EVENTS OF THE DAY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 5843, 9 March 1906, Page 4

EVENTS OF THE DAY.

• A' DESERTING CHARITY. Elsewhere in this issue attention is called to the requirements ot a highly deserving charity—the St. John Ambulance District Nursing Guild. This is a charity that has for its object the providing of skilled nurses in those distressing cases of sickness where the means for obtaining medical aid and nursing attendance are Tacking, and suffering most dire goes on unchecked. Many people will say, with honest intention, that there are institutions for the reception of such cases; hut the Homo for Chronic Invalids is very limited in its capacity, and in some instances there is no provision for such cases as are taken in hand hy the district nurses. Again, there are others where people—with the dread of the English workhouse deeply ingrained in their being—would sooner suffer and die in their distress rather than accept charitable aid in a public way at the hands of a Board. These are the cases the guild takes up, and “willy-nilly,” the nurse asserts herself for the wellbeing and comfort of ' indigent invalids. Even now the winter is not far away. and these sick poor have, in addition to the struggle against the inroads of disease, to contend against the damp and cold. It has been alleged that we arc a highly prosperous people; and we know that, as a result of the seven fat years, there is a largo section of the community well able to contribute towards the upkeep of the excellent charity named, _ and for the sake of suffering humanity we impress on such the blessedness of relieving the necessitous and afflicted in our midst. Wo trust that there will be a generous response to the appeal made for the support of the workers who are engaged in truly humanitarian labours.

DANGERS OP MOUNT COOK. Tha recent alarming incident, of nr, Alpine-climber being last for ten days on Mount Cook has brought into prominence the crying want of better means ox communication, with the Hermitage, _ near tho base of tbis great mountain pile. Fortunately, Mr Low, the climber who underwent the trying ordeal, met with no serious injury and is on tho fair way to recovery from the

results of accident and exposure. There is always the possibility, liowcrer, that one or other of tho hundreds who visit Mount Cook in tho course of tho season will meet with misadventure or bo seised with illness-. In such event,-what is the situation ? 1 hero_ is no medical man nearer than at Fairiie, which is two does’ journey by coach from tho Hermitage; and iii order to summon him by" telephone Ironv Tekapo practically another day’s journey is necessary. The only other possible means of summoning aid is by earner pigeon—always a precarious method. Now,_ ns tho Tourist Department is doing its best to induce people to visit our mountain monarch, it is the imperative duty of the Government to improve the means of communication. It would not cost a great deal to extend the telephone system from Tekapo to the Hermitage, and it should also he possible.to accelerate the coach service between Fairlio ami the accommodation house. In this way two days’ delay might bo saved; and no one requires to bo told that euch saving of time in litany eases means tho difference between a. fatal and a favourable issue to accident or illness. Tho Government is guilty of culpable neglect in allowing tho Hermitage to remain in its present isolated state, and a storm of popular indignation would ho aroused if through this neglect human life should be sacrificed. We trust that Ministers will not wait tho spur of such an outburst, but will take immediate action for connecting Tekapo and Hie Hermitage by wire and also for accelerating the coach service to and from Fairlio, If tho country's scenic assets are to ho turned to account, tourists and other visitors miK-tt have the guarantee of reasonably rapid means of travel and of promptly obtaining iv\odical or surgical aid when in remote regions.

THE PANAMA CANAL. It is extremely difficult to discord* from the American press, exactly what is_ being done at Panama. “Collier's Weekly,” which should speak with authority, confesses itself ignorant of the position, and is dispatching a commissioner to investigate on the spot. The shades of Do Lesseps, says this journal, still seem to hang malevolently over' tho Isthmian enterprise. Thu President makes change after change in the directing' personnsl, enlisting men of the highest character and tho brightest record of achievement, hut tho miasmatic atmosphere of scandal and mismanagement still clings to tho undertaking. • The report of the Isthmian Commission admits that little has been accomplished thus far in the way yf actual excavation, but assorts that wonders have been worked in tho direction of making the Isthmus fit to live on. It maintains that fill tho sanitary precautions essential to tho health of a great -working population have been taken; that for tho first time in their history the Isthmian towns have been cleaned, drained, and supplied with pure water; that tho death rate has been reduced to an insignificant fraction of the De Lcsscps scale, and that terminal and transportation facilities! for handling the immense increase of traffic caused by tho canal workings have been provided. But press correspondents have sent melancholy talcs from Colon, asserting that whatever may have been done in these directions at tho Pacific end of tho canal, tho conditions at the Atlantic cud are. as bad as they over were in tho gay and care-free French times. They allege that Colon is poisoned by a foul swamp whiph could he easily drained if the authorities took tile trouble to do IE; that negro workers have been lured from Jamaica and other islands on false pretences, scandalously ill-treated, ■and cheated out of half their promised wages by payment in silver instead of in gold, and that practically nothing has been done for the accommodation of a volume of business suddenly raised to several times its former bulk. They also repeat the story that negro women have been imported for immoral purposes under tho authority of the United States Government. In a special message on January Bth, transmitting to Congress the annual reports of the Commission and tho Panama Kailroad Company, President Roosevelt repelled these accusations with characteristic fury. But Secretary Taft, in his accompanying letter, criticised two financial transactions of tho Panama railroad, under Mr Shonts.

THE LABOUR DIFFICULTY AT PANAMA.

Despatches from Panama say that the congestion of freight on tho Isthmus never was worse. The transshipment facilities are so overworked that thousands of hags of coffee will have to bo sent to the United States and Europe by way of tho Straits of Magellan. Steamers lie for days in the harbours, unable to lind docks, and when they do unload tho goods stay indefinitely at the terminals. Tho labour question continues to puzzle the canalbuilders. It has been variously proposed to use negroes from tho Southern States, and Chinese and Japanese coolies, but thus far tho chief dependence has been placed upon negroes from Jamaica and the other West Indian islands. These' have not proved very satisfactory, and the latest proposition is that of a contractor who offers to supply all the labour needed from, among tho natives of Mexico and Central America. These he calls tho best men he has over employed for that sort of work. At its meeting on January 2nd tho Commission decided to enlist a thousand men from Northern Spain. While tho Oom- - mission is nursing its troubles the army engineers sit by, watching the tangle with benevolent interest. There are many in Washington who think that tlio best way to build the canal would bo to turn it over to the Engineer Corps just as if it were an. ordinary river or harbour improvement, and tho army men do not discourage the idea. They hvve a record for work that is honest and thorough, if somewhat slow. On tho other hand, there are business men who say that the best thing tho Government oould do would bo to out loose from the details of construction entirely, and turn tho whole job over to a firm of contractors, which could hire such managers as it needed, and pay what salaries it pleased without Congressional interference.

WELLINGTON’S WELCOME. Pandemonium, broke looc in the Mnnawatu railway station last evening on the occasion of the arrival of the V. ellinglon and Bonthern contingent of tho New Sealant! footballers. As the train drew up. the large crowd immer! iately picket! the right carriage, and cheered, and roared, and gave the voyageurs a reception worthy of a Roman general. As the footballers moved along the platform, the crowd moved with them, an automatic weighing machine was swept down partly on top of two women and a baby, and in tho crash some of tho females had

a_ rather had time. The officials of tho Xcw Zealand Union, headed by the president (Mr A. K. G. Ilhodcs), looked alter tho visitors, who, after some interval, wore driven off to tho Hotel C'ocil, amid renewed cheering. At p.m. to-day tho Mayor will formally welcome the footballers at the Town_Hnll, and probably the Ministers for Native Affairs, Public Works, and Lands, and the Altorney-Geucral will be present. Tho men who arrived nro --Messrs Stead, Corbett, Booth, Cnsov. Xowton, McDonald, McGregor, Doans, Thomson, Glasgow, Mr Dixon, tho manager, is still in Auckland. Tho Petouo faction was in strong force to welcome McGregor, the only Wei tingle man. The other two Wellington men, Wallace and Heberts, were to leave San Francisco yesterday by the. mail «tearner Ventura. Tho Wellington Rugby Union's welcome to McGregor, Wallace, and Roberto is set down for the '.lßth inst.