"DOCTOR'S ORDERS"

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 226, 24 September 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

"DOCTOR'S ORDERS"

f AM Mlif for die type of person in> dsorribed an "all narr<aa." in moot cases it is a quootion of education when tyi Mint.: We ar» , taught many ttettga atechool; the most valuable thing we can learn is self- , 'T' UHWw

' Curiously eaougb, thir js ths sort of thing that amr enters si parant's mind a* aIL "What is stlf-control T I hare never hsard of it.. Do jwf hoy H at the ehsmist's or the public-house Do you cook Hor boil ftT Solf-ooatrolt Dear ni, what, long worda these silly doctors •sol".

lad 7«t, dear friends, H should be your first duty to study your own children and see that they are learning to control themselves. Gentleneu, firmness, reasonableness, and as attempt to explain to the child how wrong it is to ghro way to, M»., of temper or fits of crying and unreasonable fear, will work wonders in the course of years. It is you# duty I ,' arid most of you negleet it. When joa aeo. f' nervosa child being irifrnp badly .and made worse by the etupid negject of her parents, pity the child, bat pity still more the unfortunate man who will one day marry her. Preserve me from a nervous wife; she makes herself and everybody else miserable. Her heart .beat* irregularly, but it should be under her control. She lost contvol when she waa a little girl, and it will be a hard struggle to retain it. Lacking StV-cotOrol The seeds sown in a child's brain come to maturity in later years. There are men and who appear to possess little or no self-control; they are nervous and ill at ease in the most harmless of situations. They can scarcely say "How do yon do?" without blushing and looking confused. They jump when .he door slams; they lio awake hnagin«ng all sorts of disasters. They feel that if Onee they could make their brains olacid they would fall a blissful

By A Family Doctor

slumber. When called upon to meet an emergency they generally fail or collapse, or do anything but meet it with a bravo face. Now one reason, for all this is that when they were children their growing minds were subjected to some unnecessary shock. A Stupid Practice I am writing this for no other purpose than to condemn the stupid parents, nurses, or daily helps who tty to frighten children into obedience. It is very wicked to tell a little child that a black bogyman will come and carry him off if he does not go to sleep, ana then leave the child alone in the dark. Perhaps some of us can remember our terror in the night and the intense relief when someone came in to us. What seems only a joke to a grown-up is a thoughtless piece of cruelty to a little child. The dark is always terrifying; the creaking is alarming; even elderly people may experience an eerie feeling when they aro in strange and lonely houses, when they lie in the dark and try to convince themselves that the noise they hear outside in the passage is not really Lady Mary coming along carrying her head under her arm. The Bedtime Romp

Going to bed Is a most solemn proceeding, and it should always be carried out in the same way. First of all comes a romp with Daddy. This is .most important, in faet, more important, than something %ut of a bottle. If Daddy is away all day, he should take the opportunity of seeing much of th£ children as possible in evening. The romp is so good for the children; it makes them happy. Forgive me, also, for mentioning that it is good for Daddy—it keeps Him young. I have no objection to Daddy pretending to be a lion, it is easy to see that he is not a lion; you hare only to look at his face; besides, the lion is a noble beast. A romp is the best- preventive of cold feet in the winter.

The Bath The best fun about a goodnight romp is that it can be performed in the scantiest of clotting. Remove that cloying collection of garments, including 6tays and several other things, and beihold the child's joy! We children do i like to be. free. Please, if you must smother us in layers of materials of every description during the day, be merciful aUd let us have a romp at night with very - little on. Then comes the bath, because it is pleasant to feel and smell clean, and habits begun in child- , hood are continued in later years. After the bath comes a little bit of supper— a sweet biscuit or two, and some warm milk. After supper the tooth-brush. Kindly note that the reverse process must be avoided. If you clean the teeth first and then take food, the bits of food stick about the month and the acids formed corrode the teeth. The Good-night Talk Then to bed and a nice talk with Mummy. If there has been a rumpus, please make it up; do not let the child be unhappy at night. You have been so good, mother, in attending to the child's body; please now give a little attention to your baby's mind and soul. Never believe that a tiny child has no . mind worth speaking of—you might as well say she has no skeleton or no braids within that little cranium. Do soothe the child and let* her sleep well. I must insist on-this. I- am always meeting children who are nervous and overstrung; -their minds are jarred; every morning they begin another -day with a •en se of fear. If ever they get to understand, they will feel no very loving sentiments towards those who destroyed the happiness of their childhood.' Whatever the future may have in store for 1 the children, give them peaceful nights in their childhood; fill their little, minds with gentle thoughts; make them believe that it is a very nice world and that they are safe «> long ,as their parents are near. Banish the frightening method, the putting in dark cupboards, and all the rest of such ignorant conduct, and let us only remember them as we remember the thumb screw and the rack of a former age. j

Mr. Christensen stoutly maintains I that his ships discovered Queen Maud Land and Lars Christensen Land before Maweon saw them from the Discovery. Macßobertson Land and Lars Christensen Land appear to be one and the same, and, i/ustralia, in recognising the Norwegian names on the chart, tacitly recognises the Norwegian claims. Control of Whaling The primary object of the administration of these sectors —Falkland. Ross and Australian —is the implementing of regulations for the control of the whaling industry therein, drawn up by an international convention and signed by the majority of the nations concerned at the Twelfth Assembly of the League of Nations in 1931. These regulations prohibit the killing of whale calves, immature whales and female whales accompanied by calves. It requires the fullest use to be made of every carcase. It regulates the terms of employment of crews, provides for the licensing or notification of vessels engaged in the industry, and for the supply of certain statistics. The following figures show the tremendous growth of the whaling industry which required regulation to prevent the extinction of the species and the end of a valuable industry:— Barrels Tear. No. of whales. of oil. I'.uo-'jo j 1.30:1 407.."527 l!»24-2r> 23.2n.'{ 1.040.40R l!»2!l-80 30.000 2.777.100 1030-31 40,201 3,(i50,97G In *1030-1, 43 floating factories, 232 whale catchers and 10 transport vessels owned by 33 companies set sail for the Antarctic. In addition, six land stations were in operation. The Antarctic Continent is estimated to cover 5.000.000 square miles. An examination of the map will show that Britain and Australia have added to her Empire almost two-thirds of this huge continent. It will also be seen how Britain and Australia have laid heavy hands 011 the discoveries of other nations, which may in the future lead to many international squabbles if great mineral wealth should be discovered on the continent. Let us look again at the map showing the three dependencies:— Cut Through Patagonia! On July 4, 1908, the King in Council issued Letters Patent under the Great Seal appointing the Governor of the Falkland-Islands Governor also of South Georgia. South Orkneys, South Shetlands, the Sandwich Group and Graham Land, and providing for their government as dependencies of the Falkland Islands. After naming these lands, the 7>reamble continued: "Situated in the South Atlantic Ocean to the south of the 50th parallel of south latitude, and lying between the 20th and 80th degrees of Vest longitude." The 50th parallel between the longitudes stated cuts through Patagonia. This, was a brilliant start, and one which could have been expected from the junior office boy, as it claimed as a British possession a portion of lands already occupied by Argentina and Chile. However, on Ma?ch 28, 1917, other Letters Patent were issued providing for a further definition. These fixed latitude 58. degrees south as the northern limit of British territory between 50 degrees and 80 degrees west longitude, thus cutting off tie northern portion of the previous area claimed, which included South Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Gordon Hayes, in his book "Antarctica," commenting oti this muddle, says: "This incident cannot have enhanced the dignity of Britain in the eyes of foreign Powers." The western boundary, the 80th meridian west, cuts between two Russian islands named after the Czars Alexander and Peter, claiming the former as British. The French sent three expeditions to this locality. They discovered Joinville Island, Louis Philippe, Loubert, Fallieres and Charcot Lands, the last three being beyond the British sphere of discovery. Britain has claimed 1 the whole of these lands as hers, while the eastern coast of Graham Land was charted by Larsen and Nordenskjold, their discoveries being Foyn Coast and ! King Oscar Land. I

The eastern boundary, the 20th meridian west, errs in the opposite direction, for it cuts through Coats Land some miles south-west of its middle, J he_ whole dependency should have been delimited 10 degree* to the ■east, or from 70 degrees west to 10 degrees west. This would have excluded French discoveries on the western boundary and included the whole of the British discoveries in the east. Ross Sea Dependency The boundaries of the Ros* Sea seetor are even more remarkable. They appear to have been drawn without the slightest knowledge of Antarctica. The eastern boundary, the 150 th meridian west, cuts off King Edward VIL Land very sharply at the limit shown on Scott's original chart, although he reported an "appearance of land" further north-east, and Scott never made a false claim. The 150 th meridian then proceeds to claim as British territory nearly all Amundsen's discoveries— about half of Carmen Land, the Queen Maud Range and the principal part of King Haakon's Plateau, including the South Geographical Pole.

Discussing the 160 th meridian cut as the western boundary of this sector, Gordon Hayes again has a few pungent remarks to make. He says: "This boundary appears to be nothing less than a colossal blunder. It begins by excluding part of Oates' Land, discovered by Scott's last expedition, and the whole of the great lands discovered by Sir Douglas Mawson. This brilliant boondary next proceeds to exclude by many miles the South Magnetic Pole, whicn was reached by two British expeditions and by them alone. (The magnetic polar area was formally taken possession of for Britain by Professor Sir Edgeworth David in 1908.) The whole of Scott's journey over the Victoria Land Plateau is cut out, as is also the Ferrar Glacier.

After this we are prepared for anything and we are not disappointed, for the line excludes nearly the whole of the Worcester Range, the whole of the Conway Range, and the entire Britannia Range, and finally, instead of including the whole southern part of King Edward's Plateau, which Sir Ernest Shackleton discovered as far south as latitude-88.23 degrees, this extraordinary boundary excludes from the British Dominions part of Captain Scott's route to the Pole."

The claiming of 160E as the eastern boundary of the Australian Dependency preserves to Australia all that the Ross Dependency's western boundary excluded. But this does not alter the fact that most extraordinary state existed for 10 years, until Australia's claim to the adjoining territory was ratified by Act of Parliament.

The sum total of the matter is that many discoveries made by explorers of other nations have been annexed by Britain, while extensive British discoveries are excluded from our Empire. The reason is undoubtedly official ignorance of the subject, working with obsolete charts. (To be concluded.)