Notes

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 22, 29 May 1902, Page 18

Notes

The Troubles of a Marshal.

The Smallpox.

Swords into Ploughshares.

Probably the official who has the least enviable part in arranging the Coronation ceremonial is the Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk. The number of seats at his disposal ia limited, while the applications are unlimited in number and in the variety of claims on which they are based. Here is a specimen of the letters received by the noble earl almost daily : —' Dear sir,—l am sending you ten shillings for two seats in the Abbey on Coronation Day. Me and my wife can both singr, and as I am a parish clerk I could help you to see the people in their seats all right. I would not mind standing myself, so long as the wife could be made comfortable. Yours, etc , J ' Such trustful simplicity deserves a better reward than

we fear it will meet. The noble duke's case is of a nature precisely opposite to that of the theatrical manager, who has a space that he is desirous of filling, The manager desires that as many as possible shall gain admission, and for that purpose exhausts the arts that ingenuity can suggest. If he is astute he creates seeming difficulties, He opens the Bale at an unprecedentedly early hour in the morning, bo that the impression may be created that the worm ig only for the very early bird. At other times he ostensibly gives up in despairHhe attempt to discriminate, and boldly submits the seats to auction, with the result that even hardened playgoers become enthusiastic speculators, sometimes with the very gratifying result that they lose money. But no such device is available on such an occasion as the Coronation. Precedent is the bugbear that stands in the path. In a similar difficulty, though on a much smaller ecai©, Lord Beauchamp, when Governor of New South Wales, attempted to Bolve the problem by sending white tickets to favored people giving them admission to a Government House levee by a certain door, and to others, less distinguished, a blue ticket affordng access by a less imposing entrance. The device was promptly termed the seidlitz powder, from the ebullition that followed the mingling of the white and the blue, and probably the step contributed quite as much to Lord Beauchamp's unpopularity in Sydney as his unfortunate remark before his arrival about the antecedents of the early settlers. Of course the Duke of Norfolk has no unpopularity to fear, but if he is at all of a sensitive disposition trig duties must involve no little discomfort.

Colonial immunity from thiß scourge has led to a great diminution of vaccination, and the Health department has been pointing out by means of a circular that it is necessary to continue the precautions that experience haß proved to be effectual. There are considerable numbers who hold conscientious objections to the inoculation of their children, and this has arisen almost entirely from the old By stem of arm to arm vaccination It is beyond a doubt that many diseases were spread in this way. Legislation has at length responded to the undeniable demand for relief from this risk, and arm to arm vaccination is now not only discountenanced but absolutely forbidden by law in thi6 Colony. At the same time the Government maintains a supply of pure calf lymph which is given to medical men free of charge. In every centre, also, there are medical men who perform the operation gratis, and thus compulsory observance of the law entails no hardphips. The law deals tenderly with Buch as still retain conscieations scruples about vaccination, and provides a form, to be had on application, which being filled in and handed to the proper official, absolves the parent from penal consequences. It may bo admitted that anomalies are to be found which throw doubt on the infallibility of the procesdiscovered by Jenner, but with a supply of lymph direct from the calf there is li Ltle risk of collateral disadvantage, while the figures point to comparative immunity as t'^e result of vaccination. A conscientious objection that is only a scruple, and has not the strength of a conviction, may, therefore, be remove l by the reflect tion that if vaccination doua not do any good it can at all events do no harm%

A curious feature of the re:ent smallpox epidemic in London was the harvest gained by the insurance o(H>js in connection with it. London's population flojked to insurance oilicjs in order to get insured against the epide nic. Tn the history of Lloyds no such plethora of insurance was ever recorded as arose o-i account of the scare. All classes took advantage of the underwriters' charge a of 2s 6d per £100 for vaccinated risks, and ,'is 1 1 per £100 for unvaccinated risks, though for the East Eud districts the premium was as high as 2ls. Some financial men were insured for as much as £7000 against the risk of catching smallpox, but the average policy was about £.">OO. Those who took out insurance policies were said to be curiously indifferent about r-ivaoeiuation. Firms usually making out two hundred palicie-s d^ily were averaging six hundred, and the insurance brokers anl clerks were working long after hours. The medical reports inferrel that M.iy or June would be the worst months, which would have beei a serious menace for the success of the Coronation festivities, but recent cables state that the epidemic ha? abated.

Mr. Seddon's prophecy that the blockhouses would be turned into creameries and butter factoiits is an excstdiugly happy variant of the text whioh refers to the turning of tswords into ploughshares. .Mr Seddon is the child of fortune. He has but to hold up his cap kind favors fly into it. From the very inception of the South African war events have co shaped thempehes, bo far as New Zealand's connection with it is concerned, that Mr Selc'on ha 3 come out prominently on every occasion. When oiher men were silent, ho Hpoke. When others hesitated he acted. When in the earlier stages of the

war terms were spoken of, Mr Seddon declared that no peace compatible with the independence of the Boers would satisfy the coloniea. In this phrase he created and crystallised a colonial sentiment, and raised New Zealand, which is among the smallest of the colonies, at a bound from the position of a dependency to the status of an active consulting partner in the Imperial firm. Undoubtedly the moral effeot of Mr Seddon's actions on the Continent has been prodigious. It has probably been far greater than the oircumstances warrant, and there may be some compunctious reflections that our irrepressible Premier has to some extent made us all partners in hig ' bluffing.' But even if this phould be the case, it is undeniable that in such a juncture the end justified the means. And now, as if to strew more roses in his path, Mr Seddon is on the spot where the peace negotiations are going on. Doubtless he has met the redoubtable De Wet and the other Boer leaders at Veree. gming, and if, as now seems well assured, peace follows, the funny papers will be provided with an excellent text for descanting on the influence of his personality. Thus will lustre be added to his participation in the ceremonial in London, and his royal progress through the kingdom, and thus will again be verified the ancient saying which in the modern vernacular reads : ' It is better to be born lucky than rich.'