WELLINGTON NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 September 1915, Page 3

WELLINGTON NOTES.

THE STATE COAL MINE. HEALTH OP VOLUNTEERS, (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Sept. 15. An interesting discussion arose in the House of Representatives this afternoon on the subject of State coal. Some members on the Opposition side of the House, headed by the representatives of the Labor party, wanted a further development of the State coal mines, and an extended effort to secure supplies of cheap coal for the community. They asked why coal that costs from 7s Od to 10s a ton at the pit's mouth should be retailed at prices ranging from 35s to 42s a ton in the centres of population. Some members on the other side of the House protested tliat the States mines were being run at a loss. The member for Mataura (Mr. G. J. Aneei/on), demanded that the State mines chould be either closed down or turned over to a private company which could convert them into payable concerns. It was not right, he argued, that the public money should be used to maintain mines that benefited only a small section of the community within reach of the State coal depots. But he proceeded at once to urge the Government to spend increased sunmof public money on the encouragement of prospecting, presumably in order that new mines might be discovered and worked in the interests of private companies, which, as a Labor member was quick to point out, represented only "a small section of the community." The Minister for Mines (the Hon. W. D. S. Macd'onald), closed the discussion with a firm statement to the effect that lie had no intention of/ closing down the State mines, which showed an apparent loss chiefly because money was still being spent on development.

The old complaint of Che man who enlists, passes the doctors, gets into camp and then is discharged, after a short period of training, as medically unfit, was mentioned in the House to-day. Men who have left their employment in order to join the forces, and who then find themselves stranded, naturally feel themselves aggrieved, hut there are two sides to this matter. -The Defence Department's side was explained to your correspondent by a medical officer. The authorities demand a very high standard of physical fitness from the men who proceed to the front, and experience has shown that this demand is justified fully by the conditions of the war. The soldier who is not perfectly fit when he enters the trenches is soon in hospital, and then he is simply a burden to the military machine. The examinng doctors, therefore, have been instructed to exercise the utmost care in order to ensure that only fit men shall get into camp. But the detection of certain physical weaknesses is exceedingly difficult, especially if the recruit sets himself to "beat" the doctor, A man may know from his own experience that severe effort will affect a strained sinew, perhaps an old football injury, or that he has never perfectly recovered from an illness of long ago. He may be quite unconscious that any trace of some old trouble has remained. But it is ten to one that a month of military training will reveal the weak point, and then his discharge will be inevitable. The real moral of these complaints is that the recruit should be entirely frank with the examining doctor and should assist that officer to learn the exact truth. If he does that he may save himself disappointment and hi 3 country unnecessary expense.