IN BRIEF

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 55, 2 September 1937, Page 26

IN BRIEF

NOTES FROM NEAR AND FAR

Browning Mummery, the Australian tenor, and Millicent O'Grady, a New Zealand singer who has become prominent in Australian broadcasting circles, have been engaged by the National Broadcasting authorities to tour the national stations in the near future.

Thirteen years ago there were about 1000 licensed listeners in Australia. Today the total is rapidly nearing a million and increasing steadily every month.

A surgery in the charge of a matron who is a qualified;hospital nurse has been a feature of Broadcasting House, London, ever since the building was occupied by the 8.8.C. in 1932. The surgery exists to deal with all casualties in Broadcasting House and to provide staff with advice and treatment for minor ailments. Although use of the surgery by members of the 8.8.C. staff is in no way compulsory, recent figures show that in one year 4545 treatments were given: 2518 to women, 2027 to men. It is within the authority of the matron to send home a mem-

ber of the staff who complains of feeling unwell, and to advise the seeking of medical advice. Should the patient's indisposition appear slight, the matron herself may dispense treatment, after which, if no improvement is apparent, she suggests consultation with a doctor. Staff returning to worl: after illness frequently visit the surgery for advice. Arrangements exist for the free inoculation of the staff against the common cold, a doctor attending the Broadcasting House surgery for that purpose. During last winter, nearly two hundred members of the staff took advantage of these arrangements. All facilities necessary to meet emergencies such as accidents or sudden collapse are available. The services of a doctor can be called upon at short notice and arrangements have been made with a hospital near Broadcasting House for emergency treatment. Despite the thousands of people in Broadcasting House each day, however, only .two or three cases of collapse through sudden illness are on record. Accidents are rare, and even attacks of fainting are uncommon. A stretcher is provided in the surgery, but so far has been used only once. „....■ The planning of the Empire Exhibition at Glasgow next year has been described in recent talks from the Empire Shortwave Station by the architect, Mr. Thomas S. Tait, F.R.1.8.A. Mr. Tait has many famous works to his credit including the Sydney Harbour Bridge the Kasr el nil Bridge, Cairo, and the Limpopo River Bridge, South Africa A memorial stone of the Empire Exhibition, which will be the biggest held anywhere in the world since the famous Empire Exhibition at Wembley from 1924 to 1925, was unveiled by his Majesty the King on his visit to Scotland last July. At the same time, the Earl of Elgin, President of the Exhibition, announced that, in addition to the United Kingdom and Canada which had already arranged to participate, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa had expressed their intention to be represented.-Invitations to take part have been extended to tha Governments of India, to Burma, and to the Colonies. The 8.8.d., which wib be among the exhibitors, will supervise the installation of microphones so that news and announcements may be broadcast daily from Bellahouston Park.