NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 244, 9 July 1920, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

Though the majority of tho frequenters of Parliament regard the time-limit for members' speeches as a boon and a blessing to men, there are times when a good speech is spoiled in an endeavour to speak against the clock. Last night was witnesssd one of these occasions, when the Primo Minister spoke on the no-confidence motion. It 1788 plain as the speech progressed that' Mr. Massey had some important and many interesting things to say. But, unfortunately, the head of tho Government, in conformity with the rules of tho House, set out in an effort to compress his remarks into the space of a one-hour speech, and in trying to rush through his notes at top speed found it necessary to scamp some of the topics touched on while others had to be jettisoned altogether. This vas a pity, for on more than ,ono occasion had reached an interesting phase of Ms argument when ho had to drop it for lack of timo to elaborate tho point being made. Tho matter of the speech was, on tho whole, very good, and the Prime Minister put up a stout defence against recent criticism of tho Government. Members were good enough when the time-limit expired to give him an extra half-tour of grace,' but it would have been of greater assistance to him had he 6et out with the' knowledge that he had an hour and a half instead of only one hour in which ..to cover the ground mapped out for tho speech.

A good case can be made out by the local trotting enthusiasts who are waiting on the Government to-day in an endeavour to secure a more equitable distribution of totalisator permits. As in so many other things, Wellington, in the matter of totalisator permits for trotting meetings, is the Cinderella of the cities of the Dominion Here wo have one solitary day's trotting in each year, while in .the other centres, particularly in Canterbury and Auckland, there are meetings galore. In and around ChristchurcH they seem to hold trotting meetings about once a month or less, while Wellington followers of the sport have their solitary outing once a year. It is- recognised that Canterbury has built up the sport, and that it is on a very high plane there so far as tiro quality of the horses, tho 6takcs, and tho tracks and appointments are concerned; but while this is nil to their credit it does not justify them in monopolising tho totalisator permits for Canterbury people. A marked improvement in the/management and control of the sport here has resulted in a great advance in its popularity with the public, but thoWocal club is handicapped in its enterprise through tho unequal distribution of thio totalisator permits. There is not tho slightest doubt that under the improved conditions provided for tho sport here, Wellington is fully justified in claiming bet-. tcr treatment. * * * * A piece of advice to which New Zealand might profitably pay heed comes from Sir Arnold Gridley. This distinguished engineer was chief electrical adviser to tho Imperial Government during tho war period, and in speaking of what he had seen in his tour through New Zealand ho emphasised the need for taking long views in planning hydroelectric power schemes. In Britain they had so often mndo the expensive mistake of planning extensions; merely for the next two or three years. In New Zealand the samo mistake has been made at Lake Coleridge, whero the initial plant put in was about half the size it should have been. Tho error is one easily made, and frequently costly to rectify.. The abundant water-power with which Nature has blessed us is our most valuable asset, 'but, as Sir' Arnold Gridloy emphasises, to reap its full benefits long-sighted and courageous views are necessary. W'hat tho Dominion needs most to-day is hydro-electric construction on 'the scale of tho Vogel railwaybuilding that put tho colony on its feet fifty years ago It does not need much imagination to picture the tremendous development of primary aid secondary industries that would be made possible.

Roll-stuffing is an Art unhappily not unknown in this country. It is reported, for inatance, that there are 8000 mora names on the roll than thoro are adults in the Domirjon. Mr. John C. Atkinson, of Auckland, who has gone into the subject, estimates that if allowance is made for persons in gaols and in mental hospitals, for those not naturalised, and for those who decline to be enrolled, the total number of dummy electors must approximate 30,000. This estimate may be exaggerated, but the evil is a serious one. Mr. Atkinson has put forward a 6implo suggestion for ending it. It is that instead of placing the electors on the rolls in alphabetical order they should bo grouped according to the streets in which they live. The streets would he in alphabetical sequence, and tho names of the electors at each number shown with that of the householder first. Instead of the present doctoral notices, Mr. Atkinson would have 6lips font to each householder showing tho number of electors in his house, and would mako liable to punishment thesa householders who wilfully'or negligently failed to rectify any errors. The suggestion appears to be a thoroughly sound one so far H9 the towns are concerned, and tho street-grouping of names would l)e more convenient for nearly all election purposes. * # # » Is there a connection between cancer and rats? There is an old popular view that houses infested by rats and mico nre liable to become tho seat of cancerous disease. Support is lent to this belief by the investigations of Professor Fibigor, ef Copenhagen. Several years ago Professor Pibiger directed the attention of tho scientific world to .the fact that ho had found ojses of cancur in the stomachs of rats coming to his laboratory from a particular sugar refinery. This refinery was infested with cockroaches. Somo cf these were obtained, and wero found to be the hosts of a parasitic worm, sinco named tho Spiroptcra Ncoplastica. By feeding rats on tho cockroaches or causing them to eat tho eggs' of the worm it was possible to produce in a number of instances inflammations, and also car.cer of the stomach. Just recently Professor Fibiger hn3 published the results of further researches. Of 116 rats who ate tho eggs none of those dying within 3041 days developed' cancer. Of 103 which survived this period 54, or more

than 50 per cent., showed quito typical cancer of tho stomach. In the remaining 48 no cancer was found, but only signs of inflammation and thicken ing. It does not necessarily follow that what applies to rats applies to man. The investigations have not gone fai enough for that. They Lave, however, gone quito far enough to indicate that rat-infested and cockroaufc-infested houses may safely ho regarded as excellent things to avoid. * * # # With his present colossal rational expenditure John Bull is beginning.. to question whether Parliament controls the bureaucracy or tho bureaucracy controls Parliament. His misgivings were not lessened by the proceedings of the House of Commons on the Navy Estimates on May 17. Neither Mr. Long, First Lord of tho Admiralty, ncr Sir James Craig, Financial Secretary of the Admiralty, was ablo to throw any light on the reason for the Increase in the vote of nearly eight millions for victualling and clothing. Members were in pertinacious mood, nnd several with naval experience asked for light on various items of expenditure, but both Ministers had to confess a pitiable ignorance of their brief. 'jhe cl'usai came when information was svught as to what had become of the voto for wireless telegraphy. Mr. Long tV ought it must be in Vote 0, but it could not bo traoed there. Sir James Craig announced his belief that it had got into tho vote for the Signalling School at Portsmouth. ' Beyond putting forward this theory ho was unable to discover its whereabouts, and finally o\erybody gave it up for lost. Next morning tho nowspapers. were asking, and with gocd reason, how many needless millions were being thrown away\ iu consequence of the blank ignoranco of Ministers and members as to the very objects, much less the necessity, of the *oteu they so haphazardly passed.

* * * * Nearly one-half of the afternoon sitting of the House of Representatives yesterday was taken up by a ragged though lively debate on a Bill introduced by Mr. M'Callum to provido for tho State control of liquor licenses. No one supposes that Parliament is lik«ly to alter the law on the lines proposed in tho Bill, but the debate had one feature that ought to be highly interesting to the Minister of Finance. This was the earnestness with v.hioh Mr. M'Callum and other members asserted that the uniform license fee of JMO row levied ought to give place to graduated chaTges, based upon the volume of liquor trade conducted in different classes of hotels. It was pointed out that hotels in -populous centres, doing a big trade in liquor, could as easily pay a license fee of as small country hotels can pay the present foo of £M, and that in this way tho present ai.nual revenue of about wMS.OOO from licenses might easily bo increased to .fMA.'IOO or £M,M. The suggestion was that the Government should compensate the local bodies which now collect license fees and iteelf collect the increased revet uo. With such encouragement the Minister of Finance may be tempted to tup this neglected source.