Ex-Greymouth Medico Studies Abroad

Grey River Argus, 14 November 1949, Page 4

Ex-Greymouth Medico Studies Abroad

AUCKLAND, November 13. Combining post-graduate study' with wide travel, Dr W. R. McKechnie, formerly of Greymouth and now of Auckland, has returned after examining the latest developments in ear diseases, and especially the new fenestration operation for deafness.

-Although this is not a cure, it restores useful hearing in a large percentage of cases by making a new window between the middle and inner ear, and thus does away with the need for wearing a hearing aid. Dr McKechnie saw many hospitals and clinics in Western Europe, and also in Canada and the United States, when he visited these countries on his way home. Before going to London he served for a year with United Nations Rehabilitation and Relief Administration in China. Switzerland was probably the finest country in the world—even better than New Zealand, Dr McKechnie said. The Swiss were hospitable and very industrious; many of them worked twelve hours a day, and it was not uncommon to see carpenters start building a house at live o’clock in the morning. “The children go to school at 6.30 a.m., but they do not seem to come home any earlier than New Zealand children. There are three official languages in Switzerland, and nearly everyone learns at least two of them. Many people speak English as well, because the English have played a big part in developing the country as a tourist playground”. Swiss railways were magnificent — all were electric, and amazingly clean. Although Switzerland was especially famous for its precision engineering, it was also a great farming country, and he had seen wheat growing in the Alps at an altitude of 7000 ft. said Dr McKechnie.

Mill Manager The Victim P.A. NELSON, November 13. Trapped by flames in a pine plantation tire, at Waiivhero, eight miles from Motueka. on Satu"day afternoon, one man Was burned to death, and t\\ o others suffered burns, and were admitted to hospi'.al. The man who lost his life was David Charles Horrell, a mill manager, aged 39, married), with three young children. Those injured were two young mill hands: Ronald Sage,- severe burns un the back and on both arms. Arnold Griffiths; moderately severe burns to the neck and the left leg. The hospital reported this evening that both young men were making satisfactory progress. When the fire was reported in the pkvitation, a mile from H. Baigent and Son’s sawmill, the staff answered the alarm. Horrell, Sage and Griffiths were watching the progress of the lire across a gully,'when a sudden change of wind whipped the flames around them. The three men started to tight their way back . to safety. Sage and Griffiths only just managed to escape with their lives, when they were enveloped in flames, Elorrell’s ' body was found later at the foot, of a" charred tree. Horrell had been mill manager for eleven years, and he came from the Tuatapere district, in Southland.