The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, December 19, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1041, 19 December 1912, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, December 19, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

In conversation with a medical man some time since a Heraed representative was informed that he had beiu sceptical as to letters being germ carriers of certain diseases. He stated that he was somewhat puzzled as to the cause of a certain infectious disease which came under his professional care. He subsequently ascertained that the patient had been in communication with a household in the South Island wherein the inmates were suffering from a similar outbreak. The letter in that case, he felt convinced, was the media of passing on the germs. Here is a point worthy of consideration by the Postal and Health Department that all letter boxes should contain, in suitable receptacles, necessary disinfectants.

Under the headings of ‘‘AntiMilitarist Canards” and ‘‘Repeated in America,” the Auckland Weekly News recently stated : “As an indication of the wide circulation which is being given to the libels on New Zealand and perpetrated by the anti-militarists, it may, be mentioned that the editor of a Christchurch paper received by last mail from a settler In East Kootenay, British Columbia, an extract from a paper called the Watchman, published iu Washington, U.S.A., repeating the story about the ‘persecution of boys by hundreds’ for refusing to serve in the defence force, and ‘young boys sons of the best of people in New Zealand, between the ages of 12 and 2it, being iu the convict dress,

having their finger-prints taken like criminals, picking oakum and in solitary confinement for 16 hours per day, etc.’ The writer states that he had intended in the near future to come out to New Zealand with his family, but if what the clipping states is true he would prefer to ‘stay in the subArctic regions,’ where he is at present. He adds that he had always been an admirer of New Zealanders and their progressive policy, but on reading the clipping referred to he received an unexpected shock. He, therefore, wrote to ask whether the statements made were true, adding, “I shall believe nothing against little New Zealand until her own Press confirms it,’ In reply, the editor has written assuring his correspondent that he need not hesitate to come to New Zealand with his family on account of the Defence Act. As the best reply to the defamatory statements circulated about the Dominion and the national training system he sent the Hast Kootenay inquirer a copy of the very fair and temperate letter forwarded by the Pahiatua Honorary Territorial Association to the Manchester Guardian.”

Archpriest Wat,sh, in a sermon delivered in Maclean, New South Wales, spoke with no uncertain sound on modern fashion. The Sydney Sun reports him as saying "To-day, the woman oi advanced years sets a pernicious example to the younger members of her sex by making a caricature of herself; high-heeled shoes of weird and wonderful construction, brief skirts of ankle length, and so tight that she scarce may hobble along ; low-cut blouses disclosing blatantly the years she is at such pains otherwise to conceal; and hats whose chief recommendation is that they resemble hats less than any other known thing on the face of the globe. The mother who can appear before her sous and daughters thus grotesquely arrayed has lost all claim upon their filial respect and veneration. The younger women follow her lead as so many sheep devoid ot individual reasoning power, with only this difference, that each tries to outdo the others in her efforts to produce something more outre and startling. Brave as the average male may be upon occasion, his courage needs to be wellscrewed to sticking point before he can face publicity in company with one of these awful mockeries of feminine grace and beauty. Some of the priests in our churches, thoroughly disgusted with the apparitions that present themselves within the sacred doorways —not, indeed, to pray, we may be forgiven lor supposing, but to flaunt their extreme modes before the gaze of the congregation, and to assure themselves that nothing ‘extremer’ has yet been evolved — have spoken strongly from the altar of the disgraceful fashions with which Catholic women have degraded themselves; an occasional editor, sick unto death of the sights that greet him in his ‘hours of ease,’ has in turn exhorted, implored, threatened, to no avail. Deaf ears and blind eyes receive homily and article. i'he sea rises and rises. At each teason of the year it assumes tidalwave proportions, leaving no more than one odd woman here and there high and dry above the vortex. From the rich society dame down to the poor girl whose few shillings a week are earned by the sheer ‘sweat of her brow,’ the mania for startling effect in the public streets prevails; and the new season has ushered in with It modes that reach the very limit of vulgarity. Never in history were the modes so abhorrently indecent. The result is so gross that no pen could have the affroutery to describe it in its details of offenceno pencil could illustrate it in all its vicious ugliness. There is no beauty in it, no grace, no picturesqueness. It is nothing but vileness unredeemed, and the pity of it is that most of the wearers of this degradingly suggestive attire are innocent young girls who have not the faintest idea what they are doing. One should think that no self-respecting Catholic woman should allow herself to become a slave to a demoralising and indecent fashion. Her natural modesty should revolt against appearing before the eyes of all in a dress that offends every ideal of decency and refinement.”