CANCER RESEARCH

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 78, 14 March 1933, Page 7

CANCER RESEARCH

CONFERENCE AT CANBERRA NEW IDEAS ON THE SUBJECT. RADIUM AND X-RAY TREATMENT. Wellington, March 13. Under the auspices of the Commonwealth Government, the fourth Australian cancer conference was held at Canberra from March 1 to 3, the New Zealand Government being represented by Professor E. F. D’Ath, professor of pathology at the Otago University, and Dr. P. P. Lynch, pathologist at the Wellington Hospital, both members of the New Zealand division of the British Empire Cancer Campaign Society. On their return from Australia by ilio Wangauella, each spoke in high terms of the success of the conference. The discussions were vigorous, critical and constructive, and from the gathering of 70-odd delegates, which included men at the topmost peak of their profession, the net result was that all obtained new ideas on their subject. The conference was very interesting because it showed what advances Australia had made in the past three or four years in the diagnosis and treat inent of cancer, they said. The advances were particularly notable both in radium and deep X-ray treatments. The new treatments, although not always successful in eradication of .he disease, hal done much to prolong the life of the patient and to alleviate his suffering. The death rate was now moving from a youngei to an older group; that was, persons suffering from cancer were living longer.

Due thing with which Dr. D’Ath and Dr. Lynch were forcibly struck was the very great advance made in medical education in Australia in recent years. Despite the depression, there was great activity at the Sydney University and in the Sydney hospitals. A new medical school had just been completed at a cost of £130,000. There was also a new pathological institute at the Sydney Hospital which cost £30,000, and a new pathological institute at the North Shore Hospital. The money for the medical school came from the Rockefeller Foundation, and for the institute at the Sydney Hospital from a Japanese firm operating in Sydney. Both were greatly struck with Canberra, which was an ideal place for the holding of conferences. The conference was held at the Institute of Anatomy, which provided an ideal atmosphere and background. Both paid a high tribute to the work ef the Federal DirectorGeneral of Health (Dr. J. H. Cumpston) who, as ehairman, contributed much to the success of the conference.