NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1861, 22 September 1913, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Cquntky members had an innings oil the Land Department Estimates on Friday evening, and as usual on such occasions the question of roads for backblock settlers loomed large. The subject is a stereotyped one, and it is to bo feared that its importance to the people of the Dominion generally as well as to the settlers immediately concerned is not sufficiently appreciated. There is a tendency whenever discussion takes place over a long-standing grievance to give little heed to arguments which have grown "familiar through constant repetition, and even those using them are often loss effective than they might bo owing to the fact that they realise they are telling an oft-told tale. Yet this matter of providing adequate road access for settlers in the outlying districts is ono of the most vital necessities the Government has to face. _ For years past it has been a standing grievance with settlers; for years jjast the Continuous Ministry promised to meet the situation and_ do justice _ to the settlers who with their families have been enduring unnecessary hardship and privation because of the lack of proper access to their holdings; and for years past the question has been trifled witli. The Reform party has undertaken to improvo matters, and something more is expected from it than has been dono by its predecessors. In the Government Land Bill provision is made for all taxation derived from settlers in roadless districts being expended on road work in the districts from which the taxation is collected. This is something, but the whole question of roading requires to bs put on a better footing. Sib Walter Buchanan, Me. J. G. Coates, and other members directed attention on Friday oveniiig to weaknesses in the existing system, and the Minister of Lands and the Minister of Public Works might well confer with the officers of their respective Departments with a view to formulating a comprehensive and active policy of road construction.

The great bulk of the people of the Dominion wish to see the Defence scheme made a success, and do not begrudge any reasonable expenditure provided adequate results are scoured. There is, however, a very general feeling that the expenditure in this Department wants verv close watching, and it is satisfactory therefore to noto that when the Defence Estimates came forward for consideration in the Houso of Representatives on Friday last members evinced a keen interest on various points regarding the cost pf the Department. It must be plain to everyono that in initiating a largo and sweeping change in a Defenco system such as that now being carried out in this Dominion, there must be a percentage of waste which, if care is exercised, will not recur. Many of the steps taken are necessarily of an experimental nature, and, with experience, better and less costly means of carrying on tho_ system should in many cases bo devised. In connection with the camps, for instance, the Department has already made a saving on the old methods, and no doubt there is room for still further improvement. The Minister of Defence explained to the House on Friday that some £100,000 of the expenditure incurred last year was non-recurring—that is to say, it was for field artillery, equipment, etc., | which should last for several years. While this is a matter for some congratulation we are not so sanguine as the Minister appears to be on the point. The so-callcd non-recurring expenditure has a habit of recurring, and if it does not recur at aWfc • intervals other juut-xafliuujuc.

expondifcuro crops up to take its placo. Probably there will bo a reduction in this class of expenditure as the scheme gets into full working order, but it would bo unwise to build hopes on any material lessening of the cost of Defence. What tho Government requires to do is to seo that tho expenditure is confined to essentials and that the money is well spent.

The chairman of tho Wanganui Education Board, Me. F. Pieani, is anxjous that the attitude of the Board towards Maori children should not bo misunderstood, especially in view of a question asked in the House of Representatives by Mr. Ngata, which would give the impression that an attempt is being made to exclude such pupils because they are Maoris. It appears from a communication which we have received from Mr. Pirani that for several years past the Wanganui Board's Truant Inspector has drawn attention to the dirty condition of many Maori children attending the State schools, and to tho fact that hakihaki (or Maori itch) was a common complaint amongst them. Despite tho attention of the parents being drawn to tho necessity for using cleanly methods and the matter being brought before the Education Department, nothing was done to alter such an undesirable stato of affairs. Tho evil of the situation was accentuated by the fact that in most eases where thero was a largo number of Maoris attending the schools tho accommodation was insufficient, mainly due to tho irregular attendance of the Maoris preventing the average reaching the minimum required for a Building extension grant. A notablo instance of this existed at Te Arakura, where 30 Maoris and 24 white children were cooped in a 40-school with two teachers. Tho Departmental reply to a complaint made in this case is stated to have been that thero was room at the Awahuri School, which is nearly three miles distant. Tho Maori Health authorities it is suggested would be expected to show a readiness to take steps to see that Maori settlements were in a sanitary condition, but in reply to a specific complaint, the chairman of tho Board appears to have been put off with tho information that the disease was common to both Maoris and pakehas, that the Department knew of no "instance of contagion to a pakcha from a Maori, and that if the teachers gave the Maoris a hot bath and rubbed them with sulphur ointment, the infection would disappear. Tho specific complaint laid before tho Department was from Okaiawa, where a child had carried infection homo through using tho school latrines, and before it .was noticed tho whole family were said to bo suffering from tho unpleasant complaint'. It is further stated that at Umumuri and Itaetihi over twenty Maori pupils were found to be suffering from the complaint, and were sent homo for treatment. While thero is no objection to the Maoris attending the samo schools as pakehas, except on the score of tho Wanganui Education Board is determined that the danger of infection shall be minimised, and the chairman has issued a circular to all head teachers notifying them thkt every precaution must be taken to prevent the spread; of haki-haki, and tliat those children suspected to bo suffering from it, those who are in an uncleanly state, and those whose homes are. insanitary should be refused admission to tho schools.. In Raetihi, it is stated, matters wore so bad that the school committeo asked that a separate school should be erected for Maoris, and if this course is adopted it would be a good idea to erect a bathroom in such' a school and provide a supply of sulphur ointment to tho pupils. Mr. Pirani urges that it is surely tho duty of the Native Department to take efficient steps to ensure tho sanitation of Maori settlements, and it is hardly fair that anv section of tho community should be allowed to become a menace to the health and well-being of their- fellows. The matter certainly appears to call for the attention of the Health authorities.-