HOW LONG ? HOW LONG ?

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 464, 1 July 1909, Page 3

HOW LONG ? HOW LONG ?

, (Contributed;) The Carthaginians, during* the Inexpiable War, sacrificed 400 noble youths and maidens to Molook. : In New Zealand, in 1907, 2886 ildren died before their fifth (tthday. Years ago, the writer was pasig through a cemetery, and an kription on one tombstone made indelible impression on him. te letters were in red.' - Subsevmtly, he learnt it was the grave one of the victims of the BurSullivan gang, of the early - of the Golden West Coast, the inscription was in red, as n that the dead had come to timely end through violence, then, in every cemetery he -sen the inscription “ aged ars—months. The Lord gave ihe Lord taketh away,” or some lar text, and again, and again blood-red inscription has come p his memory. For every one those piteous memorials of a cut short before ;t has properly ’in, should be in red as a sign a witness testifying against igand greed. 2886 deaths ore the filth year! Think of i Think of the pain, the sorrow, the hopes shattered, that Tose figures represent. Try to imagine the hours of suffering each little one of those 2886 passed ‘’-.©ugh before the end, and the ‘ pies ' agony of watching parents, shudders when he reads :iat terrible holocaust those B aajginians made to an idol; but H were excuses. It was a I life and death to their The city was at its last ad the sacrifice was their _ to their god tor help. J-Jjg same excuse for ;!;'!> deaths ? What terrible «vi h outstretched dragon . h, oed for those little ones? it demanded that toll of t a.rd sorrow? What public Sc led to that sacrifice ? Those deaths represent largely the e New Zealand paid to the S A twin gods, Ignorance and ___ ed. Our death-rate is low, but :ould be cut much lower, and jtjriy stupidity or cupidity prevents * v ; cutting. Ignorance kills with proper food, bathing, dressing, * fhe other personal items that ; YP-iduce to unhealthy childhood, fljjp -eed by leading to imperfect - - station and water supply, rched or unhealthy houses, derated or unwholesome food. 3t 'pw we are all ardent I mpe- ; His!?. , Sir Joseph Ward has 'eci the-Empire and changed the j, atiny of the nations by the gift c : a loan - money Dreadnought ; ■ut while these high Imperial incrests demand attention, is it not ; j ight to look a little to the founda- ; lions? The cry, “ Population, j more population,” “a declining | birth-rate,” is heard on all sides. Vet in ten years, 21,363 children • under five years of age died in this fair land of ours—a population equal to 16 Foxtons of the iqdfc census. “Suffer the tittle children,” said! the Great Teacher, but too often the little children suffer for the ignorance or greed of those who should be their best defenders. Our civilisation rests on the bones of those little ones, and each one of those 21,363 graves should bear the red, crying tr Heaven, “How long? How long?” For us who live in this little centre what is there to do ? Infantile mortality depends largely on good surroundings, and these consist of good sanitation, good water, healthy homes, —sanitation w«i have nonewater supply, one ■ that, falling from the skies, mingles with all the casual filth that may gather,on the roofs, and finally, is deposited, with a fair percentage of the accumulated dirt, to ferment in tanks. We have been told that an extra tank or two will solve the problem of water supply in a dry summer. It may be so—the experts have said so—but haveany of those tank-experts ever taken the trouble to empty a tank, ' : f d submit a portion of the residue ! bottom to either of our local 5 to place under a micro- ‘ Have they ever considered ic soup, water, and accumuopf filth lias to be drunk by children ? s “ Boil your ’ “Buy filters! ” Aye, do ng but face the proper soluthe troubled-patch or mend, n’t strike out. Sanitation is in of water supply. Sanirainage there is none. The I (especially in the older is of the town) is fast being I into a fever bed that could the most ardent bacterioloitb all the germs he could —a fine b reeding-culture bed s y' p.is pass, will take more of those dearly loved . . «, brought here with V ■ even the risk of death, ■ -y to lie snatched * away crowing parents, to be laid altar of human greed and ucel ’ Again,, how long ? iDpr ? This is a small town, < hope to see it grow larger rger, but already we have jf the defects of - the large .Houses?- huddled too - together. When will our . our chosen representatives, iding citkens, awake to the at the feudal days have goue er, that this is a new and and, and that here we ate ig up a nation, not trying to tract one,, hindered by the if other ages. When will :hink for themselves, realise luty, and not allow the tradisions of a by-gone .age.to shackle ;■ thelimbsof this young race. No , . ..'huddling together of houses (ttiief ‘ ful in past ages for defensive pur- •; posesi .but now only a source of I? ;.. danger), but houses So erected that ? * ■*’ fhe two great healing agents, fresh and warm sunshine, may* have

built too, not on plans that suit a rigorous climate, but to serve the purpose of ensuring the maximum of health and convenience, more in demand with the requirements of modern sanitary science, and the laws of health and comfort. Again, those little hands stretch from every tomb, crying “How long ? How long?” Have they died in vain, or will their deaths arouse us, who should be their protectors, their guardians, to at least a faint sense of our duty to those of whom it is written: “Of such, is the Kingdom of Heaven. ’ ’