NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 58, 5 September 1940, Page 10

NEWS OF THE DAY

Radio Licences.

At the end of July there were 346,441 paid radio receiving licences in force in the Dominion compared with 302,549 in July, 1939—an increase of 43,892, or 14.5 per cent. Making this stateI ment last night the Postmaster-General | (the 'Hon. P. C. Webb) said that this figure exceeded the peak reached in March last by 731. Free licences issued to blind persons, orphanages, charij table institutions, and hospitals, totalled 1278. The percentage of licences ito the number of householders was I now 89.4 per cent., and the number of such licences per 100 of population was 21.3 per cent. Equatorial Africa. The opinion that it was unfortunate that so few New Zealanders appreciated the importance of the decision of France's equatorial African colonies to link up with the Allies was expressed on Tuesday by a Dunedin man who for j a number of years was captain of a steamer on the Congo River, states the "Otago Daily Times." The Congo, he said, was the key to Africa, and it was this fact which made the colonies' decision such good news for those who understood the position. Had the French Congo been opposed to the Allied cause, it could have effectively blocked the river, but now this route would be open, giving Britain access from the west to the important colonies of Tanganyika, Uganda, and Kenya. In these territories there were good roads which could be used by heavilymechanised units, which could be j brought, up the Congo. The position j now was that Britain had available | to her an uninterrupted route from, the mouth of the Congo, through Central Africa, to the Nile and Egypt. It followed that Britain's strategic position in relation to Italy, had been greatly improved, and that the value lof Mussolini's grip on a considerable stretch of the east coast had been to a large extent nullified. New Houses Attacked. Many instances of the ravages and destruction to properties in Auckland and other districts of New Zealand by the termite (white ant) were revealed in a lecture delivered in Auckland on Tuesday by Dr. D. Miller, of the Cawthron Institute, states the "New Zealand Herald." By means of lantern slides, Dr. Miller showed the various types of termites infesting timber buildings, power poles, fences, and dead and living trees. He said the greatest havoc was being caused by the Australian termite, which had subterranean habits. "There is evidence in Auckland that new houses can be reduced to touch-wood by these pests within five years," said Dr. Miller. The position was also extremely serious in New Plymouth. It had been found that houses built only twelve months previously had been infested with termites. After illustrating the methods by which the ants attacked houses, the speaker urged that a serious endeavour should be made by all interested to combat the pest. Everyone interested would have to assist, and the Government had set up a committee of advisers to conduct research and experiments. To those people who still disbelieved that there was a serious problem to be tackled he would say that the termite was working all over Auckland. "The destruction by termites will cost a tremendous amount of money if the ravages are not controlled," he added* i

A Neglected Science. "It is a pity that there is no fulltime chair of anthropology at any university college in New Zealand," said the president of the Auckland Institute, Mr. W. A. Fairclough, at a public lecture in the Auckland University College Hall on Tuesday, reports the "New Zealand Herald." There was a part-time chair at Otafi.o University, he continued, but that could not be considered sufficient in a country which had produced two such anthropologists as Dr. Firth and Dr. Peter Buck. Both of these had been lost to the Dominion, except for occasional visits, because there were no jobs for them. They were examples of the truth that New Zealand gave a scientific training to many men in order that they might utilise it elsewhere. Healthy Rivalry in Army. One of the surest signs of the right spirit in the Army is the display of friendly rivalry between the various units. During a recent parade, one plato6n was supplied by members of the Second N.Z.E.F. now training as n.c.o.s at the Southern District Military School, Burnham, states the "Christchurch Star-Sun." One plato6n was supplied by the 11th Heavy Battery and another by the Ist Battalion, Canterbury Regiment. A further platoon was supplied by the 3rd Battalion, National Military Reserve. Prior to the parade, it was noticed that the officers and n.c.o.s of the various platoons were comparing and weighing up the possibilities of the other units. The spirit of the occasion inspired the men to real effort. There was a pleasing polish and snap to their work, and, owing to the presence of platoons from other units, each platoon endeavoured to convey the impression that they were putting on a show of their usual standard. They very successfully conveyed the impression. In one platoon in this parade a veteran in the ranks was under the command of his son, a corporal. This is still another case of father and son serving the Dominion in the armed forces. "Play of the Princess." An interesting account of a ceremony known as "the Play of the Princess," performed over a sick person in Malaya, was given by Dr. Raymond Firth, reader in anthropology at London University, in the course of a lecture at Auckland on Tuesday, states the "New Zealand Herald." This, he said, was somewhat in the nature of j a drama, but was really a form of spiritualistic seance -in which a medium participated with a native orchestra, purporting to summon other spirits to drive the evil spirit from the patient's body. The Malays, he said, saw no disharmony between magic and medicine; they used the type of art that best fitted their theory of a particular ailment. This was paralleled in Western communities by faithhealing in various forms, the use of certain types of proprietary remedies, and other practices resting on foundations that from the scientific point of view were not strong. The scientist was interested in the effects of faith, which he often saw accomplishing more than reason, but in a modern society there was need for more of the latter and less of some types of the former. Medicine and Magic. j A Malay coming to New Zealand, would find much that was not at all out of harmony with his own ideas about the relationship between mcdi- j cine and magic, said Dr. Raymond Firth, reader in anthropology in the University of London, by way of pre- i face to a lecture at Auckland on Tues-! day on the healing art as he had observed it during a year's anthropological research in the State of Kelantan, states the "New Zealand Herald." Dr. Firth observed that the Malays were a civilised and fairly well educated people, not acquainted with modern science. In their treatment Of sickness, magic and medicine were closely linked; they used certain materials as remedies and supplemented them with procedures which could only be called magic. In the course of his .stay, he made the acquaintance of several medicine men and even became a pupil of two of them. They were by no means charlatans, and the fees and offerings they received merely supplemented, their small earnings from fishing or some other occupation. Nor were they psychologically abnormal people, like witch doctors among, say, the Eskimoes.