CANCER SCOURGE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 19095, 29 January 1932, Page 12

CANCER SCOURGE

NATIONAL CAMPAIGN IN ENGLAND. PROMISING RESEARCH WORK. SIR LOUIS BARNETT RETURNS. (Special to the “ Herald."! WELLINGTON, January 27. There has been no slackening in England of the fight against cancer, according to Sir Louis Barnett, of Dunedin, who returned with Lady Barnett by the Remuera last evening from a year spent in the Old Country and on the Continent. Sir Louis is chairman of the Otago and Southland division of the New Zealand Cancer Campaign, and paid particular attention to the work being done at Home. Everywhere, he said to a representative of ‘‘The Dominion,” they were realising that sudden dramatic developments in the way of a cure were not to be expected- The method of progress was by steady and organised investigation of the very numerous problems associated with the disease, the complexity of which transcended conditions in any other known disease. Good Progress Made. “In England,” Sir Louis said, “the organisation is satisfactory, and they .are making good progress both in the

matter of research and in improved methods of treating cancer. There is a particularly promising line of research developing at the London Hospital, headed by a Dr Lumsden. This is in connection with the serum treatment of cancer. There are possibilities of important developments in connection with the serum treatment. The researches of Dr Gye, of Lqndon, which were very prominently before the public, and of the Belgian, Dr Bendien, though exciting considerable interest, have not so far been generally approved by other research workers. Indeed, the investigation of Dr Bendien’s methods at London gave no support to his claims. New Women's Society. “As regards radium treatment, considerable progress is being made, and the secretary of the British Empire Cancer Campaign. Captain Chapman, indicated to me that a ladies’ society, headed by her Majesty the Queen, the Duchess of York, and Lady Reading, was in process of formation for the purpose of helping the poorer members of the community suffering from cancer to be transported to radium centres. A scheme of motor transport was to be arranged, and a scheme of providing accommodation for the necessitous poor, so that neither distance nor poverty should be a bar to the victims of cancer receiving the benefits of the most modern methods of treatment. The general feeling is that it is much wiser to concentrate the treatment of cancer in centres specially kept and staffed for that particular purpose.” Sir Louis and Lady Barnett spent about six months in England, and during the rest of the time travelled m various Continental countries. At Frankfurt Sir Louis attended an international conference on public health as a delegate of the New Zealand University. He addressed the conference on certain public health matters m New Zealand, and on the progress of the Maori race in the way of sanitation and the improvement of its mortality returns, paying , particular attention to the application of modern public health methods in connection with the Maori.