NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 118, 12 February 1919, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

A medical correspondent writing to the London Daily Mail advises that it is desirable to err on the side of pessimism with regard to the behaviour of influenza microbes'. There is no prophesying with confidence what they may do, but experience of former epidemics, he points out, leads to the conclusion that they have a habit of. ! displaying spasms of activity for some time after their seeming ' disappearance from a. community. For instance, the years of the great pandemics last century were 1830-33, 1836-37, 1847-48, and 1889-92. Thus tho duration of the last century's outbreaks was two or three years, and the correspondent referred to therefore concludes that tho epidemic in England will not disappear in a single- year. This seems to be the generally accepted view. It does not follow that we in New Zealand, may anticipate in the near future so severe a visitation as that which brought such widespread sorrow to the Dominion last year. But the possibility of a recurrence of the disease in a serious form is sufficiently real'to make it urgently necessary that every reasonable precaution should be maintained to safeguard the community against such a contingency.

It is not necessary to agree with all .the views on widows' pensions expressed by Mr. A. W. Oroskery in.our issue of to-day in order to find reasons for supporting his contention regarding the inadequacy of the allowance now made for. children. Me. Ckoskery is in error in assuming that the rate of pension ■paid is £12 a year for the first child and £6 a year for each additional child. These amounts were increased under the Finance Act of 1917 by £6 a year in each case. Thus, instead of an allowance of 4s. 7W. a week for the first child and 25." 3jd. for each additional child, the allowances now made are ..respectively 6s. lid. and 4s. a week. This increase was treated at the time as a temporary measure of relief necessitated by war conditions. It must bo_ obvious, however, that even on this more generous scale the allowances in many instances must prove quite inadequate for the support of the children. Thero arc few questions of greater concern to ' the State just now than that of the care and upbringing of the children.

Every parent, and indeed every citizen, should read the summary published elsewhere of the address given last evening by the Director of Military Training on the new scheme of cadet training and what it means to the youth of the Dominion. The objects of the training course as outlined by LieutenantColonel_ Slebman present the whole scheme in a most attractive light. As he very justly puts it, the scheme, far from being one calculated to foster a spirit of militarism, is really one designed to make good and useful citizens. The training proposed is not so much military training as physical, mental and moral training conducted along lines which should capture tho interest of the lads and secure their cheerful co-operation. That they should be the better for it in every way is beyond question; tho only reservation on this point being that the instructors must be men in full sympathy with the ideas enunciated by Colonel Sleesian and properly qualified to perform the duties entrusted to them. In order to secure the full benefits of the scheme it will be necessary that parents and employers should give it their active sympathy and support and encourage the youth of the community to take full advantage of the opportunity thus opened \\p to thorn.

Even from the very brief quotations which are cabled it is evident that the book by Lord Jelucoe just published in England throws much new and instructive light on the naval war v The particulars given of naval strength at the end of 19H are startling and would have bam more so had they been a matter of public knowledge at that time. The comparatively slight German inferiority in capital ships was largely compensated by the possession of fcwices as tnany : destroyers. The

heavier armament of the British Dreadnoughts was a big factor, but it is now disclosed by Lokd Jellicoe that in the opening stages of the war the Germane Lad a much more effective armour-piercing shell than was supplied to the British ships. Considering that the Russian Baltic Fleet was a somewhat negligible factor, and that tho French Navy was fully occupied in the Mediterranean, it would seem that Germany would have been at no great disadvantage from the standpoint of material had she boldly challenged British naval supremacy in the opening stage of the war. The facts supplied by Lord Jellicoe shea new lustre on the British Navy and demonstrate that its unexampled achievement was made possibleprimarily not by an overwhelming superiority of force, but by the efficiency of its officers and men and their indomitable spirit. The samo deepen the ignominy of the German Navy which was finally sealed by its tame-surrender. As the position is now outlined the Germans had an opportunity in the early days of the war against odds no greater than the British Navy in its long has often faced and victoriously overcome.