NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 46, 18 November 1920, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

\ Sir Thomas Mackenzie had a cordial reception yesterday on his return to the Dominion, and he will find throughout the country n lively appreciation of the work he has done in our interests in Britain. For eight years he has been the permanent official spokesman for New Zealand in tho Mother Country, and has done his full share in extending a knowledge of this country among the British •people and developing the spirit of cordiality and good will towards it. During the wnr Sir Thomp.3 Mackenzie did a vast amount of work outside of his official duties 011 behalf of New Zealanders on active'service abroad, and in this he was ably seconded by his family. In the post-war disorganisation of trade he has time and again beni to the fore in protest against any tendency by the Imperial Control Departments to overlook New' Zealand interests. Not always has it been pas. sible to arrange matters as wo would desire, but if we have not got all we could wish, we think it will be found to lie through no lack of energy or persistence on the part of our late High Commission?!.

TJie cliarge that ninety -per cent, ot Australian dentists allow decay to proceed in their patients' teeth with a Tlew to assuring future incomes for themselves is easy to make, but not so easy to prove. The Press Association has sent us this brief excerpt from a paper read before the Australian Dental Conference, but It lias told nothing of what was said in reply, and we do not doubt that there has been a good deal. Experience in dentists' chairs in New Zealand leads 6no to quite an opposite conclusion so far as local conditions are concerned, and the average, dentist here seems generally able to discover and treat any number of small beginnings of decay the existence of which was never suspected by the patients. Dentistry, in common with many other occupations—most oceupations, in fact—offers opportunities to those Mho wish to render dishonest and unfaithful service.. Few of us, for instance, understand enough about tho. inside of a watch to know whether a watchmaker has treated us fairly in his charge for repairs; tlie majority of motorists are often entirely in the hands of garage proprtotors when a defect arises; doctors can do as they please with us when we are in their hands; lawyers if they chooso can plausibly spin out cases and pile up costs. In e.yery direction wo have to trust to tho honesty and good faith of those with whom we deal. Human nature fortunately proves pretty sound on the whlole; most of us like money, but most of us also relish the satisfaction of a clean and honest job. There are, of course, glaringly black sheep at all times in all occupations. Sometimes, too, tlie morale of a whole trade or profession slips badly down. But one wants a good deal of evidence to 'believe that ninety per cent, of the dentists of Australia are rascals.

New Zealanders have earned a reputation as liberal givers. It is a good trait in the character oE a prosperous people, and it is a tbnnklesß task to say or do anything that would lead to- a drying up of the springs of generosity. An appeal is non- being made for funds for the TBlief of starving children in Europe. In our correspondence columns also a plea has been mado for assistance for faminestricken millions in- China. Misery and distress will always prevail somewliere> and it is for the charitably disposed, from their own knowledge and sympathies, to select tbte causes to which they will lend their aid. In ninny cases there i 3 a tendency for feelings of benevolence to increase in proportion as the object is remote and knowledge of actual fieeds and methods of expenditure' vaguo and incomplete. Sir Thomas Mackenzio has been in. closer touch than most of us with the beneficiaries under previous national funds subscribed in New Zealand. He tells us that we raised more money than was required from 11s for Belgium, that we over-did our share in other directions,, and he suggests that it would be prudent to see there are no starving poor under our own flag before feeding those of other nations. Those who aim at raising another great fund for European relief would do well to assure themselves of. the intensity of the need, the absence of means of selMielp; and the nature* of the agencies through which tlie actual expenditure on the spot will be made.

Six years ago the United States owned 4.7 per cent, of the world's sea-ptoing tonnage. To-day, mainly in consequence of its enormous activity in *hipbuildinjr during the war, it owns 24 per cent, of the total. These figures have been giving great satisfaction to the American public, but that satisfaction is gradually turning to disquietude. It is one thing to own an immense number nf ships, and quite'another .apparently to have -them in profitable employment. The United' States Shipping Board, under Admiral Benson, has been the target of fierce criticism of late. It has large numbers of surrendered German steamers on its hands idlo and out of commission, and it has been making unsuccessful endeavours to dispose of Gov-ernment-built. American ships to private firms. Tn a New York messago tins morning appear serious allegations as to the seaworthiness of some of .the ships built in American yards during the war. Some of this criticism no doubt comes from people who would like to convince the American public that they would do well to got rid of their Government ships as a, gift to privato owners Nevertheless, the quality of this rushed-to-gether shipping can hardly be expected to be particularly high. It undoubtedly cost enough to build, and in a falling market will have to go at a loss in any case. Even with tho assistance of tho Btringent provisions of the Jones Shipping Act- cutting out foreign competition, the task of the United States authorities in discovering profitable employment for their ten million tons of now shipping is not an enviuble ono. V ft If Jl

Years ago Delano, when editor of "The Times," was asked, "Pray, sir, how do you say 'good follow' in print ?" and replied, "Sir, you should not say it at all." Ideas of what might be fa id in print hare cjiangod materially »incu those days, but it has remained for Colonel Kopingtou, lately military correspondent of "The Times," to open lip a startling now field. In a clcverly-writtcn war diary which ho has just published, he includes all sorts of scraps of private conversation with the names of tlie speakers attached. Tho public is thus given the privato viows of one Minister of the Crown on another, and chance casual romarks of ladies about their husbands appear in tho blaze of publicity, itibhorto accepted custom has made all this 6inall talk in private gatherings forbidden ground for tho purposes of ourrent reproduction. Unless it were people mtioh in the jmbllo ey*

would never be nble to unbend without being afraid of misconstruction, for in a casual half-serious conversation ovon a gesture or an accent makes all the difference in tliei impression, while the bald words issued to all and sundry must inevitably breed trouble and ill-feeling. Colonel Bepington's line seems to be in close alliance 'with that of Mrs. As(|i;ith, of which one reviewer said that it should be a warning to men proposing marriage henceforth to do so only in tho presence of their solicitors. •