EGENERACY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 53, 4 March 1922, Page 6

EGENERACY.

Our readers will be interested to learn on the authority of Dr. A. Clark, a medical officer of the Education Department, that in any given community in the Auckland and Hawke's Bay districts, 23 per cent, of homes are graded as "excellent," 59 as "moderate," and eight per cent, as "bad." These figures are taken from the "Dominion," and it will be noticed that they total only 00 per cent.; possibly the eight per cent, should be eighteen. The grading is done by the school nurses, and condition, cleanliness, ventilation and tone are considered. Before one accepted this classification as final one would like to knowi more about the methods of the nurses, j For example, what percentage of homes' is entered by the nurses ? However, no doubt the classification is valuable as a rough guide. Dr. Clark, who was discussing at the Medical Congress the unpleasant, but important, question of the treatment of mental defectives, went on to say that, of the defectives observed T2.S per cent came from "excellent" homes, 29.16 per cent, from "moderate" homes, and 58.33 per cent from "bad" homes. That is to say, the eight (or 18) j per cent, class of home produced more ; than half of the defectives. What he calls the most vicious circle of the bad home is the most potent factor in producing degeneracy. '"The mental defective not only brings into the world numerous progeny who are also in all probability mentally defective, but he is unable to realise that the ordinary laws of health must be followed if the children are to grow up sound and healthy." Dr. Clark's remedy is classification of defective children for educative purpose* according to ability, and the segregation of the worst cases in mental hospitals. There is one special Government school for defectives, but the State will probably be compelled to do a good deal more in this direction than it has been doing.

Avondale's affairs have been governed by a road board for forty years. Lately • there has been a strong agitation in favour of forming a borough, and to test the feelings oi the ratepayers a poll is being taken to-day. If the necessary majority be secured Avondale will advance in the suburban scale and become a full-blown borough with a Mayor. The poll closes this evening at seven o'clock. A serious scalding accident occurred on the late train from Cambridge to j Hamilton last evening. When it was' nearing Ruakura Junction a steam cock in the cab of the engine blew out, and the driver, Mr. Salter, in reaching for the brake to stop the train, was severely scalded about the face and arms by the escaping steam. A relief train with a doctor was sent as soon as possible, and Mr. Salter was brought in to Hamilton Hospital. Thi ß morning he was processing favourably. The fireman escaped injury. i Two miles to the north of Howick, on a beach known as Mellon's, the body of Mr. Keith Naylor Laurie, one of the victims of the Buckland's Beech ppating was found yesterday afternoon, i Tbe accident happened on |3§tnjday Jaai.i

' Shock to the heart following on sudden ' immersion in cold •water resulted in the i I death yesterday at Waikumete of Mrs. i Margaret Templeton Kirkpatrick, 52 i years of age, a well-respected resident 1 of the suburban district. The deceased i was discovered by her h'l&band, Mr. Wal- i ter Kirkpatrick, foremi for the City 1 Council at the Waikumet "emetery, in i j a bath of cold water. He immediately 1 1 summoned medical aid, but life had i ■ passed away. The circumstances were made the subject of an inquest, con- 1 ducted by Mr. J. W- Poynton, at which < the medical evidence of Dr. J. R. Closs - was to the effect that, as the result of j a post mortem examination, he ascer- i tamed that death was due to heart fail- < ure, no doubt caused by shock through 1 sudden immersion in the cold water. A verdict was returned accordingly. The I deceased was well known and respected jby the residents of New Lynn, in which district she had resided ■with her hus- • band for a nuniher of years. Mrs. Kirk-1 j patrick only returned recently from a ; 'holiday trip to the home of her parents, in Scotland. I i Some of the most pathetic cases that came before the Relief Committee of the \ Hospital Board this week were those of ; partially or totally blind people. On , account of Auckland's mild climate many , : blind people find life more pleas--1 ant here than in the South, where the rigorous weather makes it imperative that they take more exercise, which is; . not always an easy thing to do consid- • ering the disabilities they labour under. I The members of the committee are al-; | ways sympathetic to such cases, and the opinion is held that it is time the Gov-j eminent stepped in so that some provi-| i sion in the way of pensions should be j i given to blind people. There are those lon the board wno would even go further, i and say that people who have been born ) deaf, and on that account severely handii capped in the race of life, should also, I | after due investigation into the indivi- j 1 dual needs of each case, he granted help for as the deaf get old and their sight j fails, their lives in many cases become one long struggle against strong odds! The action between John Kilgour I Earle, of Auckland, trading as John ]Earle and Co. (Mr. Inder and Mr. Tomkins), and Thomas Hoskins and Son (Mr. Anderson), concerning 78 chests of tea,' was concluded in the Supreme Court yesterday afternoon before Mr. Justice Stringer and a jury of twelve. The case' briefly was that plaintiff alleged that r the defendant had lost the bond war-,' rants, and he, plaintiff could not getj the tea out of bond. The defendant maintained that he had positively banded the bond warrants to the plaintiff. The evidence of the plaintiff was! that he had no recollection of ever re-1 ceiving them. At the conclusion of the: evidence, Mr. Anderson moved for a< nonsuit, on certain legal points, which were reserved. His Honor stated that he proposed to put three issues to thejury: (1) Were the bond warrants re-j turned to the plaintiff; (2) if not, was their loss the result of negligence on the part of the defendants; (3) what dam-l ages were sustained by the plaintiff by depreciation in the quality of tea since) August, 1921, and by the loss of teaj "ince that date. After the summing up,: the jury answered the first question in the negative, and the second in the affirmative. £2.1 was allowed as damages for the loss of possession of the tea,! and no damages were allowed for de-j preciation. His Honor allowed the question of obtaining possession of the tea! to stand over, and suggested that the parties should take joint action to re-j cover the tea from bond. j At a meeting of the relief committee j of the Hospital Board on Thursday a tri-j bute Was paid to the splendid work done by an old resident, who for some years bad taken in boys who needed to be boarded out by the board. The woman' had done magnificently in the way she! had trained the boys and had exercised a discipline over them that woujd he for their lasting good. Each boy had his chest of drawers and everything was neat and tidy about their rooms, and they had got to look upon the woman as a mother. She was getting old now, and not able to manage as well with big boys as formerly, and in some they had been taken over by farmers who were training them in farm work, and in every case the boys had turned out well. A quiet determination to do something to benefit the growing boys iwho were without a home and who needed a foster mother to train them for I future work was at the bottom of the ; woman's efforts, and she had not failed. •She belonged to what might be called the humble walks of life, but she had done a splendid work, and the results of it would be seen later on. j Much amusement was caused this' week at the relief committee meeting of the Hospital Board by an elderly foreigner, who said he had been in New Zealand for 54 years. He was now over 70 and brought his birth certificate withhim to prove to the members what his j age really was. He had worked hard j all his life, but could not do now what .he once did. He was not asking for help in the real sense, but he did want to go to a home where he co"ld end his days in peace. He had found out that stopping with relations when one got old was no good. He lielieved in a glass of beer because one glass cheered a man up and , did him no harm. It was when a man' took too much that beer was no good. I He thought the members of the committee were kind hearted men, and after , they had discussed his case with him he was so satisfied that he would have. liked the members to have a glass of beer with him. Very hearty laughter followed the old man's offer, and as members looked at the long list before them, the chairman wished him much luck in his new home, and they seriously i«et themselves to consider the next case on the list, which was that of a .

vu iut not,, wiiic-n was mat or a desertedi wife 20 years of age with one young - child. I A section of cadets from the Japanese ( training ship, Taisei (Mara, at present in port, were taken to various points of interest around' the city by members j of the various boy scout troops this I morning. The sailors were taken to the '■ art gallery, museum, and other places of interest, and they showed a good deal of interest in the course of the i outinjr. Another section from the train- ; j ing ship was taken round this after- i noon. j | A big boulder that rolled down a cliff at Rangitoto quarries yesterday caught an employee, Mr. Alfred Sonrmer, 30 years of age, unprepared, and rendered him hors de combat. Striking the left leg it caused a compound fracture, neces- i sitating Sommer's removal to the hos-j pita]. The journey to Auckland was made by launch. | A prohibition rally is announced toj take place to-morrow afternoon at three' i o'clock in the Tivoli Theatre. Bishop Locke and Rev. J. Dawson will give first-hand information regarding prohibition in America. Mr. L. M. Isitt, M.P., Will preside. Autumn styles, Monday next. Elsie | Ginn, 39 and 40, Smeeton'i Buildings. Ad

Mr. R. E. Hayes, on leaving the position of Registrar of Friendly Societies to take up duties in the Treasury Department, gave, at a gathering held in his honour, some interesting figures relating to the friendly society movement in the Dominion. In 1906, he said, there were 53,759 members of friendly societies, with funds amounting to £1,757,821, compared with 74,210 members and funds amounting to £2,321,176 in 1921. In 1906 the societies taken in globo showed an actuarial deficiency of £303,325, with a solvency ratio of 17/8 in the £. At the last completed valuations the societies as a whole 6howed a net surplus of £53,109, with a" solvency ratio of 20/4. A very important reform in friendly societies' finance, that of consolidating the branch funds in the various districts, had been promoted with great success by the societies during this period. In 1906 there' were societies with 1,125 members con-' solidated out of a total of 53,759 as compared with 42,507 members consolidated out of a total of 74,210 in 1920. Mr. Hayes stated that these figures proved l the great value of the actuarial service! which had been rendered to the societies ( during these years, combined with the efforts made by the societies themselves to come up to the required standards. The figures undoubtedly showed the movement to be in a healthy condition, and he wished it every success in the future. Through some deleterious agent getting into the Avon the river has been depleted of thousands of rainbow and brown trout ranging from midgets of a few ounces to fish of four and five pounds. From 11.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. dead and dying fish floated down the river in hundreds. Investigations were made by officials of the Acclimatisation Society and some of the dead trout were forwarded to the Government analyst for analysis. The curator of the Acclimatisation Society advanced the theory that the trouble has - come about i through the Christ's College swimming bath, which drains into the river, having been cleaned out with disinfectant. The New Zealand Labour party are commencing a new series of Sunday evening concert-lectures, to-morrow (Sunday) evening in the Strand Picture Theatre, when Mr. P. Fraeer, M.P., will lecture on "The Massey Attack on | Labour." A special musical programme has been arranged, including items byj the Auckland English Concertina ' Quartet. i I Very heavy rain, thought to be due to the bursting of a cloud, occurred in the Karamea district on Wednesday, says a i "Press Association" telegram from j Westport. It washed away three bridges !on the Arapito Road and three chains :of road at Granity Creey, and brought down great land slips on the MokihinuiKaramea Road, and did considerable other damage. The Minister of Public Works contemplated making a trip down i through Karamea to Westport, hut it is probable he will have to recast his programme. j "Most agreeable to the skin," says I Prof. Kh-k, of Edinburgh, in reference to McClinton's Colleen Soap. Try this i mild, purely vegetable soap. 1/ chemists, stores.—(Ad.) 5 1 "Tailoring."—We don't guarantee to make you the ibest suit in the world. But we do guarantee that no other tailor carrying on business in the city can make a tatter suit or give you better value than we can. Full price list in Monday's "Star." English worsted, bought direct from the mill, suit made to measure, 79/6; serge suits to measure, very fine, £6 6/. These prices will give you a fair idea of what to' expect. Remember, J. H. Dalton and Co., Ltd., Tailors, 278, Queen St.—(Ad.) ! One or two teaspoonfuls or Sbarland's Magnesia, two or three times a day. ■ should be given to children during the I hot weather. It corrects acidity— flatulence—and calms the stomach. (Ad.)