CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 178, 26 January 1912, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

NEW PLYMOUTH SCHOOLS. The discussion at the meeting of the Taranaki Education' Board on the New Plymouth schools is both interesting and disconcerting.' We have on the one hand the statement of the committee of the Central School that the schools are insanitary and inadequate. We have the report of six dependable medical men, whose opinion 'is expert, and who certainly can have no object in exaggerating, endorsing the opinion of Inspector Kendall. The doctors allege that the ventilation is' bad—even a half-blind person could see it—that the lighting is bad, and that the sanitation is bad. Thej' tell us the atmosphere is foul even with the windows open. On the purity of the air. our children breathe depends their future health and usefulness. The doctors further say the lighting might induce eye strain. We personally know that it does. Also that the sanitary arrangements are a menace to the children. These are the chief' points. In antagonism to' this are the inspectors. They presumably back their solitary opinions a,gainst those of men whose chief and, daily trouble is to fight the stuffiness ' 'thatgives , the half their cases. The . assertion that the Central School is in much better condition than schools of similar, size \jrjLth <SOO pupils .is nothing to do with the question. . If the other' Schools are worße, the Education Department is. deliberately menacing the health of thousands of children. The inspectors say the buildings are not sanitary. The doctors say they are. The doctors have no possible object in telling lies. Whom do the people believe? In the meantime the people of New Plymouth know that. these schools are not fit for their children to return to after the vacation. They also know, as has been pointed out, that they are bound by law to send their children to schools which "are a menace to the health of the pupils" (vide the medical men's report). Nothing will be done before the schools, re-open, and the possibility is that a redtape wrangle will ensue in which the; children themselves will be. the least considered. If six capable men believe, as they .have said they do, it is impossible for Dr. Valintine—who is not a more capable medical man than any one of the six—to differ with any degree of accuracy. "Nothing short of a new building will meet requirements," say the doctors. The inspectors may know better, but we dc not 'think so. We sincerely hope that the citizens—the fathers and mothers of the children who are going to be starved for light and fresh air by law in a week or two —will revolt even to the extent of disobeying the law and keeping their children from attending school until the authorities take notice. This is not a matter for meek adherence to the orders of a truant inspector. It is a matter intimately affect- ' ing the lives of children. We must add that the whole subject might with advantage have been handled differently by the chairman of the committee, who seems to have "got tip the backs" of the Board by his uncalled for references. No doubt he meant well, and was actuated by a whole-heart-ed desire to improve the children's conditions, but there is.such a thing as tact, and its exercise is of value even in these mundane times, besides which the Board has a right to the consideration from the committees that the latter expect from the Board.

TITE AMERICAN NAVY. , A naval review recently held in New York harbor has profoundly impressed the American people and brought home to them perhaps for the first time their rank as a naval Power and the progress that has been made since Cervera's fleet was wreck-strewii '6ff the coast of Santiago. At that time four battleships of about 10,000 tons, the battleship Texas, of doubtful military value, and two armored cruisers, the New York and Brook-

lyn, the flagships of ear-Admirals son and Schley, were the American Navy. Now, 13 years later, the first line consists of 37 vessels, the latest of which are nearly three times as large as those under Sampson's command, as well as armored cruisers, destroyers, submarines and auxiliaries. For the Arst time in the lives of a great many Americans last week saw a battleship. "A battleship is a curiosity to most of them," 'the New York Sun remarked, "and the country is so vast that millions of Americans will never see one." Before last week's review. the Sun adds, the five million people of New York never saw a fleet of real American warships. The newspapers agree that only the Coronation Review was a spectacle greater than this, and they do not forget to point out that there the American battleship Delaware was the most powerful vessel in line, while in New York the Delaware was overshadowed by the Utah and Florida, the latest ships' to be commissioned. Mr. A. M. Law, in the National Review, points out that it is maintained by the Americans that their navy is now second, inferior only to that of England, and superior to the German and French in capital ships, but deficient in ocean-going destroyers, and still lamentably weak in j colliers and other auxiliaries. Some 1 years ago, after a bitter contest between the big and little navy men in Congress, a compromise was reached by which it was agreed that two battleships should be added to the naval strength every year, a programme which has since been carried out. But the advocates of a big navy are now insisting that the increase must be greater to keep pace with other nations, while the little navy men assert the time has come to reduce the naval, programme, and one ship a year will be sufficient for the country's needs. A reduction of naval expenditure is in line*"with the democratic programme of economy, and Mr. Heyer, Secretary for, the Navy, who has been the great Cabinet success in the Taft Administration, has put his ships on parade to obtain the support of the country against the Democratic programme. The navy is now so popular that it is doubtful if the Democrats will dare to* run counter to public opinion by being niggardly with supplies at this session.

j CHEAP GOLD. An alarming account of the depreciation of gold is given in an article contributed to the Nineteenth Century by Mr. M. de P. Webb. The sovereign has lost more than a quarter of its purchasing power in the last fifteen years, says Mr. Webb, and the process is not at an end. Gold is decreasing in value because the production is growing by leaps and bounds, and the inevitable result is hardship on the, people whose earnings are still measured by the power to buy clothing as it did a decade ago. "The workers are actually paid less than they used to be in many instances, since .their, money .will not buy as much -food and clothing as it did a decade ago. "The. sudden arbitrary changing of the pint measure to three-quarters of its ordinary capacity," writes Mr. Webb, "or-the extension of the standard yard to fortysix, or fifty-six, or sixty-six inches would inflict far fewer and less serious injustices upon the community at large than the shrinkage of a sovereign from a purchasing power of twenty shillings to. say, that of only fifteen shillings. Nevertheless, it is a fact that a sovereign nowadays only goes as far as fifteen shillings did a little while.ago., Moreover, there ■are good reasons for believing that this shrinkage will continue.. It is quite possible; that the distortion oft our mone- • t*ry measure now in progress is but the beginning of ft' movement thai may prove more revolutionary than anything that the most extreme Socialists have yet imagined." The writer mentions that the main reefs of the Rand ha,ve been shown to contain not less than* £2,000,000,000 of the yellow metal, and the resources of Africa, Australia, Canada, India and South Ameripa have scarcely been tapped. No scheme for limiting the production of gold seems feasible, and yet the' apparent alternative is a continued fall in money values, or rise in the prices of . commodities, that will bring loss and suffering in its train. The only remedy that Mr. Webb 'can suggest is to encourage India and other Eastern countries to substitute gol<J.for silver: in their coinage, and so absorb the surplus supply, but the relief that might be obtained in this Way would be merely temporary.