NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 95, 16 January 1919, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

Most people will read with a great deal of interest the . article, which we publish elsewhere on the question 'of the health statistics stored in the records of the Becruiting Department. The medical examination of something like a quarter of a million of the manhood of the country affords a unique opportunity for securing information regarding the condition of health of a large proportion of the population of the country which if properly collated should prove of great value to the Health authorities. It may be suggested that it is not the business of the Recruiting Department to.compile health statistics. This, of course, is true enough, hut irj the circumstances it would be foolish and narrow to press this view. The fact to he considered is that the Eecruiting Department is in possession of the records; the officers of the Department are familiar with the files which they have been handling for so long; and they can do the- work of compilation moro easily and expeditiously than if the records were handed over to sonn; other Department to deal with. When this work is completed the particulars extracted would, presumably, bo handed over to the Health Department, which could then determine the best use to be made of them. The Minister of Defence, it may be hoped, will not permit any military red-tape officialism to interfero with the carrying out of tho suggested work in tho most expeditious way, possible.

A message from Trieste which imports disorders at several points in southern Slav territories may easily be exaggerated. There are jealousies and a certain amount of antagonism between the Italians and tho southern Slavs, and it would not bo strange if these sentiments coloured the news to some extent. In any case, even should it be established that some conflicts have occurred between Sorbs and the inhabitants of the late , Austrian territories, it would be unwise to hastily accept this , as evidence that the political union of all the southern Slav provinces is an act of violence opposed by sections of the people concerned. . There are conflicting elements in the population whose presence may make for a measure of discord, but the broad fact stands that all but a small proportion of the people of these provinces are closely akin to the Serbs, and that they gave unmistakable proofs of their'political leanings and national aspirations long before the end of the war. This they did in a widespread agitation for separation from Austria and union , with Sorbia, and in largely reinforcing the Serbian army in Macedonia. The union of all southern Slav territories with Serbia has been announced, but no doubt as yet it is provisional;. If is as little in doubt that it is likely to be confirmed with tho hearty good will of the people concerned.

Protest is made by a correspondent this morning against Dimtroon cadets being sent to England to gain experience in the work of demobilising the New Zealand forces there. He suggests that if it is necessary to send anyone the men who have fought on active .service should be given preference. Assuming that there , are officers anxious to make the trip, and that it is necessary to send anyone at all, most people will be inclined to agree with the -writer of the letter referred to. Tho fighting men should come first where such privileges areto be given. Our correspondent is in error, however, in assuming that tho Duntroon cadets have been specially treated and been permitted to escape active service. Such is not the case. As they qualified they have been drafted into the Expeditionary Force and taken their place in the fighting ranks.

Conclusive evidence in regard to the German atrocities in the occupied ■ territories of Belgium and France was long ago made public in tho report of the Bryce Commission and those of other inquiries instituted by one or other of the Allied Governments. From the revelations of a Manchester Guardian correspondent at Berlin, it would appear that. further . evidence of these abominable crimes is still available , in the German archives, in spite of some efforts to suppress it. Tho statement made in the cablegram that the documents in question show that the atrocities were far worse than the Entente suspected, and the reference to particularly revolting details in tho Gaveix case, speak 'for themselves, the more ,so when it is remembered that the Manchester ' Guardian has at all times studiously refrained from exaggerating Germany's guilt. Accepting the brief message thus far transmitted as correctly indicating the character of the documents, it is evident that if they are secured by the Allies new and imperative reasons will appear for taking direct proceedings against the exKaiser and those' who share with him supreme resDonsibility for'the war and for Germany's crimes. Documentary evidence of this character would finally rebut the pica that the atrocities were not-sys-tematically planned.

A satisfactory intimation is conveyed, in the cablegrams to-day that there is no clanger of any serious dispute between Britain and the other Allied Powers regarding the attitude to be taken up towards the Russian Bolsheviki. It was not suggested at any stage that Britain proposed to offer.the Bolsheviki representation at the Peace Conference; but her suggestion that all factions in Russia should be invited to compose their differences, and so pave the way for representation, was construed by the French Government as indirectly entailing such an invitation. _ It is now stated that a semi-official exchange of views revealed a general agreement with the standpoint of the French Foreign Minister. The problem of repelling the Bolshevik menace remains, and indications at the moment are that the Allies aim .at doing this in part by establishing a defensive barrier in Prussian Poland and the Baltic Provinces. Reports that America is prepared to reinforce the_ Polish divisions based on the Danzig-Thorn railway (running north through < Prussian Poland to the Baltic) with .an army corps, await confirmation, but the creation of such a barrier seems very necessary in order that tho Bo'lsheviki may be prevented from working their will in Germany. It is unlikely that Trotsky actually controls the .army of from 500,000 to 800.000 men mentioned in. one of to-day's reports. Bolshevik resources can hardly he equal to maintaining such a force. But there is an evident danger that unless thn Bolsheviki are effectively opposed they succeed in creating widespread anarchy, in territories, including those, of Germany, where stable government is for the time being non-existent.