WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1921, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS

WAR REGULATIONS. A FURTHER PROTEST (Special Correspondent) Wellington, May 4. The deputation from the New Zealand Alliance of which waited upon Sir Francis Bell on Monday with a request for the revocation of certain . War Regulations intended to prevent the circulation of seditious literature, found the Acting-Prime Minister no more sympathetic than he had been a week earlier in his reply to a similar petition addressed to him by Mr. H. E. Holland. The burden of the deputation’s complaint was that the prohibition interfered with the freedom of thought and speech, barred the way to the acquisition of knowledge, and' created the very evils it was designed to prevent. Incidentally it joined with Mr. Holland in asking for the release of the man Johnstone pow undergoing a term of imprisonment for a breach of the regulations. Sir Francis was as courteous as he always is on euch occasions, but he was firm and emphatic in his refusal to withdraw the ban from the prohibited literature. The individual, he reiterated in effect, was free to think what he pleased, and to say what he thought, short of advocating violence in the enforcement of his views. At that point the law stepped in, and the law must be respected. THE OTHER SIDE. Probably there is something to say on the other side. It was stated by Mn Holland and by the deputation that waited upon Sir Francis Bell on Monday that certain literature banned in New Zealand under the War Regulations was circulated without let or hindrance in Australia and in the Mother Country. Sir Francis did not deny this statement, but broadly implied that the Mother Country, having a standing army available for the maintenance of law and order, could afford to take greater risks in this respuot than New Zealand could. The sugges-. tion that restrictive regulations are, made necessary in the Dominion by the] insufficiency of its police protection ia more likely to provoke a smile than to create alarm, but apparently the Minister was speaking in all earnestness. Then it is alleged by people protesting against the censorship that the edict of prohibition is pronounced, not on the Minister’s own knowledge of the publications concerned, but on the report of: an officer of his department with no particular qualifications for the work, i Finally, it is notorious that muoh of the banned literature is as easily procurable as, say, the latest shilling shocker. OUT OF WORK. The new Public Service Commissioner, Mr. R. W. Morris, is as indignant as a genial Government official well can be at a statement made at the recent meeting of the Wellington Returned Soldiers’ Association, alleging that heads of departments were disregarding his instruction that in filling vacancies pre. ference should be given to returned soldiers. What is happening, he saya, is the inevitable effect of the institution of necessary economies. A special officer is going round the various departments finding out where money can be saved, and is lopping off expenditure here, there and everywhere, when it can be done without impairing the efficiency of the service. Naturally, when it comes to a choice between a fully qualified officer who has given his life to the public service, and a returned soldier, who has been taken on temporarily while he looks round for permanent employment, the lattei must go. Practically there are no positions to fill, and a great many to empty, so that the process of readjustment never has conflicted with the Commissioner’s instructions. But Mr. Morris is earnestly concerned for the welfare of the returned soldier, anjl wherever possible is making provision for him.

PREVENTION BETTER THAIS CUKE. Dr. W. E. Herbert, one of Wellington's most capable and courageous medical men, who takes a broad view of his profession’s obligations to the community, talked rank socialism to the Hospital Commission during its sitting here yesterday. In reply to a question from a professional member of the commission, he said the proper evolution of the whole medical service would* be towards nationalisation and towards the concentration of its chief efforts on the prevention of disease. “If public health is, as I believe, our greatest national asset, then,” he declared, “with wisdom and with prudence there should be no limit to the Government’s spending power; but I am strongly of ion that the money should be used' rather in practical preventative meth« ods than in curative institutions.” Dr. Herbert particularly measures the importance of physical training as one of the preventative measures which not only built up the body and fortified it against disease, but also strengthened the mental and moral fibre of the individual, and so ameliorated the conditions of the whole race. It was a hopeful gospel, the doctor proclaimed, and one that must have appealed to the members of the commission.