Just at first, in homely phrase, the news seems almost too good to be true. Tongue and pen may well fail to find words adequate to so momentous an occasion; and indeed the emotions which are stirring all hearts might best be expressed in the simplest, most unstudied terms, - the half-ejaculatory language of primitive sentiment. Hearts will dance for joy, as it were, in the realisation of a thrice-welcome release from long anxiety and incessant thought of bloodshed; and the knowledge that the great crusade has ended in the assured triumph of the cause of freedom and humanity and civilisation will give a worthy sanction to the fresh sense of repose.
Influenza reveals problems
"A terrible feature of the epidemic relief work is the revelation of the dreadful conditions that exist in the poorer quarters of the city,'' said a prominent worker in Auckland last week. "Hitherto, we have flattered ourselves that slum conditions were unknown in Auckland. I should like some people to have had a glimpse of certain things with which we have grown familiar in the last few days. We have come across whole families herded together in two rooms, devoid of any of the ordinary decencies of life, let alone its comforts and luxuries. We have found four sick children lying together in one wretched bed, with no proper bedding, and no food in the house. This epidemic is revealing terrible flaws in our social conditions; and when it is all over the authorities will have to face up to the position, and make most thorough investigations into these sad conditions.'' Mr C.T. Haynes, chief sanitary officer, stated that the spread of the epidemic was not due to the city being in an insanitary condition. Generally speaking, he said, the city was in a good sanitary state, though isolated cases of bad sanitary conditions no doubt existed. These instances might contribute to the severity of the malady in the immediate neighbourhood, but the widespread prevalence of the complaint was sufficient indication that its cause and spread had to be looked for in other directions.
Celebratory cacophony
When Gilbert wrote in "The Pirates of Penzance'' ``There is nothing brings a crowd like the trumpet's martial sound,'' he had overlooked the power of such things as steam whistles and bells, vigorously handled, to proclaim practically restored peace to a world that has been racked with suffering for more than four years. The power of such things to "bring a crowd'' together was never better illustrated than it was yesterday morning, when the news that Germany had signed the armistice, which means that there is a truce to hostilities and almost certain peace, came to hand. The hope that has been in everybody's breast for the past week was realised about 9 o'clock in the morning, the whistles and bells getting in first, despite any prearrangement that, on receipt of official information, the Central Battery was to lead off with a salvo of six guns. These were fired a few minutes after the whistles had begun to shriek and the bells to clang out tidings that would cheer the heart of everyone in the community. - ODT, 13.11.1918.
