NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2412, 18 March 1915, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

In the letter accompanying his cheque for £1000 for tho Belgian Fund, Mi:. P. A. M'Hardy strikes tho proper note. If the spirit of , his letter is the spirit that animates j us generally we shall not go far f wrong in this war. Those wno have j given most, he are those who Save offered their, lives, and the fathers and. mothers who havo sent ; their sons. For tho rest of us re- ' maining at home in peace and pros- , pcrity, the least we can do is to como promptly and generously to the aid of that heroic nation but for whose : timely action tho armies of Ger- : many would havo swept far and wide across France. The generous sums which have beon received from many ' farmers in aid of the Belgians show that this feeling is widespread, and Mr. M'Hardv's .letter, we have no doubt, will stimulate others to a similar line of thought. The following passage in the letter puts tho position plainly for us New Zealanders:—• Tlio increased, price for produco is, in my opinion, conscience money, or illgotten gains—gains derived from the British ana Allies on land and their fleets at sea, and whatever we give is urgently wanted by those who are' upholding our side across the sea. Wo may not all be in the position of receiving directly these "ill-gotten ga!ns" from the war prices ruling at Home, but, as in the country, in the Gity there are many who are benefiting by the expenditure of our looal Defends Department, and indirectly the benefits derived from the consequent general stability of trade are so widely distributed that it is incumbent on all of us not to stay our hands. An unhappy fate has befallen the portrait of Sir George Beid, painted for inclusion in the official portrait gallery of Australia., That genial and expansive statesman has so long been the accommodating subject of caricature in the political Press of his country that even the artist, was unable to eseape_ the subtle influence. The commission had been given to Mr. G. W. Lambert, a brilliant Australian portrait painter resident in London," and wlfen the canvas arrived out _ in Melbourne the Historical Memorials Committee received such a shock that it incontinently rejected it. In tho offending picture the very ample figure of Sir George was seated in a chair, and the apparently arrived at the conclusion that there was decidedly too much of him. It decreed "that in future all portraits shall be in a standing position." An unbiased • critic points out that physical infirmities are much more easily_ hidden when the person afflicted is sitting, though the excessively robust may look more slender in an upright attitude. A final proviso is added by the committee that hereafter all portraits done for the Commonwealth must be painted by Australian artists living in Australia. This _ will no doubt facilitate the application of the tape measure to various prominent portions of tho subject's anatomy during the progress of _ tho work. The picture was hichly spoken of when exhibited in London, and it might be interesting.to know what Sir George thinks of the decision of the Historical E«cord3 Committee as to the expansiveness of his physical proportions as depicted by Mr. Lambert. The announcement that the German Governor-General has established compulsory education in Belgium indicates that the process of Gernianisation is proceeding in a systematic manner. The Germans are nothing if they are not thorough, and what is now being attempted in Belgium is part of a comprehensive plan to crush the national aspirations and characteristics of all races that come under the Kaiser's sway. It is almost certain that the Belgian schools will be used for this purpose. A leading German thinker has expressed tho view that ''unfortunate insistence on nationality has never anywhere brought true vitality into being." Commenting on this remark, one of the contributors to a very interesting and useful book which has recently made its appcara'rico, entitled The War and Democracy, says the words come home with a new when we loam that in Belgium babies are registered under German names and newspapers are printed in the German language, while newspaper vendors have been imprisoned for' selling English, French, and Belgian newspapers. Tho idea is, of course, to obliterate Belgian nationality. That is the German way. Tho _ British method of allowing the various nationalities within the Empiro to retain their own language and culture, and to develop as far as possible on their own lines, has no attraction for German statesmen and philosophers. ■ They despise Britain for not forcing' her culture on India, and for permitting the French-Canadians to retain their own language and culture, not, or will not, see_ that cach nation has its contribution to make to the intellectual progress of the human race, and that the world would be the poorer if the infinite variety which now exists should be replaced by one all-dominating typo of national ideas and ideals. The City and suburban ratepayers have been accustomed to grumble at 1 the Wellington Hospital for some years past as an unduly expensive institution. However that may be, it cannot bo denied that the usefulness 1 of tho Hospital now extends over a i wide field. Among the more recent departures have been the establishi mcnt of the Infectious Diseases Hos- : pital, the Children's Hospital, and • the Bacteriological Laboratory. Yes- ■ terday the openintr of the new dental branch marked another step for- ■ ward, and one that has much to commend it. Whatever tho cause it has long been evident that f,he carious teeth are the most prevalent ; physical defect among _Now_ Zea- ■ landers. Both the medical inspec- ■ tions in the* State_ schools and the doctors' examinations of recruits for the Expeditionary Forccs havo ■ told the same story. Nearly tlirec--1 quarters of the school children cxi amincd in 1910 were found to havo defective teeth, and although no figures have been published • tho percentage of men enlisting whoso teeth were found in disrepair is understood to have been high. Up to the present the dentistry has been left to private enterprise, but it has long been recogniscd that a sound and healthy month is one of the first essentials to the prevention of disease, and dental work thus becomes d nsiv-wnrv brMieh of, hospital ac* ijUvily.. i-liQ Muoation yewW

ment's report shows that the cost of dental treatment has been a great obstacle to many poorer parents t whose children's teeth have been' found needing attention. So far as the City is concerned the new branch should go some way to removing this difficulty.