BIG PROPOSAL.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1959, 16 January 1914, Page 8

BIG PROPOSAL.

FOR 'A RADIUM INSTITUTE.

(By Telegraph.—Speotal Correspondenti Palmerston, January 15.

Dr. Martin, superintendent of tho Palmerston Hospital, advocated last year tho purchase of-radium for the cure of cancer. Tho proposal then had a mixed reception, many thinking that the great cost , was not justified in view of the other needs of tho-hospital. Tho matter is now being revived. The Hon. 31r.;-;P-ljotl4X n'.iH'bo interviewed, on tho subject on Monday, and the ; J3ospital Board' will' 'sulSinif their case'for- the 'establishment of .a.', radium institute hero.

Tlie board's, chairman (Mr. J. G. ■Wilson), writing to the local Press on Thursday, says, inter alia:—"No one regretted more than I did the determination to 'wait and see' when Dr. Martin first suggested.- that .we/should try to procure n -supply of radium for tlie ;ho.spital. I therefore-'welcome his de-termination to again-place'the matter before the board. The pa~per which I read at the Hospital Board Conference some three years ._ago on the subject (based on information supplied by Dr. Skirtin) was received alniost without comment.. Since then.all have watched v,-i tli the utmost interest the experi-ments-winch have been conducted in country hi Europe with radium. Tlioro can be now no doubt of its value jn treating disease. -1 believe that the linajd will second any effort that Dr. Martin makes most cordially. His suggestion tliafc the radium institute should lie svJEf Nor|h is based on the principle of the for tlie greatest number.' Lilies of: railway meet' in 'j-Palme.'i-stqn;: North ~ frorli (1) New Plymouth and Wanganm;(2)from Auckland; (3) from'Hawkc's Bay; (4) from Wairarapa; (5) from Wellington. 'And your centre, can bo reached in a. few hours from all'these districts. It should be the institute for the North Island, and we can therefore appeal to the whole island for assistance. Would it not, -be better to ask for £10,000 from the public? This would give, (with Government "subsidy) a sum of £24.000 for the building and apparatus."

The Sun Insurance Company had a risk of £1000 on tho stock of Mr. George Cook's cooperage, which was destroyed by lire at Petone on Wednesday morning. TSie use of reinforced concrete and of electricity are two noteworthy fea-» tures in tho progressive policy of works now being carried out by the Auckland Harbour Board (states the "Herald"). Tho cranes, capstans, conveyors, lift 3, and travellers on tho wharves, tho powerful hauling gear for the slipways and the machinery in th<? workshops nro all electrically driven. A South Sc-a Island native named Esini was brought to Bluff from Maiden Island in August on a charge of manslaughter. - He was ono of the Niue (Savago Island) workers employed in digging guano there. The New Zealand police declined to taUo up tho case, and llsini, who could not speak English, was iicurimd to his home, Nine Island, to be j.. joeeded against by the New Zealand i/o'.ernmenl Ilesidont Commissioner there. The trial proved a costly business, as 11. M. S. Torch had to bring the witnesses from Maiden Island to Nino. Esini was finally sentenced to .three months' imprisonment as lie was considered not altogether culpable. It is. estimated by a contemporary that it cost £6000 to effect justice in this case, including the <-xpanse of bringing him to and from New Zealand and ■ during bis stay here and the various other ex>euses' .