NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2180, 19 June 1914, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

TiiE first impulse of »ost ratepayers will be to view with misgiving the proposal to spend a subsidrary hospital and convajaseaiit home in the flntt Valley. There still remains a, lively recoliection t>f the alarm crca-ted a year or two ago by the cnoffflsus .growth in hospital and charitable -aid expenditure. In onr own district the protests of ,thc contributory bodies fetd thfi effect of causing the board severely to overhaul its estimates for the :followittg year, and the .amount levied for the year 191449 -was 'Slightly wit-Kin that of 1913-14. Jjcrtv the question arises: Is the board, after this eelf-djjnyiiig ordinance,' about to send tho expenditure soaring up yet oace again i We think a jjerusal of Da. Smith's -roisort will reas-su.ro most of oiir readers on,: this point. The- hospital aceoimao-' datjon is now taxed to the utmost, , and many wore or less ehfe-n'te jvatientg and eonvalesceftts have to' be treated, tlwi'6. who could. : btt much more, cheaply a-ceojamodated i» a detached institution. Bit, Sintn believes thai the cost of maiakifting suoh p-tttients could be reduced Irotn £2 to &l a week by the scheme proposed. • Provision must be made fa the. inevitable growth of the hospital, a-ni th.:e building of a, detached institution seems in tile circumstances a ■sound proposition. If the' desire of the residents of the Sfutt Valfev for a sabsidiafy hospital in their district, can be featia&d at the same time so much tfeo better. We think the fears of soijie mßmbers of the board that the Valley js not a Suitable place for convalescents are groundless.. There js plenty rf ris-'i iftg ground in the Bttfct Valley where sucii an. institution as is strgge-s-MI j Could bo most hawpity situated., if it '■ is necessary to place it 'on a higher i ieye'l fchaaa the bed of the Vallev it-; sell, " Ttt? -Mexican..' situation has takeai a turn for the- worse. Inde£rcl> the' outlook has.b6M.tt(o so unsatisfactory ■ (list the fai'lnte of the Peace Confer-: cace has been predicted, This view, however, seems to h& :lno;rq pessiinistic than the Islets warrant; It is ■ too much to cxpeG* 'that fo negotiations should movo righi; r>ft t& a 'sue-' eessful tc-rtttoatjoo w.vfchout serious hitch or obstacle. Tno cliininatiQii. at Btt&ftTA is by no means an easy ■ task, afld it is stilt .more difneult to find a substitute- who, will bo ac-. Gcpt-able to alt "the parties concerned, : HuEijTa is not going to resigh j.i he. help it, and now that; hts troops' have succeeded in giving one or two : set-basks to the Uonstitntioiialis-tS,: if will probably be less, inclined than ever to resign, lb is. quite certain ttatt Pke'Sidßm Wi'Bsoj} is ex'i tremely anxious to .put -an end'fe, the war as far as t-lio United : 'State.s ■ is concerned, but he has now- gone so' far.thftt ho eaWflfc well- withdraw until same sß'ttlement likely -to en- 1 sure jperSfiifleti'fc percce has 'been ar-1 rived * Me- has decided thatHuerta must go, whoever takes his: pace. Neither VilU nor Caji- ; RMttA can fee regarded as ideal sub- 1 Stitufos by any stretth of the itttag. 1 iaatfon, yet it is very dOHbtful if; either of them will coascni to bej .1 etega.ted into obscurity without a stvuggle. If the negotiations faij; k ' the gtajbe of affairs h\ Ebxics will! probably be worse tliau before—if! th-a<t were -possibb. ' j SpjfE years ago JfarfHartient wisely:; decided that all Siotof-cats and .motor'' i ■cycles shftuld boar idcMtificatioii { marks. The object of this Was., of course, that in case of ae-i cident 0* any v iftfritigftmertt of ; the law, a., motoris't vytio attentp-ted to escape his responsibilities could 5 bo still'identified by -thjj.tefit.ets and! n.iinib«,s on; his machine 1 . Else-; whore is this issue will be fo'imd the j list of registration m-itrks- and. num- 1 hers as tftey stand to-day.' It fes not require much study of the list ±0': ■realise that the good intentions of; Pftriiawont have teen turned-fat© a : gross ttavesty. It is. 'impossible to discover any method iff aftoitiing eitiier the lett'srs desigiiajting the dif- > feront districts or the uaiabprs. AS ear with a "€"' oil it .may hail from.; any one of six different dist'ricts, one ] : with a "W" may come cither from! the- locality of Wellington City, Mas-! ■lerton Borough, or Eaugitikci 1 Goufffcyj sgain, a car Or cycle tearing the letters "H0 )s niay'be eifchai'* from Haw-fee's Bay or EoreWhenira, In each of these cases- the figures are the only guide. Thg present sys.- 1 bzmal marking aiotors ftffers only u mininnira of proteetwn to the pnblie. Unless the wbole of the uiiiieccssiirily oosnpllcated letters and figures, on a fugitive's rmmbof-plabs a'ftj clearly seen it is often a'case of "as yotf were." It stotvld 'be remeWbcred. also, tJittt- cars and cycles bearing the: same marks and nnaibors are frequently to fee met with, owinjj partly to the laxity in tfes euforcefttent of the. law by the local .bodies aju: police, and also to the extreme difficulty of detection under the present system, We hope that Mr, Buu'g' new Bill will ensure tlie publie &f adequate protection against that most uuplcasaflt animal,' the motor "road hog." OSE.livf-s and learns Eveti our aged, if not vefioKiblCi moming contemporary caunot wholly escape thk universal experience. Up to a fow claVs ago. it is true, it wa-s patheti* .tally ana wane of the ren'iarkabie progress of closer «ttli!«tciKfc along 'Uw? route of thn C.:-ulvcrden.-Waia!j railway. It still cherishes the delusion that the Wardist following of today is the Liberal Party ol ten or twenty .years afio. But there is hope for it. 3. esiserda'y eiovaina it

was oior-cd to ask itself "Who settled the Strike 1" This is a pretiiy .o.ki conufltlrvim now, and out sgod i rieii.d we fear rather unduly oxeitesj its sys-tem over a bow diseoraiy it ktd made. It w*s the farmers v.'iw settled the strike! "this," it 'assures an mtquestionihg world, "fe perfectly correct." It aduki with the senile malkc of a crochet-y gi'fcni father, "Whiitovev crodit' is being claimed nsw by Mn. Masse? and his eulltjagufis belongs te the. farmers."': A few years, iieheo, no dowlrtj this local Etp Y,vs Winklb will awake to thn fact that Mr. MaSsev and Ws colteagjics wero among the first to acknowledge the very' vjtlnablo and patriotic way ia wljioh the fdraiers released the country fipra tba grip of an anarchical m'gteyisation.