SUSPENDED EXHIBITION OFFICIAL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2060, 22 April 1907, Page 3

SUSPENDED EXHIBITION OFFICIAL.

< ‘DISC RACEFUIj’ ’ BOOK-KEEP-ING. At tlic mooting of the creditors of g D. C. Mclntj'rc, ex-superintendent r,f awards at tile Exhibition. Mr. I>. Strannglian, who was voted ’ to the chair, said that the meeting had been' convened by himself, in 0 conjunction with a number of other n creditors, before it was announced p what action the Government would != take. He understood now that the C Government had decided to extradite Mclntyre, and he thought, therefore, that all that meeting conld do was to pass a motion congratulating Lhe Government upon the steps it luul taken. He moved to this effect,. Mr. T. Cocks seconded .the motion. Mr. Allan Hopkins said he earnestly hoped they would pass no such motion as that proposed. That motion teas one of praise, and in a matter ol this kind, the Government should not receive special praise for doing its hare duty. He would go further, and say that the Government had been culpably negligent in this mat- • tor. ■ They had let this man leave the colony, and it would cost them • at least. £250 to bring him back. Far from being praised, the Government ought to be censured for its supinenoss in the matter. A creditor: The Government had no complaints from private auditors before it when it was decided to let him go. Mr. Hopkins, continuing, said they were told in the newspapers the other day that Mclntyre was visited on hoard the Tiirakina by the Wellington police. If that were so the Government must have had something to go upon, and Mclntyre ought never to have been allowed to leave the colony. Mr. H. W. F. Eaton, managing I director of the Colonial and Foreign - Agency Company, said lie -had come - to that meeting rather because he had a grievance against the Exhibition (perhaps on account of Me--5 Intyre), then because he had any f seripus grievance . against Mclntyre 1 himself. When the Exhibition open-

od ho asked for space and paid for it, . but ho had boon so much humbugged by tho Exhibition authorities that be had never filled up bis space. Now tho Exhibition people were threatening to sue him for tho rout of his space, although he had paid Mr. McIntyre for it, and held his receipt. He assorted if the Exhibition hooks woro properly kept tho authorities must have known what was going on, and, in fact, he was prepared to prove that the Government did not know all about the matter. Mr. Allan Hopkins said the conduct of tho Exhibition was, perhaps, outside the scopo of that mooting. But since it had been referred to, he would also make some observations thereupon. What the last speaker lmd said only confirmed the view which he (Mr. Hopkins) had taken. Representing as he did, creditors who wor ein for hundreds and hundreds of pounds, he should he more than sorry t.o see the motion before the meeting passed. The Government did not deserve such treatment as it was proposed to accord them. They had ta • ken no step to prevent Mclntyre's departure, and that was iu harmony with all tho rest of the history of the Exhibition. He would say deliberately and ho eared not if it went out ill the newspapers, that if anyone there present came into the Bankruptcy Court an his books were found to have been kept in the way the. Exhibition hooks had been kept, lie would receive a very sharp castigation from tho official asisgnee. Ho had no hesitation in saying that the way in which the books-it the Exhibition had been kept was simply disgraceful. Again, ho would advise ’ them not to pass the motion proposed, because before a very few weeks had gone by (and he spoke knowing of what lie was speaking), a ' great deal would he known that was not known at present, and .there would be a strong and hitter feeling ! in tho minds of the public of Christ- ! church and Canterbury against the Government for tho very lax manner in which the whole Exhibition had been managed. It was resolved to pass no motion, and to adjourn the meeting sine die, Mr. Stranaghan to ho convener should another meeting he required. '

A SCHOOL FOR MOTHERS. A striking example of what may be dono to combat infant mortality is supplied by the work of the famous “Voornit” of Ghent in Belgium. The Voornit is a huge co-operative society',. which was started twenty-five years ago by four of the poorest families in the town, and now counts in' its membership 100,000 out of the total population of 162,000. Its bakery, which was the initial enterprise of the founders, is now the largest and one of the most scientifically up-to-date in Europe, and it has in addition to many other features ,a theatre, a music-hall, and a great choral and musical society. Some years ago the extremely high death-rate among infants—equal to one in three as against one in five in the worst town in England—came under the Voornit’s notice, and measures were devised to cope with the excessive mortality. The efforts, thanks to the labors of one Dr. Miele, and a “Society' for Helping Mothers” have been most successful. A variety of measures have gradually been adopted, whereby mothers have been taught the care ■of young children, and have been assisted to put into practice what they have learned. Among these measures are baby dispensaries, where a thousand babies are presented annually for treatment; a milk depot, from which is distributed humanised milk to the babies of indigent mothers: the sale, in many cases at much loss than cost, of sterilised milk and special food for digestive troubles; and the gift of a quart of milk daily to poor women, who are nursing their babies. “Visiting mothers,” especially trained by Dr. Miele in the care of babies, visit at his request the homes of young and inexperienced mothers, and teach them the mysteries of baby management. There are also illustrated “health talks” to mothers, and a course of lectures and demonstrations on child culture for girls, in which the preparation of foods for infants .and the practical care of children in creches is part of the training of each pupil. So far as one learns the whole system of which we have given the bare outlines, is in private hands, and it is a monument of what can be done by an earnest well-directed endeavor to improve social conditions and welfare.