GENERAL NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 267, 9 April 1914, Page 2

GENERAL NEWS

THK PKFKXCK SCHEME. The sooner Mr. Allen realises that the people of Now Zealand, as a whole, will not permit any paltering with that defence scheme upon which they have placed the seal of their approval the better for tiie Government. The country has settled down to a quiet acceptance of universal training, and the objections of a somewhat noisy minority are generally accepted at their true worth. The cost, so lohg as it is devoted to the essentials, and shows a good return for the expenditure, is being borne with equanimity. From 'every point of view it is a great pity that Mr. Allen has not been content to go straight forward, trusting to the people to give him that support which the cause merits. The country has given every evidence of fidelity to tin; broad principles of Xew Zealand's defence system as at present established.—Auckland Herald.

TIIK "ERRINTi" REPORTER. Newspaper reporters, of course, have very little to do. We would not go so far as to say "that they toil not, neither do they spin," but as a general rule their occupation is one of little toil and much leisure. That is, no doubt 'how they get into mischief, and how when reporting "Reform" speeches they find time to embellish their stories with alleged utterances by the speakers which really spring from the fertile imaginations of the note-takers. Take, as an other example, Mr. Fisher's pledge that he would not, and could not, as a convinced leaseholder, take a portfolio in a freehold Cabinet. That statement was reported in the Wellington newspapers time after time during the last election campaign. It also found its way into Hansard, And yet we 'have the assurance of the Rainbow' Minister himself—the emphatic assurance—that he never gave such a promise. In this instance it appears that not only did the newspaper men conspire to report something that the Minister declares 'he never said, but that the Ha'nsard stenographers were also drawn into the conspiracy. These dreadful discoveries are really disturbing. After disclosures of such capacity for mischief on the part of reporters ! we may expect to be told at any moj ment that our Tory friends never promised wonderfulN pigeon-hole revelations, nor undertook to make the railways pay, nor pledged themselves to abolish political patronage, to live a cleaner life, to reduce taxation, the cost of living, borrowing, and public expenditure. We are almost prepared to hear that the report •f a speech by Mr. Massey in the Wellington Town Hall in July, 1911, wherein the Tory leader is alleged to have promised the peopje so many fine things which have not -matarialised, is a mere hallucination—that the speech was never delivered at all, but was simply concocted l>y the reporters. We are almost ready to be persuaded that Mr. Massey can prove an alibi.—Wellington Times.

THE PARAFFIN' CURE. The internal use of paraffin oil, first suggested by Sir W. Arbuthnot Lane, surgeon of (Juy's .Hospital, London, is still a topic of much interest in medical and lay circles. "The theory," remarks the magazine Life, "is that the majority of the human race stiller from a defect of the lower intestine, which prevents what is practically the drainage system of the body from working properly. To overcome this defect, Dr. Lane in /large number of casos performed the operation of removing the defective portion of the intestine, and joining up the ends. The effect was to create a renovated intestine which would perform its work as well as the original. However, as this defective portion of the body could not be removed from the whole of the human race Dr. Lane set about it to try and discover some means of making it wovk effectively and properly. He found paraffin oil the only lubricant which would answer his reijuirepients, as, being a purely mineral oil, and neither a food, a poison, nor a drug, it could not be absorbed _ into the system, and therefore acted exactly in the way he wanted —is a lubricant, purely and simply, to make more easy the work of a deficient portion of the human drainage machinery. This simple recipe for long life lias been taken up with enthusiasm by medical mei» in Australia, not merely because its use makes for longevity alone, but because in paraffin oil has been found tint which medical men will rarclv acknowpanacea for many ills due to constipation and auto-intoxication."

LHiVKL RAIL WAV CROSSINGS. It is satisfactory to learn from the General Manager of railways that he has made up his mind to deal at once with that most dangerous menace to public safely—the level crossing. Mr. Ililey has explained that the Department is experimenting with a system of alarms or warning's to be used at level crossings and that these will shortly be installed at the most dangerous points along our railway lines. As Mr. Hilev states that the system lie contemplates introducing is expensive, it is natural that the Department should select the points at which the experiment shall he lirst tried. Out in our opinion no financial considerations should lie allowed to count against the obvious necessity for securing protection of the general public; and we hope flint our General Manager of railways will not countenance any. delay in (he installation of the new system. Too many valuable lives have been sacrificed already in this country through the Railway Department's mistaken sense of economy, and we should not be called upon to wait, a single day longer than the time needed to provide these, absolutely indispensable precautions against the tragic accidents jhat are certain to occur sooner or later wherever a railway line crosses a road on the same level as ordinary traflie.--Auckhiml Star.