The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28. CURRENT COMMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 28 August 1907, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28. CURRENT COMMENT.

There is an interesting book issued annually by the (lovernment of New South Wales' which gives the comparative statistics of the six States of Australia and New Zealand. In it there in a table allowing the total loan expenditure per head of population to June 30th, l!J0(i, and showing also how this expenditure is divided among the various headings such as railways, public buildings, roads, telegraphs, and so on. We learn that only two of the Australian colonies have a greater dabt per head of population than New Zealand. ;\Vhile every man, woman and child in this country owes £7O odd, every 111111, woman and child in South Australia owes £72, and every man, woman and child in Queensland £7l.' But, while New Zealand lias only spent £2-4 per head on railways and tramways, South Australia has spent £3O, and Queensland £44. While South Australia has spent £8 and Queensland CO on public works and buildings, New Zealand has spent no less than £1!). The Commonwealth is indebted to the extent of £55 per head, and of this sum has spent £34 on railways and tramways and £4 on public buildings. The marked difference in the amounts spent on publio works and buildings in New Zealand and the Australian States is no doubt accounted for by the fact that tho population is more evenly distributed over the country in New Zealand than in Australia, and by the further fact that this colony—we mean Dominionpossesses move centres—small centres they are—than- the Australian States possess. In the construction of public works, such as railways, the difficulties that have had to be faced and overcome in New Zealand on account cf the configuration of the land have been much greater than in Australia, where the conditions have been and are unusually favorable for such work. Also,! Australia bad no Maori wars to pay for. On the whole, New Zealand seems to have gained as good value as the Australian States. All the same, the time has arrived when we should consider the matter of taking a big reef in our borrowing sails..

Vow that the Maori tolmnga has been dealt with in a manner that will make his future existence anything but happy and successful, the legislature is turning its attention to the suppression of another nuisance and danger ,the pakeha tohungn, who, though so frequently threatened, has had his field undisturbed too long already for the good and safety of the community. In the Legislative Chamber the other night the Attorney-General slid that while he was occupying the position of acting Postmaster-General he was struck with the enormous sums of money which passed to reed rascals who play on the whims and superstition of our people. The amendment to the Postal Act, passed last year, permitted the Government to prevent this form of folly from continuing. Dr. Fimllay went on to say that the difficulty that had to be contended with was that there were numbers of people who would always believe that they would be able to find a cure outside the domain of science, and quacks in plenty arose to pracliee on their credulity. Dr. Findlay pave it as his opinion that there should bo a medical board which would have submitted to it evory patent medicine sold in the colony, and until the boird agreed that any such medicine or drag was at least innocuous it should not be allowed to] be advertised or sold in Now Zealand. If legislation on these lines could be made workablo, he said, it would be an extremely advisable step to take. The constitution of a board such as that referred to was likely to present some difficulty, but if it was possible to get a body of the kind, consisting of the health officer and, say, one or two leading niedic.il men, it would largely help to remedy existing evils. Something of the kind he had suggested should be done, and a workable statute embodying the suggestion would be one of Ihe most beneficent things that could be devised. '"You ask any man who keeps his eyes open," he said, "r,nd he will tell you of the suffering and injury done by these nefarious quacks and their so-called remedies. If you can evolve any chock of the kind mentioned let us adopt it."

There is no denying the truth of UhJ last-mentioned statement of the Attorney Genera!. Credulous people there are in their hundreds and thousands \vh. believe in the pakclia tohungaand his nostrums, and will go on supporting him so long as they are - allowed to. It is a case of protecting the individual : from himself, protecting the fool from being victimised and swindled. There is objection to setting up a board consisting solely of medical men to pass judgment on every patent medicine coming into the country. Ono of the big objections to Mr Hornsby'a Bill of last session was that it vested too much ■power in this direction in the Chief Health Officer. We don't want to make a closer corporation of the medical fraternity than it already is, or make it necessary for the poor man to follow the expensive process of consulting a doctor for trivial complaints which can flie treated by a chemist or a proved patent medicine. These dangers must be guarded against. A board like that proposed by Dr Findlay certainly would be an improvement on last year's proposal. With a board established and constituted in a way that will protect the interests of the people we would give, in certain eases, a patent medicine proprietary the right of appeal against any decision of the Board; the appeal to be dealt with by an authority or authorities agreed upon nmtuallv by the proprietary and Board.

In connection with this subject we notice that the Ciiief of the Health Department refers in eulogistic terms to the progress being made in dealing with quack medicines and practitioners, and devotes special praise to the attitude of the clean newspapers in excluding "doubtful" advertisements relating to the trade from their columns. It says a good deal for the good twnso of newspaper proprietors that they have excluded these undesirable advertisements from the pages of their papers. The sacrifice has been a large one in many cases. An estimate of the revdnue refused by one paper is recorded at £SOO a year, whilst in Uie case of the pipers published outside the four chief < 'res the loss from this direction 1 lia., also been substantial. It is said that nowhere in the world has this been done before. With an Act in force that will adequately deal with the quacks, discriminating between the genuine and the fraud, the proper administration of the law, the prohibiting of publications containing advertisements dealing with the quacks from entering the colony, and the assistance • of a vigilant and conscientious Pros:!. , the p.ik-eha tohnnga and his nostrums would soon find New Zealand an an- i profitable field.to exploit. i