The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, August 21st., 1913. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1136, 21 August 1913, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, August 21st., 1913. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Under the heading “I’ll Wring Your Nose !” the Wellington Times published an article the other day, in which not very circumstantial stories were told of dissensions in the Cabinet, a quarrel which led to a threat of violence, and which might have culminated in actual violence but for the intervention ot other members, and of. disaffection in the ranks of the Reform Party generally. When asked by the Dominion whether the story was true or not,, the Prime Minister said there was not an atom of truth in that part of it relating to the Cabinet. “There is not the very slightest foundation,” he said, “for the statement that matters are not running smoothly in the Ministry. The statement that a member ot the Cabinet left a meeting in a rage is absolutely untrue. Nothing of the sort took place. As a matter of fact, members of the Ministry are a particularly happy family. Since we came into office a year ago there has been no friction among us whatsoever. I can only imagine that in the mind of the author of the paragraph the wish was father to the thought." Mr Massey referred the reporter making the inquiry to Mr D. H. Guthrie, the senior Government Whip, for a reply to the allegations as to internal troubles in the party. Mr Guthrie was equally emphatic in his denial ot the truth of the statements. “There is absolutely no foundation for anyone of the statements concerning members of the party,” he said. “The greatest unanimity has always prevailed, and is at present prevailing, among members on all matters of party interest." From subsequent inquiries as to the beginning ot the story that two members of the committee had come near to blows, it appeared that the two members referred to must have been Mr Bradney and Mr Anderson. Mr Bradney is in Auckland, but Mr Anderson returned from there on Tuesday evening. Mr Anderson refused to take seriously the suggestion put to him by a reporter that he had come near to quarrelling with Mr Bradnev. At a meeting of a committee be had disagreed with Mr Bradney on a question that was not of great importance, but neither of them had felt at all keenly about it, and neither ot them had thought of losing his temper. He

( was good friends with Mr Bradney, bad always been so, and the incident had not in the slightest degree disturbed the friendly relationship. “The whole story is an unmitigated lie,’’ he said, with emphasis.

There are other ways of catching smallpox than by contact. Flies are carriers of this dread disease, as they are of other diseases. “ I myself caught a fly the other day that had recently been actually feeding on the pus of a smallpox patient,’’ said the Sydney Health Officer (Dr. J, S. Purdy), who was formerly health officer for the Auckland district, explained that it was not now claimed that flies merely carried disease mechanically on their legs and wings. It was recognised that the possibility of contamination irom the discharges of flies was also very great. It would be realised therefore that flies which had fed on the pustular discharges of a smallpox patient might actually inoculate a person with the disease if they happened to alight on some abrasion of the skin. As flies were practically übiquitous, the risk of infection by this means was another argument in favour of vaccination. It was fortunate that the Sydney outbreak had not occurred in the height of summer, when the fly pest attained its greatest dimensions. Though there were comparatively few flies at the present time those few were a source of danger, and universal vaccination was the only safeguard.

Australians are tbe greatest meat-eaters in the world. That fact is no doubt due to meat being cheaper in the Commonwealth than probably any other country. Professor Osborne, of Melbourne, has prepared a table which shows the consumption per head per annum ot meat among the civilised nations. It runs as follows :

At first sight, Professor Osborne says, there seems to be no difference between the consumptions of Great Britain and Germany, but in the former the fish supply is so well organised that it enters more largely into the diet than in Germany. Recently there were meat riots in Berlin because the lower and middle classes could not afford to purchase it. Professor Osborne says that the people of Italy are underfed, and have not the means to buy what is necessary to build up the physique as it should be. Discussing the effects of the Australian’s meat eating propensities, the professor remarks that the large meat-eater is one who is supposed to work off his energy at a greater rate than others. It does not necessarily follow that life is shortened, but the using up of energy in the case of a big eater ot meat is tar too rapid. At any rate, he holds that too lavish a meat diet paves the way for circulatory and digestive troubles. Australians, though, do not confine themselves to one staple, and if statistics could be obtained it would probably be shown that they eat a great deal of fruit.

The attempt last evening of the member for Otaki to wriggle out of his broken pledge to. vote against the Ward Government vVas not very successful, says to-day’s Dominion. Mr Robertson said he was pledged to vote against the Reform party as well as being pledged to vote against the Ward Government, and in a confused sort of way tried to balance these pledges against one another, presumably with the idea of showing that he had a free hand. It does not matter very much what Mr Robertson may now say on the subject by way of explanation of his actions. He knows very well and the electors of Otaki know very well that he would not now be member for Otaki but for the fact that the people of the district were led to believe that he would vole against the Ward Government on a NoConfidence motion. He did not so vote. Un the contrary, he voted to save the life ot that Government and has been an excellent echo of that party ever since. These are facts which will take a lot of explaining away.

lb. lb. Australia 276 Belgium and United States 150 Holland 65 Great Britain 115 Austria 61 Germany 114 Russia 51 France 79 Italy 26