NEW ZEALAND DENTAL ASSOCIATION

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 201, 20 May 1920, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND DENTAL ASSOCIATION

STATE DENTAL SERVICE DISCUSSED Tho annual dinner of the New Zealand Dental Association was held at the Empire Hotel last night. Mr. F. I. Washbourn,' president of the association, was in the chair, and the guests included tho Prime Minister (Right Hon. W. F. Massoy), tho Mayor of Wellington (Mr. J. P. Luke, M.P.). and representatives of the British Medical Association. After the chairman had welcomed tho visitors, Mr. H. AV. Rishworth proposed tho toast. "The Parliament of New Zealand." He paid a tribute to the Prime Minister, who had secured an extraordinary hold on tho people of New Zealand. Mr. Mnssoy had been unfortunate in the occurrence of the war during his period of office, and fortunate in'theopportunity thus afforded him to display great qualities of statesmanship. He had become one of the signatories of the Peace Treaty, and New Zealand was proud of that fact. He had guarded the material needs of tho Dominion very carefully, and tho members of the dental profession wero glad to honour him. Tho toast was coupled with the name of Mr. Massey, and was honoured enthusiastically. , The Prime Minister, who was received with cheers, thanked the members of the Dental Association. He knew that the dentists in recent yenrs had done particularly good work, and were doing lfc now, especially among the young people. He appreciated that work. He had seen what the dentists had done during the war,\ind he joined with the soldiers in thanking them. He could say in all sincerity thnt the present Parliament of New Zealand was a particularly good one. Ho believed that tho new members of Parliament were the best set of political "colts" that New Zealand had ever seen. Many of them would make nome 3 for themselves. A good Parliament was needed, because important work had to bo done. The electors as well as Parliament faced important duties. Tho day when the electorates selected men for merely local duties had passed. The Parliament ot New Zealand had now Imperial responsibilities, and that was a fact that nobody should forget. He himself had had the privilege of sitting in the Peace Conference, and he felt that to be the greatest honour that could have been conferred upon him. He hoped that the Peace Treaty was going to provo a success He did not doubt that it was going to produce better conditions than had prevailed in . the past. The duties that the Dominions Parliament had in front of it were of the very greatest importance. Unrest was being felt all over the world. New Zealandhad less of it, he believed than any other country, and he would W in that connection that the visit of the Prince of Wales had done a great deal of good. The visit had been good for the Prince as well .as for New Zealand The people of this country wre enthusiastically loyal. A few ncisy exceptions existed, but they » as many as they had been a month ago. They had been forced to realise that tho Empire enjoyed a form ot government not easily pottered. The war wis now a. thing of the wat. The duty ahead was to do the nghl thing a* boldly, and fully as during the wai I Dunn (Wanganui) pro-1 posed the toast, "The State Dental Serfice." He said that for many years tie Sato of the teeth of the °f Pjf ,f n «V° Dominion had been a horrid nightmare to the medical and dental professions. Now the dentists wero enjqyms. » ta that a State dentalserv.ee, would give Now Zealand proper teeth and w the next generation from the « 'Mbintiw that wero afflicting the people to-doj. The task ahead was a vast one. A generation of education would be required to eradicate false *»•*«",!> all children wo born «tb I* nbalta good teeth. He hoped a State dental service would grow ami prosper. D,? Nornan Cox (Timaru), replying to ho toast, said that when he had flnt spoken of State den istry _ n 9U he hoi done so in fear and »«• The movement had gone <vliend.ai.de honed New Zealand was gong to be the S country .in the worll to-make*) organised national attack on dental is on..e, which had an enormous effect upon the l.ealtV of the community. Mr J. Davies proposed I"? """^ munity was to be maintained. D G W. Harty replied. .Ho sugJfcd the need of research into the Se underlying the grave combton of tho people's teeth. lie would like every child attending school fc be remiiwd to produce a corlihcate of sound Clt He believed that a largo proPion of the ill-health in the. community was due to bad leetli. me pos S rektion between the ineren n , of cancer and tlio spread of dental disease m , worthy of research. 'fho heaftli of the cbairmau was pr* nosed by the Prime Minister, and warm. Vrioast of "The Ladtai" «d tho singing of "Attld La«S Syne" closed the proceedings.