In Town And Out

Southland Times, Issue 23152, 19 March 1937, Page 6

In Town And Out

Infectious Diseases One case of scarlet fever was admitted to the Southland Hospital during February, stated the Medical Superintendent (Dr L. C. McNickle) in his monthly report to the meeting of the Southland Hospital Board yesterday. Twenty cases of infantile paralysis, of which two had died, had been admitted to the hospital up to the end of February. Homer Tunnel

New machinery is due in a few weeks from overseas to expedite the work at the Homer tunnel. The machinery, which has been on order for some months, will be in the form of tugger hoists electrically operated and, therefore, of greater power than the compressed air hoists at present in use. The latter were the only available hoists in New Zealand when the excavation work was begun. Many Students

It is not often that complaint is made about too great a growth in a school department, but at last night’s meeting of the Technical College Board the principal (Mr C. A. Stewart) expressed the hope that there would be no further considerable growth in the commercial course for some little time. Evidently the present unusual demand for office assistants and the ease in placing students of the college had influenced many parents to enrol their girls in the commercial course, he said.

When He Mended Punctures' “When I was a student at Oxford, the man who is now Lord Nuffield used to mend punctures in the tyres of our bicycles,” remarked Bishop Holland during an address to Rotarians. “As soon as I got a puncture I used to take my bike down to his shop and he would mend the puncture and charge me a bob. Even then one realized that this man was a man with great creative ideals, and we all know what those ideals have developed into.”'

Donations to Hospitals Donations of £lO from the secretary of the New Zealand Garage Proprietors’ Association towards the cost of supplying wireless and head-phones for the new hospital, and of £2 17/6 towards the cost of a medical chest from Mr J. H. Forbes, of Glenorchy, were received with thanks at the monthly meeting of the Southland Hospital Board yesterday. A letter was also received from Messrs Duncan and McGregor, solicitors, Dunedin, stating that a bequest of £25 to the Gore Hospital had been made from the estate of the late Mr John Edmond, Victoria.

Blood Transfusion “The need of educational work in order to dispel the fallacies entertained respecting the alleged danger and harmfulness to donors of blood, continues to exist,” states the fifth annual report of the Wellington Blood Transfusion Service. “The impression seems to be widespread that the operation of transfusion necessitates the circulation and inter-mixing of the blood of the patient with that of the donor. The committee wishes to emphasize that this view is quite erroneous, as the blood of the patient never comes into contact with that of the donor.” A Freak Collision A small problem in mathematics was provided by a freak collision between two golf balls on a city course (reports The Christchurch Star-Sun). One player was driving and hit a lusty ball that promised to travel at least 200 yards, but coming down a parallel fairway and some 300 yards away was another player, who hit his second at about the same time as the other man’s drive moved off. , The fairway shot was sliced and swerved over into the wrong fairway for the almost impossible to happen. A .collision occurred and a good drive came to an untimely end. Bewailing his lot, the driver, a true golfer, indulged in a minute of reminiscence, recalling that on another course he hit a “daisy-clipping” tee shot, the ball hit an artesian bore cistern fifty yards distant and rebound five yards behind its starting point.

Brighter Meeting Members of the general committee of the Canterbury Agricultural and. Pastoral Association, with only a brief agenda to deal with at its last meeting, fell into a discussion on ways of making the annual meeting of the association more attractive. “I would suggest we ask ‘Bob’ Semple to address us,” said one member. “That would bring them along.” Another member suggested that the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. W. Lee Martin, should be invited to attend the meeting to explain how the farmers “are to keep going.” A third proposal was that the Minister of Industries and Commerce, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, should be asked to give the farmers an address on making wheat-growing pay at five shillings a bushel. “Some of us do not know how this can be done,” said one member, “but the Minister may have better ideas.” The final suggestion was to send out a notice to members that refreshments would be provided.