The Star. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1928. NOTES OF THE DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18641, 19 December 1928, Page 8

The Star. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1928. NOTES OF THE DAY.

RED TAPE and ceremony are usually the enemies of efficiency, and it is a pity the South Canterbury Hospital Board did not take this view when discussing the starched collars and cuffs of its nurses. These little frills, according to the chairman, are a staggering item of expenditure, and yet the cuffs in particular are worn only as a mark of respect for persons entering a ward. They are perfectly useless, and quite an impediment fn their way, but they have to be slipped on and off as doctors come and go. We think that this little ceremony is a jioor compliment to the doctors. They, as a body, demand the most scrupulous efficiency from nurses, and it is hard to believe that such a very little mark of respect could be at all flattering to their professional vanity. Regulation cuffs and collars may look picturesque, but if they are useless and an impediment they ought to be scrapped. While on the subject of nurses’ uniforms, too, we think it is time that skirts were shortened. This is another of the directions in which old-fashioned conservatism still has its way.

ALL SORTS of excuses are being put forward to account for the poor showing of Australia’s test cricketers. One of the latest is that players, such as Ponsford and Woodfull, who write for the Press, have not always got their mind on the job. Following on this, a cable message says that the Board of Control is practically certain to debar cricketers still in the game from Press writing. A more ridiculous embargo it would be hard to contemplate. The writer-player rule does not have a logical leg to stand_on whether it is solemnly adopted and enforced by tennisT cricket, football, or boxing panjorams, and its absurdity has been proved time and again. In every walk of life the expert is the man whose views and comments upon his particular subject are of the highest value. If the people want guidance on health they listen to the great doctor, if they want guidance on law they listen to the great solicitor, if they want guidance on cricket why on earth should they not be permitted to listen to the great cricket player, in football to the great footballer, and in tennis to the great tennis player? Where is the offence in an expert commercialising his knowledge?

HOW LONG will people continue to be influenced by pseudo-science after its claims have been disproved? The Hon J. A. Hanan has just returned from a visit to the Continent, where he interviewed M. Spahlinger. He now advocates an investigation into the efficacy of the Spahlinger treatment for tuberculosis by an International Commission of experts. Years ago Sir James Allen fell into the same folly, and it was reported that he had even pledged New Zealand to the purchase of the treatment. On the other hand, experts like Dr Blackmore, who had evidence on the spot, said that M. Spahlinger had never produced convincing evidence of the potency of his serum. Surely the last word was said on this matter when, in the debate before the Grand Council of Switzerland, it was pointed out that M. Spahlinger was never controlled medically and that the enterprise, the world over, was reputed to he a huge swindle. With reference to a report of Dr Roch, a prominent Swiss practitioner, it was stated: “The Pasteur Institute considers that he (Spahlinger) is a charlatan, and this opinion is shared by Swiss bacteriologists, despite the fact that the lie has some prominence in England.” In view of the winning fight that is being waged with tuberculosis under the direction of Dr Blackmore, New Zealand is justifiably reluctant to embark upon expenditure for experiments upon quackery that has already been exposed. With Dr Blackmore’s programme for a national campaign against the disease once in operation, this country would be more or less free from its ravages in a couple of decades. The United Party has already shown its sympathy with the scheme by the grant of a substantial subsidy for the extension of the work in Canterbury, and the importance of the problem to national health makes it imperative that it should have a conspicuous place in the Government Drogramme.