People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20360, 18 July 1934, Page 6

People and Their Doings.

Cigarette Tissues Were Much in Demand While the Old Price Remained A Link With the Days of John Ballance : The Doctor Who Treated Dillinger Praised by “Lancet.”

r WAS always recognised that many years before his death and right up to the time that he assumed the Premiership, the Hon John Ballance relied much on Mr James Duigan, of the Wanganui “ Herald,” writes W.K.H. Old Tories bought the “ Herald ” just to read the vigorous articles of James Duigan. who, although he did not take on journalism til] well on in life, had a style of his own which placed him in the very forefront of New Zealand editors. Everything James Duigan touched, whether it was as journalist or secretary of an agricultural show, became a live and vital issue, and he infused his vigorous personalitv into all that he put his hand to. The colony was young when he was Ballance’s henchman, and the population was not a third of what it is to-dav, and boys of those days are veteran white-haired men now, and it comes as a surprise that his wife, Mrs M. E Duigan. whose cheery disposition helped her husband in the days of small things when life was strenuous and hard, and reared a large family of boys and girls, has at a great age just passed away.

]y£RS DUIGAN'S LIFE has been full of romance and adventure; she was a daughter of Charles Broad, R.M., well known on the West Coast in the gold-dig-ging days, and she was a granddaughter of Francis Evelyn Liardet, an early Victoria settler, whose sheep run extended over a laige portion of what is now part of Melbourne. There was no phase of colonial life she did not know, and she was a bright example of that womanhood whose goodness and kindness of heart made the home of the pioneers a haven of rest to all who entered the ever open doors. Colonel J. E. Duigan, D. 5.0., is a son, and Mrs 11. H. Ostler, of Wellington, a daughter, and seven other children survive.

J)R CLAYTON MAY, the Minneapolis physician who treated Dillinger, the American gunman, for a gunshot wound and was sent to prison for two years and fined £2OO on a charge of conspiring to harbour a criminal, has earned the praise of the “ Lancet ” for his regard for professional secrecy. In a note on “ The Surgeon and the Gunman,” the “ Lancet ” describes the affair as a classic example of “ perhaps the most romantic of the situations about which the medical student is instructed—that of the hunted criminal who comes to physician or surgeon for treatment of his injuries. “ A country must protect itself against its public enemies; a doctor does not cease to be a citizen. “ For Doctor Clayton May, however, there was only one question. Did John Dillinger come to him for treatment trusting in his professional honour ? The answer is obvious and Doctor May’s colleagues in every country will applaud his action in not betraying a professional trust.” $$ gIR HENRY DOBBS, who died recently, was but one of the host of highly experienced British officials who have looked with great misgiving on the tendency to thrust democratic institutions on Oriental peoples. After nearly twenty-five years in the Indian Civil Service, largely spent among the frontier tribes, he was sent, soon after the war with Turkey began, to Basrah as Commissioner of Revenue, to organise the financial and revenue side of the new British occupation of Mesopotamia. His part in laying the foundations of the new Iraq was of the first importance. It was to be eclipsed later by his achievements as High Commissioner in Baghdad from 1923 to 1929, when it fell to his lot to negotiate the series of treaties leading from Iraq’s mandate to her independence.

ENDLESS STREAM of young fellows, all intent on buying cigarette tissues before the price went up, kept a city tobacconist and his assistant busy on Friday night following the announcement of the tariff increase. This tobacconist rationed his customers, allowing them only one packet at the old price, although some came in for a dozen. When he limited one man to one packet the young chap immediately sent in three friends, two young ladies and a young man, for single packets. The increase in the price is going to hit the New Zealand tobacco growers, and especially those who have been including a packet of tissues in the 2oz tins, for the new duty, although not prohibitive, will be a severe handicap. Actually, it will still be cheaper to “ roll your own,” and the regrettable feature of the new tariff is that it simply puts up the price on the poor man. and may indeed reduce his smoking to the point of diminishing returns as far as Customs revenue is concerned. 0 9 9 has its Mussolini, and doctors at the Women’s Hospital in the Victorian capital are quite proud that the present tense can be used According to the superintendent of the hospital, very few babies weighing less than 31b at birth live. Mussolini Materazzo arrived in Melbourne weighing only 231 b. He was wrapped in cotton wool and placed in an incubator. There he lived for four weeks and thrived. For three weeks he was not moved. Only one limb was exposed at a time and gently massaged with oil. II Duce might be pained to hear of his name-s-.ke being fed with thin milk from a fountain pen filler. All the care was rewarded. When released from the incubator Mussolini of Melbourne weighed 51b. At latest, he had become a dictator and could raise a voice which none dare disobey.