The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, February 17, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1008, 17 February 1912, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, February 17, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

A numukr of settlers iu the north end of xVloutoa, Marotiri, are urging the Education Board to erect a school ; u the locality. They state that the distance to the Moutoa and Foxtou schools is too great—especially lor the younger children. At a meeting held on Thursday last, at which the chiet inspector was present by direction of the Board, it was decided to ask the Board to erect a sideschool. A list containing the names of children who would attend such school has been submitted to the Board, a number of whom are at present attending either the Moutoa or Foxtou schools. It is questionable whether the Board would be justified in expending a sum of money for such purposes. Only recently additions were made to the Moutoa school to provide increased accommodation, and if a sideschool were erected the money so expended will have been wasted. In our opinion the site of the Moutoa school is too far south, and if the school were removed farther north, this would do away with the necessity for a side school. Centralisation is what is required, not a number of tin-pot shanties dotted about the country every few miles apart, where half-and-half primary education is attempted and at considerable expense to the country. If the Board is well advised it will refuse to sanction a side school, but, as is done in other scattered districts where the distance to school is considered too far, provide a conveyance for the tew scholars affected, to a better equipped central school.

Victims of the drug and alcohol habit are common enough. One need not be a medical practitioner to pick out such unfortunates, for whom the greatest sympathy is felt. There are a number of patent medicines, however, which also have their victims. These concoctions are no doubt harmless enough when taken in specified doses, and for certain ailments, but there is a danger of cultivating the drug habit by the indiscriminate use of patent medicines, many of which contain narcotics and other insidious poisons. When once the poison finds its way into the system a craving tor it is established, and the parieut imagines that a particular and much advertised nostrum is absolutely necessary to good health. On the other hand, it is the insidious poison in the system which is causing the trouble. We have in mind a very nice old lady who would not be without her ' ‘ painkiller ” for worlds, and her life depended upon periodical doses of it. iNo doctors had ever wrought such wonders for her health as this. There is no occasion to labour the point. The worst case we have yet heard of came under our notice this week. A certain flaxmill employee —an expert in a particular branch of the industry —gets through three bottles of painkiller per diem —one before each meal. He couldn’t tackle a meal without first swallowing his appetiser. Recently his slock ran out, and he collapsed until a fresh supply came to hand. The condition of that victim’s internals can be better imagined than described. We ate not decrying the efficacy of the medicine when taken in moderation, but tne medical man is the cheapest and safest person to consult in cases of physical disorders —patent medicine advertisements and testimonials to the contrary.