NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 108, 31 January 1919, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

How far New Zealand is threatened with a recrudescence of the influenza epidemic the Health Department officials and medical authorities are themselves unable to say with any confidence. The fact that a serious case was reported in Wellington yesterday suggests that the sensible thing to do is to rapidly and methodically institute a-11 possible precautionary measures. Responsibility in the matter rests primarily upon the Health Department'ana local authorities, but the public as a whole must co-operate, and no doubt will see the wisdom of doing so readily. In Wellington prompt measures ought certainly to be taken to as far as possible remedy overcrowding in boardinghouses and elsewhere, and to enforce the highest possible standards of sanitation and .cleanliness throughout the .city. One very important duty devolving upon the Government is to see that all the drugs and other supplies that would be indispensable in the event of a recurrence of the epidemic are in hand; and early measures ■should be taken also to prevent profiteering if it should be attempted. In view of the extent to which inoculation is being practised in Australia, it is presumably an essential part of the duty of our own Health Department to be prepared to carry it out on the most extensive scale in this country should the necessity unfortunately arise.

Even Labour leaders condescend to a little fun-making at times. Consider, for instance, Mr. Hiram Hunter's statement that the unionists who lately sat in conference in Wellington demonstrated their desire to "defend themselves from any further inroads on their liberty." The conception of trades unionists in this country anxiously attempting to prevent "further 'inroads on their liberty" is worthy of any fessional humorist. The full flavour of the jest will be caught by people who shivered through last winter because the members of sundry miners' unions did not choose that they should have coal., It will appeal also to the would-be travellers who are frequently reduced to kicking their heels and wasting their substance in New Zealand and Australian ports until stokers are graciously pleased to accept, employment at, on occasions, about the same rate of pay as Cabinet Ministers receive. It was £2 a day, we believe, that was paid to secure casual firomen on the ferry steamers. On reflection it seems possible that Mr. Hunter was serious, and that his real meaning is that trades unionists ave determined to reestablish the vanished right of obtaining adequate supplies of necessary commodities like coal and of travelling by sea when they have occasion to. If this is the meaning of his cryptic utterance, he has only to open a recruiting depot to gather in all the non-union reinforcements he could desire to support his crusade. • , . . .

The nurserymen of the Dominion who have been meeting here. this week might well take for. their motto the. advice of their retiring president, Mr. Waugh: "Co-operation and organisation." Their industry is one of very great importance to the Dominion, and its value can be still further increased by establishing a recognised standard of quality not only in fruit trees but in many other directions and by educating the public to an appreciation of such standards. The cheapest is not always the best, as the amateur horticulturist has too often learned'to his sorrow. ..A nurserymen's association should bo in a position to guarantee a standard of quality agreed on by its members, but it requires to go further than this. To attain its' ends it has to carry the public with it—in other words, to educate tho public to look for a. given standard of quality.

Very effective and convincing was the reply the Minister of Defence gave yesterday to the appeal of a deputation for the wholesale release of so-called conscientious objectors. That the Government is not taking a vindictive view was made plain Sin James Allen's candid admission of his readiness to accept a very wide interpretation of the term "religious objector." To release the "shirker" objector, however, would not only mean that these men would escape just punishment, but would justify the claim that the scores of men who "shirked" and have since been in hiding in different parts of the country should lie allowed to go scot free. It is constantly being urged, and properly bo, that the man who did his duty in the war should not be forgotten, and equally the man who shirked it should get his deserts.

_ Considering that German Poland is simply that part of Poland , which Germany stole, the reported decision of tho German Government to settle the possession of that territory by strong military measures is one the Entente cannot be expected to tolerate. The army which is said to havo been organised under HinDBNBUEG is very possibly of a strength that would enable ifc to overwhelm the Poles.' The Poles, however, are not likely to lack adequate support. The Baltic is now freely open to the Allies, and Germany has no means of ;prev'enting any army she may send into Poland being outflanked from the sea. In any case the recent report that Marshal Foch has gone to Poland suggests that the Allies are taking organised measures to deal with any eastward thrust Germany may attempt.

Any news that comes by way of Vienna is suspect, but there is reason to fear that the serious peasant revolution reported in Rumania m.iy actually havo occurred. Th& existing distribution of land in llumania and the conditions of tenure have long been a cause of popular dissatisfaction, and M. Bkatiano, who is now again at the head of affairs, took ofiice as Prime Minister in pre-war d.iy:: pledjnv! to .■',

policy o! agrarian rcfurai. The outbreak of war had the effect of postponing the measures he proposed. At present the Rumanian Government, like others, is preoccupied with, the problems-of peaoe, and it

is very possible that in these circumstances enemy agents have been able to work upon the impatience ot the .Rumanian peasants with disastrous effect. The Hungarian Government has been accused of fomenting such conspiracies in the hope of staving off the demand for. the liberation of territories it now holds, and Rumania, as the claimant to Transylvania,, would assuro'i.y not be overlooked in activities of this kind.