NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 170, 12 April 1919, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

It is still an open question vhethcr the Dominion is "destined to suffer ft Recrudescence of the influenza, epidemic, on anything like tlw scale it attiiinrxl last summer, but the latest statistics of cases issued by tho Health Department are serious enough to make it a matter of common sense to he well prepared. So far as Wellington js concerned the experience gained in . the, last visitation seems in the main to have been turned to excellent account. A statement made o'n Wednesday by the chairman of tho Hospital Board (Mi:. BAunvnO indicates that extensive. hospital accommodation will speedily bo made available in case of need. Another useful measure in progress is the training of volunteer

nurses at the Hospital. It is a question, however, whether it would not be wise to organise lectures by medical practitioners to both men and women. In this way elementary instruction of the kind that would be most serviceable in the event _ of another outbreak of influenza might be conveyed in a brief period to a considerable number of people. In many districts the local committees which did such excellent service last year arc ready to resume operations at short noticc should this become necessary, but in ono or two eases attempts to revive the epidemic organisation as a- precautionary measure have failed., _ People in such areas would be wise to reflect that conceivably this indifference may pVove to be exceedingly costly. One of the most satisfactory announcements made in connection with the provisional measures in train is that if the epidemic recurs local medical practitioners will again work under the block system.

It will be seen from one of today's cablegrams that the British Government is giving a practical lead in the matter of encouraging ex-Service men to emigrate to one or other of the Dominions. Mr. L. C. Ambry, Under-Secretary for the Colonies, has announced that after December next the British Government will grant free passages to exsoldiers approved under any Dominion settlement scheme. No doubt the same conditions will apply to inen discharged from the Navy, though this is not expressly stated. Tho Dominions are thus offered an opportunity of securing selected immigrants without incurring the expense that is ordinarily involved in a scheme of assisted immigration. It goes without saying that the only Dominions in a position to seize the opportunity arc those that can offer attractive openings to immigrants, and at present New Zealand is in this respect rather out of the run'ning. AVe can ill afford to neglect such an opportunity, however, and the promised action of the British Government should stimulate our own authorities to .do everything possible in the way of creating openings for immigrants; If after providing for its own soldiers the Dominion is unable to offer inducements to immigrants of the best type offered at its doors, the outlook will bo a poor one for all concerned. The decided opinion of the Minister of Public Works that there will be a shortage of labour- for [development works even when all the soldiers have returned distinctly suggests that-the Dominion can absorb a considerable number of immigrants in, tho comparatively near future. It suggests also that it should be possible to provide a proportion of .these immigrants with country holdings, for the scope of settlement is. of course, determined by the progress of developmental activities. In considering immigration .possibilities, the Government, of course, should look not only to development work and ordinary land settlement, but to such neglected fields of enterprise as forest development and the encouragement of fisheries.