public servants. The unrevised official report of Hansard shows that Mr. Massey used the words "political control"; our own independent report is exactly the same, and the only report to the contrary 13 the New Zealand Times report. Moreover, everyone knows that the policy of the Government has been to remove the Public Service as far as possible beyond the reach of political influences. Yet the local Anti-Reform journal, having misreported what the Prime Minister said, then used its own inaccurate report on which to base an attack on Mr. Massey, charging him with having confessed the weakness of- tho Commissioner system and generally condemning the attitude of tho Government. As we have remarked, it does not matter very much what that particular Anti-Reform journal says nowadays, as it discounts itself by tho evident spleen behind its wild and intemperate allegations; but it is just as wpll 'that the public should have some idea of the depths to which a section of the Opposition press have descended in their efforts to injure the Government. ■

Britain's birth-rate is still falling. A cablegram which- we published this week stated that the number of birtha in tbn United Kingdom for the first quarter of tho present year

is considerably lower than the average for the previous ten years. In a lecture delivered recently at the London School of Economics and Political Sciencc, Professor Karl Pearson declared that the falling birth-rate has gone- on both in urban and rural districts north of the Humber ever since the public trial of Bradlaugh in 1878. In woollen areas the average families are 1.3, in cotton areas 1.8, and in engineering areas 2.12, the interpretation being that, except in the last-mc-n----tioned case, the families, and consequently the towns, are not reproducing themselves, and immigration from the rural districts cannot continue, as their birth-rates are also falling. If the population is to be replaced average families of four or five are required. A great deal is no doubt being done to make up for the decreasing number of births by taking better care of the children, but a fall in the infant death-rate is generally accompanied by a rise in the delicacy rate, and the physical fitness of the race is not maintained. Franco, Germany, and other European countries are also experiencing a marked decline in their birthrates. In Berlin the rate per 1000 has fallen from 46.9 in 1876 to 20.83 in 3910. The following are the figures for some of the other German cities, giving a comparison for the ten-year period from 1902 to 1912:— 1902. 1912. I'cr Per 1000. 1000. Munich 35.1 21.9 Leipzig 31.5 22.1 Dresden 31.5 20.3 C'olojue 37.8 26.7 Breslau 33.1 20.4 Nuremberg 38.7 25.5 Hanover 27.0 20.3 Mannheim 42.G • 28.7 Strassburg 30.0 24.4 Schoncberg 26.5 13.7 la spite of these somewhat alarming figures, a German writer claims that Germany has still, with the exception of Russia, the highest birthrate in Europe, and estimates that within 60 years since 1871 the population will have doubled. The London Spectator is_ equally optimistic as regards Britain,- and state-s that the population of England and Wales up. to 1911 was growing more rapidly than in any previous decade, whilo the increase in the first ten years of the twentieth century was considerably, greater than the increase during the whole of the eighteenth century. What is described as the present "orgy of undress" has been receiving a good deal of attention lately in the English press, and we publish in another column cablegram stating that the authorities in Calcutta nave dccided to prohibit the appearanco of an English dancer on the ground that the insufficiency of the costume worn by her would tend to endanger the prestige of English women in the eyes of the natives. In parts of the United States it has been found necessary to pass legislation prohibiting the adoption of some extreme fashions in women's dress. It is, of course, a very difficult matter to enforce laws of this character, but society lias a right to protect itself, if necessary, _ from public spectacles that are not in conformity with the average standard of decency. Some people have been trying to discover deep reasons'for this new form of madness, but the whole explanation seems to be summed up in the word "fashion." The fashion having been set, women will follow it, and even go one better., People are asking what is to be the end 1 A correspondent of the London Times replies that "it is difficult to see; but obviously when you have gone on undressing for a certain time you come to the end of what there is to take off, and the only thing to do is to put your clothes on again." It is to be hoped that it will not be very long before this change comes, so that these people may be "clothed and in their right mind" again. In the meantime wo may find a little consolation in the fact that the fashionablo world has on previous occasions recovered its sanity after passing through similar aberrations. ■ A London paper, for instance, points out that Napoleon put down the fashion a century ago in his own peculiar way. There is a story told by Count Vandal how one night at the Luxembourg, when a number of great ladies were present in the most exiguous costumes, ho ordered the domestics to pile up a monstrous fire, saying, pointedly, "Do you- not see that all these ladies are ' undressed i" The rebuke produced its intended effect, as there were few even of the fair -sex who would face this terrible Waster's anger.

A feeble attempt at Opposition heroics was very neatly countered by the member for AVaitaki,. Me. F. H. Smith, in the House of Representatives yesterday. When the Estimates relating to the Native Department were called on for consideration, the Opposition, who appear to have very little heart in their work just now, suddenly woke up to the fact that two of the members representing the Native race, Mr. Ngata and Dr. Te Rangihiboa, were not present, while Sir James Carroll was also absent. It is true that the ex-Minister for Native Affairs and Me. Parata were in their places, as well as Dr. Pomare, but the Opposition professed to be greatly concerned over the -absence of the gentlemen named, and wished to have the Native Estimates laid aside and some other Department taken. The Minister in Charge pointed out that there was nothing in the Estimates which could not db ventilated when the Native Land Bill, or the Supplementary Estimates came down later on, but the Opposition, taking advantage of the fact that two of, the absentees were unwell, and the third away on public business, pressed their point and made a show of virtuous indignation at the action of the Minister in persisting in going on. Everyone knew that it was all humbug on the part of the Opposition—that the absence of the members in question meant neither loss nor advantage to anyone—but it remained for Mn. F. H. Smith to expose the emptiness of the complaints made. Did the Opposition, lie asked, know how much interest the absent members took in the same Estimates last year 1 And then in answer to his own question he quoted from Hansard to show that Sir James Carroll spoke twice on them, occupying altogether 16 lines in Hansard, while Dr. Te Rangiuiroa did not speak at all. Naturally thoso Opposition members who had been making much ado about nothing looked rather foolish.

An interesting point was raised in the House of Representatives yesterday by the member for Raglan, Mr. 11. F. Bollard, in connection with State grants for main roads. It seems that the County Council within whose boundaries the Ruakura Stato Farm is situated has to main-

I tain the road which serves this State property, and the State is in the happy position of contributing nothing towards the cost of the road. According to Me. Bollard, the State owns ■ property there worth from 'j<lo,ooo to £50,000, which is served by a road kept in order by the ratepayers, who are much less able to find the money than the Government. This injustice, which is an .old one, Mr. Bom.aiw urged should be remedied by the Government making a grant to the County Council. Mn. Young, the member for Waikato, endorsed the statements of the member for Ilaglan, and it ccrtainly would seem to be a case in which the Government is called on to do something to assist the County Council, even though the road may not come within the category of a main road.