LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 36, 11 August 1921, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Postal authorities are advised that the R.M.S. Marama, which left Wellington on the 30th June, arrived in London on the 7th instant!. Eastbourne's position regarding the maintenance of roads was briefly dealt with at the Bridges Commission yesterday. ' Councillor H.. Shoctt stated that the road round the shores of the harbour to Eastbourne was mainly used by motorists for pleasure, and he did. not think that there were more 'than half-a-dozen residents of Eastbourne who owned motor-cars. . Most of the residents earned their livelihood in the city, and he considered that he was not far out if he said that 99jf per cont. of those residents never used the road to the city, but were conveyed by- sea. Commenting »on the number of deaths officially registered "accounted!," Dr. W. E. Herbert stated at the Red Cross rooms last evening : "It appears to me unnecessary that during the yoar 1917 one hundred and fifty persona should ; have mot their cteatli by drowning, and ', that from the years 1917 to 1919 inclusive the total should have been five hundred and sixty-two* These figures ( do not include the number of those who decided to commit suicide in this manner. I know of no more health-giving exercise than that of swimming, and' I would urge that even greater encouragement be given to both boys and 1 girls by public authorities." Another fish story, this time vouched for by a police constable, has been added to the already, long list. A letter received from Constable A. M'Leod by the council of the, Wellington Acclimatisa t»n Society last night stated that workmen employed on the Tauherenikau bridge in J^Jy noticed a dead trout ; n the stream. They retrieved it, and in an endeavour "to find out what had caused its death cut it open. a Inside were found five threepenny pieces and a sixpence. "It is no doubt strange?" added the constable, "how the money got into the fish, but to me it is stranger that the men still have the coins, considering they were working only a few yards from the hotel." A well-attended meeting was held in the Trades Hall last night to make arrangements for the Labour Day celebrations. It was decided to set up a Sports Committee, of which Mr.' F. Cornwall is the convener. The following donations towards ..prizes were acknowledged :— Messrs. Findlay and Muir, £1 Is; Messrs. Oppehheim, £3 3s; and the Seamen's Union, £10. A ladies' committee, of which Mrs. F. Forde is the convener, was set up for making arrangements for the dance and the conducting of the kiosk at Newtown Park on the day o£ the sports. It was also proposed to hold a baby show. Mr. J. J. Hynes ■ is the secretary of the Labour Day Committee. ' ; - ,;. ■ , Argument of the case in which Dr. G. E. Anson appeared against the assessment of income tax in respect to the proceeds of the sale of a sheep^farm was concluded before -Mr. Justice Sim yesterday. His Honour reserved his decision./' Certain scientific investigations o£ opossums, having; for their object the" studying of the actual development of ]. the young in order, if possible, that the period of the open season shall be such as to obviate the destruction of young animals, are.'to be made by Professor Kirk, of Victoria University .College. In the past the difficulty has bnen that, in an endeavour to eecure skins »at their bent, many .young o.poMume have been

"Oh, I,don't think anything of that! Any man can ow» his tailor money. "•— Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court yesterday. Hearing of the evidence for the prosecution in the charge against Alfred Antonovik of receiving two stolen cameras was concluded in the Magistrate's Court yesterday. AntonQvik, for whom Mr. Leicester appeared, plead)ed not guilty, and was committed to th« Supreme Oowt for trial. Victoria College is probably not proud of its grounds. It has no" particular reason to be. Lost night, the council discussed improvements. Professor Hunter suggested that the northern corner of the grounds might be cleared, a low brick wall erected, and the bank planted. There was general agreement that it was time for some' action to be taken, and a small sub-committge was set-up to consider proposals. There was a condition attached —it is an understood condition in these times —that very little money should be spent. "I make bold to speak on behalf of the young peapk of New Zealand," said' Sir John Luke, while speaking at a gathering of sportsmen, called to bid welcome to Mr. R. Ooombes, president of the Amateur Athletic Union of Australia and New Zealand, last evening, "and let me say, now, that I was proud to holdl office as Mayor of Wellington during the year when the Rugby Union foundl itself in a position to purchase Athletic Park. The ownership of the Park hung in a balance, for it was probable that it would be cut up into building sections, .but the City Council was determined that it. would buy the Park itself, rather than see the land out up. Th e Rugby people, however, mad© a big effort, and the City Council stood aside, so that the Park stands to-day as a field wh«« the Rugby Union and the pubKo obtain mutual benefit. Wo hear much of throwing money away to sport, but, in, my opinion, no money spent on sport is wasted, for it brings in the greatest interest in the gTeater happiness of the people. One regret I have, and that is that, during the period I held •office, I could not do more for sport." (Applause.) • A brief contribution to the controversy regarding the numbers of deaths among women from puerperal causes was given last night by Dr., W. E. Herbert, wno delivered an address on "Prevention of Disease." He discussed a table showing the causes of deaths'between the 'different ages. He held that the presentation of the figures in the form shown by him rather tended to emphasise tho .regrettable position of puerperal causes and tuberculosis, for it would appear that if a woman escaped death from tuberculosis she was most likely to die from some puerperal cause. As "puerperal causes" were very largely confined to married women, and tuberculosis respected no class, il showed that the incidence of that cause of death was one of the highest.on the list. "In my opinion," said Dr. Herbert, "too much prominence cannot be given to the man; aspects of this question, and we all look forward to a considerable increase in our knowledge of the facts of the case at the completion of the inquiry now pending." The monthly meeting of the Petone Technical School Board of Managers was held last evening. There were present Mr. D. M'Kenzie (chairman), Messrs. D. S. Bedingfield, C. N. Dempsey, and N..8. Nicholson. The director reported that the classes were holding their own, and that the finances of the school were at present in a satisfactory condition. The Education Board notified that under the new regulations the representation on the Board of Managers would be: Education Board, two members ; school committees, one member; local authorities, two members; employ-., ers in local industries, ,;two "members; and employees in local industries, two members. The elections to fill these vacancies ,will be held in September. The director announced that Mr. W, Donovan, M.Sc, would deliver a free lecture at the school on 18th August cm "Coal." Advice has been forwarded to the New Zealand Returned Soliders' Association by the Minister of Defence (the Hon. J. G. Coatee) that the Defence Department is endeavouring by all possible means to trace ex-members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, or their dependents, for the purpose of paying any money to which they may be entitled by way of right or by way, of j war service gratuity, without waiting for applications by the persons 'concerned. "Where,; however, the Department's efforts have failed," he remarks, "it is obvious that it can take no further action until such time as those concerned make application. The only payment regarding which the Department is not now making. efforts to "pay without waiting for applications is the retrospective differences between territorial and New Zealand . Expeditionary Force rates for the first month in camp on account of discharged soldiers. This, however, is not a payment to which the soldier is entitled by way of right, but I was, a 'grant,' payable' on application only. It was widely advertised throughout New Zealand at the beginning of the rear that no further payments would 'be made which were not applied for by 31st March, 1921, and as this would no doubt come under the notice of all concerned, it is considered that the onus was on the, returned soldiers themselves to make application. I might state, however, that a very large number of payments were made upon the Department's efforts to trace men, and there are probably not more than eight or ten thousand of these cases still unapplied for." In the course of an address delivered ,at the Red Cross rooms last evening— the subject was "Prevention of Disease" —Dr. W. E. Herbert exhibited a table showing the four principal causes of death for each sex during the various decades of life for the year 1917. "You will note," hex said, "the prominent position that this disease still takes near the head of most of these columns, and, in spite of all that has been done in the past, you will afiree with me that very much more reitiains to be done, when I assure you that in its earlier stages it is "one of the most curable diseases known. Ignorance and neglect are s the real causes of the vast majority of deaths from tuberculosis. It very rarely occurs that tuberculosis comes on as an acute and overwhelming disease. As a ' rule, its onset is so slow and insidious that patients fail to detect its presence until the disease is well established or advanced beyond the hope of recovery: In the young, loss of weight, anaemia, liatlessnefis. or exhaustion should be considered as early sij;ns of possible tuberculosis until parentu have been positively assured by medical men that such is not present, and have been given a reasonable explanation of these symptoms, and the means of remedying them. Many of you in this room have suffered from tuberculosis in one form or another, and I have no doubt that in spite of your want of care have managed to recover without being aware of its presence. Thus would I impress upon you (1) that tuberculosis is an extremely common disease, (2) that it is a slow and insidious disease, (3) that in its earlier stages that it is an eminently curable disease."

A letter received at last night'B meeting of the Management Committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union stated that the Dunedin City Council would not grant permits for the sale of unofticiah programmes. Figures were placed before Victoria College Council last night to show, the number •of students who paid fees for the last three years. The totals were: 1918, 882; 1919, 1366; 1920, 1764. The degrees, honours, - and scholarships awarded over the same period were: 1918, 258; 1919, 344 j 1920, 393. During the sitting of the Hutt County Bridges Commission yesterday , m Mr. A. de B. Brandon, in answer to a'queetion from the Commissioner (Mr. E. W< Holmes) stated that there was little prospect of the road through Akatarawa ever becoming a main thoroughfare to the west coast as it was as full of turns as the Paekakariki-road, and the cost of making it suitable for the purpose would be too great. ■'; On the motion of Professor Hunter, it was decided by Victoria College Council last night that a small deputation be authorised to place before the Minister of Education and the Minister of Agriculture the Victoria College Council's view regarding establishment of future * special schools. Mr. Bakewell asked: "Have you any idea of tho grounds on which it is proyosed to place the forestry school in Canterbury?" Other members remarked that the couh■cil did not wish to say anything about the forestry school. This was an agricultural school. "A new point of attack/ said Professor Hunter. The Post's Auckland correspondent telegraphs: The Eastern Pacific Islands fruit trade has latterly shown a marked decline, the reason, it is stated, being that the prices asked by the natives are now considered by merchants'to be prohibitive. The natives in the Eastern Pacific Group, like many other people, < secured high prices for their produce during the war period, and are now unable to appreciate that values have fal,len, with the result that the prices asked on the local marjset a"re too high. The steamer Flora, which arrived from Earatonga this week, brought only thousand cases of oranges instead of the customary eight thousand. "" On Saturday last the first passengers came through the Otira Tunnel to Arthur's Pass by the courtesy of the. Public Works Department. Owing to snow on the road, the coaches were unable to run, and passengers from Hokttika were apparently stranded. On approaching the officers of the Public Works Department, who'were arranging for the carrying of the mails through the tunnel temporarily, the request of. the passengers was granted, and they' were allowed to travel in the trucks leaving the Otirs end of the tunnel and arriving at Arthur's Pass in about one hour. Mr. Malfroy, of the State Forest Service, who has just returned from an official visit, to Canterbury and the West Coast, was one of the passengers on the occasion. About a thousand commissions and 800 wills belonging to memoers of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force remain in the possession of the War Records branch of the Defence Department. No doubt many of the commissions .bear the, names of officers who never returned from the front, bnt in such cases the parchment would be forwarded to the next-of-kin of the deceased if the address were available. The wills are supposed to have been executed' by men who were not killed in the war. The Records branch would have sent them on to the Public Trustee if there were any record of the testators' deaths. Each mail brings back to the branch a quantity of matter that the postal authorities have been unable to. deliver, because changes of address have' not been rTe-:' ported. ' The last conference of the acclimatisation societies of New Zealand passed the following motion:—" That hawks' feet be paid for instead, of heads, and that all societies be asked to act coniointly in the destruction of these ravenous birds." The attention of the Wellington Society wae called to this at last night's meeting of the council in a letter from the Auckland' Society. It waa suggested in the letter that unless hawks were exterminated jmported game would never be firmly established in New Zealand. Members at last night's meeting classed the hawk: as the greatest of poachers, but said that unless action was taken by all societies anything done would be useless. Ultimately it was decided to offer, for six months, a bonus of threepence per pair of feet, and to instruct the ranger to endeavour to secure the co-operation of farmers in aa approved poisoning campaign. ." There are two biff dangers to contend with in the drapery trade," said Mr. R. D. Martin' at the Arbitration Court at Chrietchurch, speaking on behalf of the Retail Shop Assistant' Union. A large proportion of the big positions in the drapery trade was held, 'he said, by women, whose husbands were drawing good salaries. Then, again, there was the danger of unfair* competition by the married woman, who,' perhaps, on account of housing congestion or other causes, desired to be out during the day, and who found shop work it good means of Retting pocket money. SiTch women werWprepared to take joi'S at from 12s 6d to 15s a week. He had received several applications by women who were prepared to work at etch rates. This, of course, operated very unfairly toward the single young woman, who had to earn her living and was entitled to reasonable prospects of advancement. , "We are faced with the uncomfortable fact that cancer is the most frequent' cause of death in New Zealand today, and I doubt very much whether there is any other country in the world where cancer is the chief cause lof death," stated Dr. W. B. Herbert to the Red Cross Society last night. "Until we find the true cause of cancer the difficulty surrounding its prevention must obviously be great, but that is no reason why we should do nothing. Some years ago in discussing this question I suggested that cancer be made a notifiable disease, and that we should endeavoiir to find out why cancer occurs with such prevalence in certain parts of the body amongst the people of this country. I was then told that the Cancer Institute in London was doing all in its power to discover the cassation and the means of prevention of this disease, and. that nothing could be gained by local research. I 'still rh'aintain that it is a wrong attitude for the' public, to take, and I feel sure that if the'relatives of every person dying of cancer ivere compelleds to give a full account of the mode of living, dietetic habits,.and general health, and in addition if the doctors in attendance on siich cases were asked to fill in" a return, giving all necessaryl details, something might be learnt that would be helpful to both local and Home authorities in their investigation." Authorities, in discussing the disease, paid a poor compliment to "advanced civilisation," and suggested the necessity for more exact information concerning the mode,of living and habits of those dying from, cancer.