NEWS OF THE DAT

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 22, 26 July 1927, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAT

Navigation Lights. The business at the next meeting of the Wellington Harbour Board will include consideration of a motion by Captain Maciudoo as follows:—"That a small committee be set up to go into the question of navigation lights and signals in the Wellington Harbour." The Typesetters' Art. With the view of ascertaining whether the Government is prepared to subsidise funds raised for the purpose of securing equipment for classes in typography, a deputation from the Printing Trades Provisional AdvisoryCommittee of the Wellington Technical College Board of Governors will wait on the Minister of Education to-morrow. A committee has been appointed to go into the question of raising funds, provided the subsidy is available, and to ascertain the number of linotype machines available, and the equipment that can be obtained for hand typography. Technical College Pupils. A report submitted to the monthly meeting of the Wellington Technical College Board of Governors last evening by the director (Mr. J. H. Howell) showed that the total number of individual students enrolled this year was 2466, a net increase of 71 over last year. This increase was made up as follows: Technical high school 27, art school 62, with a decrease in the evening school of IS. The total class enrolment iv the art school and the evening school was 3206, and .the total average attendances 2788 or an average attendance of 87 por cent., which, considering the difficulties finder which the evening students carried on their studies, was very good indeed. Stables and a Train. A protest against the running of the 11.15 p.m. train from Lambton to Upper H;11 on Wednesdays and Saturdays only was made at last night's meeting of the "Upper Hutt Borough Council by Mr. Ebb Simpson, representing the Trainers and Owners' Association. The present arrangement, which was only recently inaugurated, was criticised by Mr. Simpson on the grounds that it was in the interests of Upper Hutt only, where the Wednesday half-holiday was the rule. There was no statutory halfday in Trcntham, and there were about 58 people employed in racing stables who could not get every Wednesday off. Tuesdays and Thursdays were the privileged nights for stable boys, but apart from them there were many lodge members who wished to visit sister lodscs in town, and the majority of theso never hold meetings on a Wednesday or Saturday night. The speaker thought it was very unjust that the Trainers and Owners' Association had not been notified of the public meeting held to discuss train alterations, before the council met the representatives of tho Railway Department, and j the running of tho 11.15 train was changed. Another objection was that racing folk shipped horses to Wellington from up the line and these arrived in town about 10.50 p.m. and connected with tho 11.15 train to Trcntham. Tho council decided to hold over tho request for reinstatement of tho train daily until word was received from the Trentham, Heretaunga, and SilverStream Ratepayers' Association, who aro also communicating with the council concerning railway time-table changes. Tendency of Specialisation. Physicians and surgeons fearful of the present tendency of specialisation in medicine with its consequent reduction of the number of general practitioners, need not worry unduly, according to Dr. Charles H. Mnyo^ famous Minnesota surgeon, who believes that the condition will tend to right itself. 11ns will come about, Dr. Mayo holds' partly through tho improvement of medical teaching methods and the graduation of younger men, and partly through a law of cycles of progress winch has operated in medical history. Medical men," he said, "have in the last thirty years gained more knowled-'o ; of disease, its cause, prevention and ' treatment than in tho 2000 years preceding. That is the reason wo have so much specialisation. There is so much to learn. Progress in medicine, as in other fields, moves in cycles. At intorvals of every 200 years or so specialisation comes to the fore and general practice and the general practitioner go into tho background. We are now in tho midst of such a period. There is a danger, perhaps, that we shall get too many specialists and too few mon trained in tho real, the general care of the sick, but when that time conies there will be a reversal of the cycle, the general practitioner will como into his own again, and tho specialist will become the technician. The general practitioner will care for the sick, will mako the diagnosis, and call in the specialist only as he needs a technician, either for operations or for work in a special limited field. You know medicine has so muny fields that wo do need specialists. Why, in dentistry alone—a field limited to care of the mouth—there are four types of work, the filling of teeth, the making of plates, the extraction of teeth, and tho treatment of infections." Gratifying But Expensive. ' The decision of the recent Commission set up to determine whether certain lands should bo excluded from the borough of Upper Hutt was made public at last night's meeting of the Borough Council. The finding of the Commission said that after consideration of the evidence submitted for and against the proposals and after an inspection of the areas affected, the Commissioners were of the opinion that as the area now included in the borough of ; Upper Hutt was fixed by Commission in August, 1925, no sufficient change of circumstances or conditions had bceu proved to warrant them in excluding the petitioners' lands from the borough. Tho cost of the Commission, stated the report, should bo paid by the borough. It was gratifying to know that the petition has failed, said the Mayor (Mr. P. Robertson), but it was a rather serious flaw that the council should be mulcted for damages in a petition lodged by private individuals. He thought the costs should have been allocated between Mr. E. V. Riddiford (a petitioner), tho Hutt County Council, and the Upper Hutt Borough Council. His attitude was supported by the councillors, and it was decided that their protest against the whole costs being given against the council should be sent to. their solicitors to bo forwarded to the proper quarters. Messrs. W. G. Riddell, S.M., R. W. C. Macintosh, and F. Martin were the Commissioners, and Mr. E. V. Riddiford and Mrs. M. J. Parker and others tho petitioners in, the recent appeal.

Breaking TJp tho Arawata. has been in progress during the last few weeks breaking up the hulk Arawata, which was beached at Kahvarra some months ago when she sprang a leak while bunkering the steamer Devon. The masts and all the upper works of the hulk has been cut down to water level, but operations hays been discontinued until after the winter. Nothing definite has as yet been decided with regard to the hull of the hulk now under water, but it may be removed within the next few months. The Petone Wig-Wag. At last night's meeting of the Petone Borough Council a letter was received from the Lower Hutt Borough Council suggesting that the dangers at the Petone railway crossing may be lessened for the time being by improving the "wig-wag' r signal. It was considered that when the Railway Workshops were shifted, the visibility at the crossing would be satisfactory. Councillor Longman moved that the letter be received, but Counoillor Pearson considered that the Petone Council should also have some suggestions to make. Councillor Jacobson moved an amendment that Lower Hutt's suggestion he supported, and, further, tha' the signal be altered so that the bell start ringing longer before the train reaches the crossing and stop ringing immediately the train is past. It was mentioned that the fact that the bell rings at times when there is no train approaching was due to the shunting of trains on the Gear Company's sidings. This was considered a source of danger. Councillor M'Carthy considered that the ringing of the bells should not be altered, as motorists were liable to become too careless. Councillor Longman's motion was carried. Testing of Herds. A grant of £8000 as a subsidy towards the cost of the work that is being carried out by the herd-testing associations of the Dominion has been approved by Cabinet. In making the announcement, the. Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. O. J. Hawken) referred to the importance of herd-testing as a means of increasing production. A small board would be set up to administer the fund, and to make the necessary arrangements with those interested. There was no reason in a country like New Zealand, said the Minister, why production per cow should not be pushed up to a considerably higher level than at present. When it was remembered that the average production per cow in New Zealand was less than 2001b, it was quite reasonable to suppose that the general average could bo i lifted to a point that would make dairy I farming more profitable than it was at | present. Garden Plots in Schools. An active interest in gardening has been shown by pupils of the Newtown School sinco the formulation of a cottage garden scheme by the committee of the Parents and Old Boys' Association. Reference to the matter was made in a report presented to the annual meeting of the association, it being stated that as a means of encouraging the pupils to cultivate small plots, plants, and seeds were supplied, the girls taking up the flower gardens and the boys attending the vegetables. Members of the committee acted as judges, makin^periodical inspections of the plots and awarding points to tho competitors.