AUSTRALIA'S ENEMIES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16801, 14 November 1928, Page 3

AUSTRALIA'S ENEMIES

INSECT PESTS AND CANCER SYDNEY, November 1. Sneaking at the Constitutional Club today. Sir Neville,'Dowse, Minister for Home and Territories, said Australia may become a nation of 00,000,000 .inhabitants, but it would require to pay more attention to defence against their enemies without and insect and animal enemies within, and the germs which were enemies to health. Australia led the world in civil aviation, but ifwas nowhere in military aviation. It would lie a crime to send the present planes tip in the air in the face of an enemy. Australia had concentrated on naval rather than air defence, because, naval defence was necessary for the maintenance of the "White Australia idea."

Animal and. insect pests took ft huge .toll of Australia's pastoral and agricultural production, continued the Minister. In the matter of combining science with industry, Australia was very backward, but'an improvement was already noticeable. The Federal Government was doing all in its power to bring about a better state of things in this direction. The war produced no more efficient medical men than tiiose turned out by Australia, and now he found that the diseases which those men had made impossible among the troops were common in. Australia, in times of peace. Dealing with the toll of cancer, he said an improvement had attended the combination of radium and surgery. if good results followed, the Government would go further than it had ever gone before in an attempt to deal with cancer mid find its cause.