DOCTORS CONFER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22210, 10 September 1935, Page 9

DOCTORS CONFER

GREAT GATHERING PROCEEDINGS OPENED VICTORIAN AS PRESIDENT MELBOURNE HONOURED By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Deceived September 9, 9.45 p.m.) MELBOURNE. Sept. 9 The most important conference of medical men ever held in Australia was opened in Melbourne this morning. It is the first congress of the British Medical Association held in the southern hemisphere. The occasion was also notable for the fact that it brought for the first time to Melbourne the liner Aorangi, which carried a large contingent of the doctors. Melbourne was selected for the conference because of the Centenary. A further homage to the city was paid *by the election of a Melbourne doctor, Sir James Barrett, as president for the year. The keynote of the proceedings was a demonstration of the dignity and importance of medicine in modern life. Including Victorians, more than 3000 doctors are attending the congress. An idea of the cost of the organisation can be gained from the fact that the Aorangi's delegation of 250 cost £150,000 in fares. The proceedings to-day were mostly formal, consisting of receptions by the Premier and the Mayor and the opening of a display of doctors' hobbies at the University, where honorary degrees of Doctor of Medicine are to be conferred on the following to-morrow: — Lord Horder, Sir Henry Gauvain, Doctors J. S. Fairbairn, Robert Hutchison, Edwin Bramwell. Sir William Wilcox, Sir Lindo Ferguson, Sir Eden Maclean, E. Kaye le Fleming and Eric W. Fish. Dr. Hutchison, specialist in children's diseases, in an interview said Australia and New Zealand led the world in infant welfare. He was particularly interested in the methods of Dr. Truby King, which to some extent had been adopted in England.