WELLINGTON.

Otago Witness, Issue 2674, 14 June 1905, Page 54

WELLINGTON.

At a meeting called by the Mayoress on the 7th to consider the desirability of joining in the movement of arranging some memorial of the late Mrs- Margaret Sievwright, of Gisborne, the following resolution was carried :— " That the meeting! resolves itself into a committee for the pur- ! pose of collecting funds for the Sievwright i I memorial, and that the money collected be j banded over to the New Zealand University, | | the interest to be devoted to a prize for ! women students only, for some subject conI neoted with woman's work." The Earee divorce case was before the court again on the 7th, the petitioner, the ! Re»r. Wyndham Earee, applying for a re1 duction of alimony on the ground that he had not sufficient moans, and on the further ground that the respondent had not been chaste since the decree was granted. The case was adjourned. At Wednesday's sitting of the Dental | Conference Mr F. W. Thompson read a paper on "Children's Teeth," being a plea for their better care and preservation. In his paper he pointed to the consequences , of parental neglect and ignorance of the j principles of hygiene, some of the oonse- ' quencsi of which he enumerated. At Christ-church recently he examined the teeth of 106 children attending a primary school. Of these only one child had all the teeth sound. By immediate attention the teeth at about 4-0 per cent, of these children might be saved. The rest wera +.en far

' gone to admit ol really satisfactory treatment of a conservative character. He recommended that the systematic examination of teeth of children by competent dentists employed by the school authorities should be practised where possible to pre- ; vent caries extending, to stop carious teeth, ' and to remedy defects of the teeth. During '. the discussion which followed the reading I of the paper several opinions were exI pressed as to the causes which have led to the spread of dental caries among; children. Meat, white bread, the artificial feeding of babies, want of care and cleanliness, all these Avere blamed. It was resolved that a deputation should wait on the i Minister of Education and urge upon him the necessity for carrying out the recommendations Mr Thompson had made. During the course of the debate at the Dental Conference regarding the condition of children's teeth, Dr Cox, of Auckland. | referred to the way in which modern bread is prepared. He said the ordinary popular ! loaf was baked in too short a time — onlj i about one hour,— and the result was a white, puffy mass, which was insufficiently cooked inside. A piece of that paste around a tooth made an ideal culture medium for germs. Dr Cox had discovered a baker in J Auckland who produced bread as it should bo baked. It was given one hour's fermentation, as against four sriven by the ordinary baker, and the bread was two hours in the making from barrel to oven, and was there cooked slowly at a low temperature. The ; result was a closely set, sweet, thoroughly cooked loaf, which would keep for a week. Dr Cox said he wished such bread was in common use. because the teeth of our children would then be kept in better condi- , tion. I