Overseas Mails

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22053, 8 September 1933, Page 8

Overseas Mails

The mails which left Wellington on August 8 by the Makura, via San Francisco, readied London on September 6.

" The Grand Old Man " "The ' Grand Old Man ' of the accountants' profession" were the words used by Mr G. W. Reid, president of the NewZealand Society of Accountants when referring to the late Mr James Brown, who, he said, was one of the most respected and best liked business men in Dunedin. This remark was made at a recent meeting ' at Wellington of th- 1 Society's Council on the receipt of a letter covering a bequest of Mr Brown to the society's Benevolent Fund. Mr Beid mentioned that it was the first gift of the kind ever received by the society.

Improved Price* for Sheepskins In sympathy with the advance in wool values prices for sheepskins have recently shown a marked improvement, and the highest price paid in New Zealand for sheepskins since early in 1930 was obtained at the Dunedin sales this week, when lOd per lb was realised for halfbred full-woolled skins. This would show a return of approximately 9s 6d per skin, compared with 4Jd to 5d per lb, or 4s 3d to 4s 9d per skin, which were the values current throughout 1932.

Owner Wanted A sidechair and wheel from a motor cycle have been found by the police in Fryatt street, and those are now at the Police Station, where the owner may claim them.

Freedom from Crime

The Greymouth Supreme Court was opened yesterday morning. There were no criminal cases (says a Press Association telegram). A pair of white gloves was presented to Mr Justice Blair, who favourably commented on the district's long freedom from serious crime and the residents' respect for the law.

Motor Car Recovered A motor car belonging to Mr E. R. Harvey, of Mosgiel, which was stolen last Saturday, was found yesterday by the police in Gowry place, Eoslyn.

Travelling Footballers The Taranaki Rugby football representative team, consisting of 20 players, passed through Dunedin by yesterday's express on their way to Invercargill. The team was accompanied by Mr James MTieod as manager. The Taranaki team will meet Southland to-morrow at Invercargill.

Litigation Neurosis In an action heard in Sydney last week Dr John Colvin Storey, a Macquarie street surgeon, expressed the opinion that a plaintiff who was claiming damages for negligence was affected with litigation neurosis. He explained that the plaintiff's memory was inconsistent. It was, he said, a simple condition, that where an individual had suffered an accident, and the responsibility was set upon somebody else's shoulders, he should be rewarded for the damage that had been done to him. "He gets mixed up with lawyers, doctors, and people," continued the doctor. "He gets worried about it, and begins to take an abnormal view of things generally. On the other hand, these symptoms do not occur where there is not something hanging to it in the way of compensation. All the authorities show that this neurosis does not occur unless there is somebody to get something out of. They get around amongst doctors, lawyers, and other nuisances, and their supposed defects are being continually thrust .upon them. If they really have neurosis they imagine they are too ill for work. It is not a real condition, but an imaginary one. It is real until such time as the golden cure is applied."

Forty Years' Service The quality of goods sold by the old firm of drapers, Herbert-Haines, Dunedin, is verfied by a.visiting member of the dental profession to the Dental Conference now being held in this city. In 1893 (40 years ago) Mr G. W. Wright, denture specialist, of Wellington, purchased from the above-mentioned firm a pair of doeskin gloves, which he is wearing on the present visit. In constant use, the material is still in excellent condition, although repairs to seams have been attended to on four occasions. The gloves have been twice lost, but newspaper advertisements have resulted in their return to the owner. Mr Wright, who is a very keen member of his profession, was apprenticed in Auckland* in August, 1888, at the age of 14 years. Four years later he qualified in Dunedin, being examined by members of the Dental Board, consisting of Drs Jeffcoat, Stenhouse, and Macpherson, associated with Messrs S. S. Myers, H. Robertson, and J. P. Armstrong, dentists. On qualifying in 1892 Mr Wright was associated with the late Mr J. P. Armstrong, and remained as his assistant for three years in the Colonial Mutual Insurance Building. Mr W. A. Thomson, dentist, of Dunedin, was also with Mr Armstrong at the same time, and a few years later both Messrs Wright and Thomson spent 12 months together taking special dental courses at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and the National Dental Hospital, London.

The Burglary That Wasn't An amusing stqry of suspicion and counter-suspicion is told by the manager of a local firm of printers and stationers. The other day a man, not very well dressed, and even somewhat "seedy" in appearance, walked into the shop and requested that some cards should be printed bearing his name and address. He wrote out one card for the printer to copy, and when this was read it showed that he was, or purported to be, a doctor in Christchurch, which immediately aroused the manager's suspicions, as the customer certainly did not appear to be a professional man. As he was leaving the shop the man noticed some fountain pens of a rather expensive type, and after examining them for some time said that he would buy one when he returned for the cards. The manager was by this time more or less convinced that the man was a prospective burglar, and made up his mind to ask the police to keep an eye on the premises during the night. He forgot to do this, however, and the first thing he was greeted with when he returned to the shop in the morning was the information that the case of fountain pens was missing from its place. A f ter a short consultation a detective was sent for, and it was agreed that the burglar must have entered the shop by the fire escape. The detective then commenced to take a statement, and, after he had been writing for some time, the inquiry was interrupted by a female assistant who was carrying a small box in her hand. "Oh/Mr }" she said to the manager, "I was worried about that case of pens last night, so I put it under the counter." Treatment of Cancer

Recent advances in the treatment of cancer by surgery and radium treatment have been investigated by Dr J. Russell Wells, of Ashburton, during the course of a 'six months' visit to England and the Continent. In the course of an interview Dr Wells stated that surgical operations were still favoured by English doctors in their treatment of cancer in its early stages. The one exception was cancer in the tongue, where it was found that radium was the most efficient and expeditious remedy. Advanced stages of cancer growth, however, responded more readily to radium treatment than to surgery. The most recent development in the use of radium was the radium "bomb." With this method the effect was obtained by concentrated power from a distance on, the malignant growth. It required more radium, and was therefore considered by leading doctors to be far too uneconomical. In the case of advanced abdominal growths, however, it was more satisfactory than the usual treatment by needles. The radium " bomb " was .used to a considerable extent in the Westminster Hospital, but formed only a part of cancer treatment. Dr Wells, who paid a brief visit to the Continent whilst he was abroad, said he was convinced that England was well abreast of the times with regard to radium and surgical development. The clinics at Stockholm and Paris, where the pioneer research of cancer began, were studying new aspects of the causation and cure of cancer. The greatest obstacle to their progress and to that of all doctors was the failure of people to realise the significance of cancer in its early stages. Only when it made itself apparent after a long period of almost latent growth did the afflicted person approach the doctor.

Migratory Birds Protected Three of the smaller classes of.migratory birds, the Eastern golden plover, the knot, and the turnstone, have, according to a notice in the Gazette, been declared protected. Mr R. A. Falla, ornithologist at the Auckland Museum, said that these birds were, like the godwifc, in the class known as the waders. There were seven or eight different kinds, including the godwit, which came down from Siberia in October, and left again in April. Though the flight of the godwit from Parenga, in the extreme north of New Zealand, had often been noted, Mr Falla said it was not so generally known that the smaller birds, the plover, the knot, and the turnstone, also migrated to and from the same place at the same time. Previously there had been a short open shooting season for all that class, but now the smaller birds had been declared protected.

Railway Revenue

"It has been pleasing both to the public and the railways staff to find from the returns recently published that the railway net revenue for the year so far is £35,000 higher than for the corresponding four months of last financial year," states the general manager of railways, Mr G. H. Mackley, in the New Zealand Railways Magazine. " These results have been achieved largely by an improvement on the revenue side, and it is hoped that this tendency will be maintained. Careful handling on the expenditure side has also assisted. Whether the revenue improvement will continue cannot be forecast with any degree of certainty, but there are now probably more grounds for confidence in this respect. The efforts of the staff to curtail expenditure and their activities in furthering the development of business for the department have contributed to the improvement."

Plea for Fair Play

The importance of cultivating goodwill with the people of China if trade between New Zealand and that country was to be developed was emphasised by Mr J. E. Strachan at a meeting held under the auspices of the Canterbury Progress League on Wednesday evening. "Look at the fuss made about a few Chinese playing fan tan," he said. "Every Chinese house is referred to as a den, as though it were a place of bad repute. Don't you think the Chinese can see through these hypocrisies as well as anybody else? They know all about our totalisator and bridge parties, and yet if they play fan tan or mah jong they are hauled before the 'beak.' That all goes back to China.' The Chinese, to my mind, are the finest people in the East, and it is time we began to understand them."

Tour by Victorian* Arrangements are being made by Messrs Burns, PhilpV and Co., Ltd., in conjunction with the Victorian Scottish Union, to organise a party of Australians to tour New Zealand in January of next year. The tour is.scheduled to begin on January 4, 1934, when the party will leave Melbourne on the MonowaU The party will be led by Senator William Plain, and all the main towns in the Dominion will be visited, as well as Milford Sound, the southern lakes, and the thermal regions. The tour is expected to take 26 days from the time the party leaves Melbourne until its return, 16 days being spent in the Dominion.

Japanese Shipping The Japanese ship, Asama Maru, arrived empty at Auckland yesterday (says •a Press Associat ; jn telegram) to load 5000 tons of scrap iron at New Zealand ports. The ship arrived from Noumea, to which she took the first cargo of Japanese cement and sauce. An officer said that French firms in Noumea were now importing such commodities from Japan rather than from France and other countries. The Melbourne Maru, from Wellington, also arrived, and. will load general cargo. The Asama Maru communicated at sea with the Shintoku Maru, which asked that thanks be expressed again for the hospitality shown to the officers and crew of the training ship while in Auckland. Antecedent Liability

Some years ago Parliament permitted the antecedent liability of local bodies to be capitalised with interest and repaid by equal annual payments over a term of five years. Having this in mind, the Mayor of Upper Hutt (Mr A. J. M'Curdy) has consulted the chairmen and mayors of local bodies in the Wellingtoon area with a view to having similar legislation introduced this year, so that local authorities may carry out their financial obligations without having recourse to legal proceedings to recover outstanding rates due for the years 193132 and 1932-33. Although a local body has the right of action,, not only against a ratepayer himself but also against the holder of a mortgage, the latter in many cases is just as unable to meet the liability as the ratepayer. Mr M'Curdy states that the suggested measure *is simple, and will probably meet with little opposition.

Carnival Committee's Reply At a meeting of the central executive of the Queen carnival, held yesterday evening, the matter of the published protests by certain religious bodies against the methods employed by the various queen committees in raising money for the Mayor's Relief Fund was discussed. It was stated that, although a good deal of destructive criticism had been indulged in, no helpful suggestions had been put forward by the protesting bodies, which, while confessing their inability to formulate an alternative scheme that would be practical, were quite willing that the funds raised by the carnival should be used for the relief which they themselves were unable to afford to the distressed citizens. Members of the Carnival Committee felt that, having asked the assist' ance of the citizens in relieving distress, these religious bodies should either have voiced their complaint at the outset of the activities or else recognised that the urgency of the matter excused the slight contravening of the moral and other laws which had occurred. It was pointed out further that certain churches, and even certain individuals, connected with the protesting bodies, had themselves used much the same means of raising money for worthy objects; the proof for this assertion, it was stated, was to be found in the newspaper advertising columns.

City Police Court There were no cases set down for hearing at the City Police Court yesrerday. Financial members of the Dunedin Repertory Society are reminded that the box plan, for the next production, " 5.0.5.," will be available to them on Monday next, September 11. No booking fee will be charged. A. E. Blakeley and W. E. Bagley, dentists, Bank of Australasia, corner of Bond and Rattray streets (next Telegraph Office). Telephone 12-359.—Advt. Save your eyes. Be wise, and consult W. V. Sturmer, optician (2 Octagon), thus conserving good vision for old age.— Advt. Those who are requiring an engagement ring will do well to inspect our rings.— Peter Dick ring specialist, 490 Moray place, Dunedin. —Advt.