Rangitikei Advocate. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9377, 22 February 1909, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

SOME interesting remarks were made the other day by a Wellington medical man on the subject of the physical condition of our volunteer forces. He expressed the opinion that not two-thirds of the men enrolled would be of any use on active service owing to the fact that they could not stand the hardships which cannot be avoided in a carhpaign. He suggests as a remedy that volunteers should be compelled to undergo a medical examination before enlistment in order to weed out those who would be useless after a few days hard service. There can bo no doubt that such a test would materially reduce our already very smalL ( force, but we should at least havd a body of men on whom we could rely with some confidence. No man is worth anything for active service unless he is always fit, and this fact is realised in all the standing armies of the great Powers. President Roosevelt has recently been impressing the fact on officers in the American army and has given practical exemplification of by taking a number of the staff officers for a tramp after him across country and by riding nearly a hundred miles ia a day. The whole organisation of our defence force in this country is in such an unsatisfactory state that it seems almost' useless to niako auy recommendations, but the people may well bear in mind that even the *

numbers we are able to show on paper would have to be largely reduced if none but men of really satisfactory physique were included.

THE returns of the Savings Bank afford a very good test of the financial state of the country. This is not equally true in Britain where the rate of interest paid on deposits is small and the amount that may be placed In the bank limited to £3OO or thereabouts. As a result of the more liberal conditions in the Dominion the Savings Bank has encroached a good deal on the business which elsewhere falls into the hands of private banks, and, therefore, people, here use the Savings Bank

who would not think of doing so in other countries, where such banks are taken advantage of- only by the poorest classes. Thus it happens

that in New Zealand the Savings Bank returns give very clear evidence as to the prosperity or otherwise of a very large proportion of the population. During the recent prosperous years the deposits in the Bank have, as might have been expected, exceeded the withdrawals by a very considerable amount. In 1907 the excess of deposits over withdrawals amounted to £1,236,531, bus 1908 revealed a totally different

state of affairs. It is true that for \ the whole year there was an excess ' of deposits of just over a quarter of a million, but this was accumulated entirely in the first six months. In the June-September quarter the withdrawals exceeded the deposits by £13,539, and in the SeptemberDeoember quarter this deficit was further increased to £50,416. In other words the stringency began to make itself felt about the middle of last year, and steadily increased up to the end of the year. The returns for the first quarter of this year will provide a very valuable index as to whether the depression has passed. It is very difficult to forecast what the result will be, but it Is to be hoped that the rise In Wool and the generally favourable season which has been experienced will serve to produce a more hopeful state of affairs in which at least the withdrawals will not exceed the deposits.