GENERAL NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 19, 10 June 1914, Page 6

GENERAL NEWS

AX OITSPOKKN MEDICO. Masculine conceit received a severe hlow at the Institute of Hygiene, London, not long ago. when Dr. A. T. Schoiield, in a lecture on the "National Importance of Woman's Jlealth," voiced some Jiome truths concerning' the characteristics oj the two sexes. lie"" said: "The bettor developed the woman, both physically and morally, the more marked the improvement of the race. AVhereas, man's physicjue is no longer as important, as it was for modern inventions have replaced mere muscle—the * woman's .body is always important since she is the bearer of the coming race. That nature herself recognises the greater value, of women is proved by the fact that during the siege of Paris, when the population was badly fed or starving', nearly all the children born were bo.tS. So yon see nature only makes girls of good material, whereas'she will make boys of anything. "Again,"' continued Dr. Schoficld bravely while affecting to ignore the scowls' of the male section of his audience, "if you come to ; consider the points which distinguish the human species from the beasts, yon will lind that the women possess these to an extent 'more marked than men. For instance, a woman's ear is more human than a man's, and so is her lower jaw. as well as her bkin. Nor is there any animals whose first finger is longer than Ids third. Xow you will find that this is the case with most women—and certainly -with all goodlooking women."- Dr Scholield won further laurels from the fair sex by declaring that although women acted 'more by instinct than by reason t'lujv were generally right. "Men trust more to their reason," he said, -and they are often wrong. As for lunalics they are guided entirely by pure reason.*' Other superior attributes of women enumerated by ])v Schfifiehl were that she had better color vision than men. and that >he was more tenacious of life. "The average woman," he said, "lives two years longer than the average ntin."

W.ISK AND STATKNMAXr.TKE. j It is incontestilile that the borrowing ; of cheap money for the deve:o])ment of , the country would he wise and statesmanlike, Squabbles over the amount : of jiioney borrowed in the' past may , have a certain amount of interest for politicians, hut what would interest the public is an intelligent plan for doubling national production, national wealth I and national revenue by using cheap money lo turn the West' Coast into another Canterbury, the King Country into another Taranaki, and "the Xorihern Peninsula into another and greater Waikato. Vast sums have been borrowed and squandered upon railways that nere not commercially wanted and are not economically profitable. Wo cannot recover these lost millions not even if we give Sir Joseph Ward aonolher opportunity to show (hat he has repented. We can, however, invest a few .millions upon roads, railways and bridges which will give ample returns, counterbalance the annual loss resulting from past mismanagement, and facilitate the prompt and profitable settlement of every acre that the Covernment unlocks. Mr Massey has announced that the aim of the Reform Administration is development and with cheap mone, eagerly offering in London' for sound colonial enterprise there can be no diliicutfv in turning this promise into practical ii-r----jormaiice— Auckland Herald.

The kind-heflrtednevs of commercial travellers is proverbial, and the i'iu-t was , again exemplified last week. An Inverieargill woman had journeyed to Xnpier to j see her sick father. Immediately on re- | turning to her home she received an ' urgent wire asking her to go back to iXapier as her father was dying. When j she boarded the train at an early hour next morning with her two children she had not enough money to pay her fare. The railway officials,'sympathising with her-predicament", agreed to accept payment at the Xnpier end. The trouble then was to provide for the boat journey. The guard mentioned tlie matter in a - first-class smoker, where the ''drummer-boys" were gathered for cards. Round went the hat. and thirty nhillings was collected. When the poolwoman received the gift and found that her predicament' was disclosed, she was much affected.