CURRENT TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3595, 6 October 1920, Page 5

CURRENT TOPICS.

JLy . (By Argus) SS question of raising funds for the local hospital has been concerning

the public for some time, ana judging by the large meeting on Monday, the effort to be launched will be attended fcy good results. One aspect which should be carefully considered, how-

ever, is it hat of pushing on with the • establishment of a base hospital and the formation of a separate district at the same time as funds are being raised. The position is that if the money is first raised and handed over to the Hospital Board, there may be some difficulty in getting the money expended on the Taihape Hospital if it is subsequently converted into a base hospital; and even if the expenditure of the money raised could be "assured, there would be no guarantee that \he subsidy would be available for expenditure ait! Taihape. The safest course appears to be push'on with the establishment of a separate hospital, district, and then if the £IOOO aimed at is raised, the subsidy would increase the sum to £2200, and the expenditure of the amount: on the local hospital would be assured. Besides, if we could go to the Minister with a proposal to establish a separate hospital district, and had £IOOO in hand to start the base hospital, there would be a much better chance of securing the separation from Wanganui. On the other hand, if the money is handed over first, funds w«ild have to be raised later if. a base hospital was established: It must always be borne in* mind that Taihape has only a cottage hospital, and that 'the Board will not sanction expenditure which it considers to be beyond the needs of a cottage hospital. The Taihape School Committee intends to hold a special meeting this month to consider the question, of improvement's at the High School. The Committee set out to raise £250 for such improvements, and the appeal met with a liberal response when first made. However, there has been a marked falling off in the donations of late, and the Committee will have to make a further appeal. The money donated for this purpose will benefit, the children to a"great extent, as eongenial and healthy surroundings have a great effort in lihe building up of

sturdy citizens. Itis'froped that ithe

appeal for tie ," kiddies" will meet •with the response which it deserves, j Hawera has fOrmecT a League of Loyal Citizens, . for the purpose of counteracting the disloyalists. It is presumed. that disloyalists are i'hose who condemn the Government, those ■who are endeavouring to secure a reduction in the cost of living, and the : extreme Labour section. The new or-; ganisation may do a certain amount of good, .but if it develops into an organisation for supporting a Government which the majority, of the people didn't vote for. then ft will fade out of existence like some other organisations. Sedition, revolutionary tactics, direct, action, useless strikes, and ithe paralysis of industry must be prevented; but we. will always be afflicted with such troubles unless the primary causes are removed. So long as the advocates of one extreme are pitted against the . advocates of the other, there will neve? be a satisfactory settlement. Extreme Labour and extreme capitalism will never merge, but there is a happy medium to be attained by the adoption of ithe right methods. So long as people keep forming leagues end societies in opposition to each other, we will never have a long period of industrial peace. As there is some of the wharf labourers handling butter if the price is over a certain figure, and as Hawera is in the centre of a large dairying district, the object of the Loyal Citizens' League is apparently to ensure a supply of labour for loading butter on to the home-going boats.

Efforts have been made by experts to convince the Butter Prices Committee that dairy farmers are losing money, but so far the Committe has not called expert evidence to prove that some of them are very well off. If any dairy farmer says he is losing j

money, and is askeH to sell out, he

does not hesitate to put a high price " on his land. He may have got in when times were not so rosy as at presenit at about £lO per acTe; hut £SO per

acre is his price to-day. Some men are

making dairying pay on land which cost £l5O per- so there must he something in it in spite of the efforts made to prove that dairying does nbF pay a fair return on a land "Valuation of £2O per acre.