CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 46, 3 June 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE TRAMWAYS SCHEME. With only two dissenting voices, the meeting of ratepayers on Wednesday evening decided to endorse the proposal to establish municipal tramways and to request the Council to take the necessary steps to give effect to the proposals. An impression seems to exist among a section of the community that the passing of the resolution means committing the borough to the scheme. This, of course, is far from being the ease.. Later on, ratepayers will have an opportunity of expressing their opinion of the .proposals and also of voting upon thejm, so that those ratepayers who are opposed to the borough undertaking the trams have no need to be alarmed at the Council being authorised to proceed with the proposals. In view of the report submitted by the special committee set up for the purpose, it would be distinctly inadvisable to' drop the scheme at present. It will ibe time enough t'o do so when expert advice shows the proposals to be impracticable. A point was made at the meeting that the. borough should not be in a hurry to undertake electrical tramways because of the possible improvements in other forms of traction in the near future. We 'believe that in fifty years' time the same could he said with equal force. We are living in an age of transition, especially in regard to things electrical, and it is impossible to forecast 'what the future has in store for us in regard to transit conveniences. What we have to consider now is whether it would pay the borough to embark on a scheme of electrical tramways at present. If, on consideration of an expert's report, it is seen that the scheme is too ambitious and the time premature, then the project can he dropped. If, on the other hand, it can :he shown that trams would not he an undue Iburden and be a profitable proposition, then it would be' good business to instal trams, just as it was good business for the borough to install the electric lighting plant. It was also mentioned at the meeting that before laving tram 9 the Council 'would have to pull up the sewers, which run down the centre of the streets, where the rails must be laid. If this is the case, could not the rails he laid on the side of the road, as they are in many of the big cities? Another objection raised was that in many centres it had been necessary to relay the rails. But could not •New Plymouth profit by the experience of these places and avoid the mistakes made? It was further urged that the inaugurating of the trams would lead to a marked appreciation of suburban property and the putting back of the Greater Xew Plymouth scheme. The suburbs already enjoy the benefits of the borough's water and electric lighting services, and the time for protesting against affording the suburbs municipal facilities has therefore gone. It simply resolves itself into the question, Will it pay the 'borough to provide the service? We all know trams would make the suburbs, but if trams paid the borough as well as the extension of the other services has done, the 'borough would not regret taking the step.

"NO LIABILITY." Six New Plymouth soldiers of the Territorial force contracted enteric lever while 0:1 service at the Kitchener manoeuvres at Johnsonville. The whole of the facts are set out clearly in this' issue, and there is no doubt in' the mind of any reasonable person who is not hobbled with red-tape, that the claim of these soldiers for compensation is just. The Defence Department repudiates liability, its only chance of wriggling out being to show that the six men, living in an unaffected locality, and in separate parts of it, may not have contracted this water-borne disease while on service. That they obtained the germ from a polluted stream is quite clear, that they were not properly fed is certain, and that they have suffered for their voluntarily! soldiering is a fact. It is highly prob-i able that the vitality of these unfed men was so low when they drank from the polluted stream that their systems were unable to fight the ■bacilli.' On active service the care of the sick men would have devolved on the military medical staff in the field, and it would have been the duty of the Army to see them either cured, buried or compensated, supposing that the illness prevented them from earning a livelihood. The attitude of the New Zealand Defence Department, which at the present time needs the cooperation of every possible fighting man more than ever before, cannot be explained. At the Oringi manoeuvres two horses had to be destroyed becnutfe of injuries received during manoeuvre. Their owners were compensated to the full value of the horses. A prrvate of mounted rilles was injured. He was sent to hospital, his expenses being paid. He was then Kent to his home°at the expense of the State. Regarding these New .Plymouth soldiers, the closest investigation is necessary m orc i er that the Defence Department may not be permitted, to establish the cruel' precedent that itj is not responsible for illness' contracted' in its service. No one would blame a voluntary soldier for leaving a service which transgrassed the ordinary rules of chivalrous treatment. The nien and their friends prove that typhoid was contracted while on service. The Department, in justice, must prove that the disease was contracted while the! men were civilly employed. '

DEPARTMENTAL UNFAIRNESS. Regarding the methods of tJie New Zealand military lnadquarters, one lias only to recall the difference of treatment meted out to n-.m who served in Smith Africa, to show that there is more Mas there than in any other Department; An officer who received a trilling injury obtained a life pension from the New' Zealand Government, as well as a life pension from the War Office. He has ever since ibeen in lucrative civil employ. For years', pensioners who had been in the ranks were forced to parade in Wellington every year in order that the Department might decide whether their arms were still missing, whether that hole was still through the lungs, or if that leg buried in"South Africa had returned to its old place. One of these men was absolutely and entirely helpless, and had to be taken from Auckland in a wheel chair. It was necessary to keep him on the deck of the boat all j night. When he arrived in Wellington no quarters- were provided for him. His I mate wheeled him about the streets of !the city all night. The medical bureau- • crats. who were paid for the job. duly I discovered that he was just as near 'death as he had been the previous vear, 'and sent him back to Auckland. This I Departmental insanity has now happily ceased, but the fact that the Depart- ] ment still wants an infusion of commonSense is patent. In fairness to the Territorials who are to be allowed to contract enteric fever at future encampments, and who will be permitted to go on the march with empty haversacks and yawning stomachs, the Officer Commanding the District should be tailed on to prove that the stream from which the men allege they took the germs was not at the time contaminated. It is worth while, in the interests of the service, to discover the persons who Jived in the hut near the creek mentioned in our report, and to find out definitely if there ever were typhoid patients there. In the meantime we sincerely hope That the matter will not be allowed to rest. for it is a very serious one for all voluntary soldiers. If the non-compul-sory branch of the force is to recruit well, the Department may be as redtapey as it can be if it is only just. That it is more unjust than usual in the case muter discussion is patent to any person who reads the facts and knows the circumstances.