DOMINION ITEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 9 March 1927, Page 4

DOMINION ITEMS.

[by TELEGRAPH PEB PRESS ASSOCIATION.I NATURAL GAS. ' PALMERSTON N., Mar. 8. , The necessity for an examination of ( natural gas outlets in the Dominion | with a view to discovering possible ( supplies of helium, was stressed in a 1 letter received at a meeting of Jvai- , ranga County Council this morning , from Professor Karr, of the Depart- . meut of Physics of Canterbury College. , The question of supplies of helium in j British Empire stated Farr is import- ] ant from many points of view, pnrtieu- , larly from an Imperial standpoint. , AA’ith the aid of a Government grant . we are examining natural gases in New Zealand, in order to ascertain their helium contents. The results in the first instance will he communicated to the Government. We arc therefore anxious to obtain samples from as many places in New Zealand as possible. Two Councillors stated they knew of gas effusion on properties in the district. The Engineer was deputed to make enquiries. QUESTION Ob' SUPPRESSION. j CHRISTCHURCH. March 8. | A eldir definition of his views on the question of suppression of names i was given by Mr Mosley this morning . at the conclusion of the case against a young man of 20. Norman Sligo. . ' charged with forging and uttering n cheque for £ll 14s. Counsel (Mr I Johnston) said probation might bo i granted .and the name suppressed. Aci cased was discharged from the Navy two years ago owing to blood poisoning and in the past two years had many , operations. FLis health was affected I and a good deal might be said for his lapse. | The Magistrate—l shall adopt fhc i same policy as .Air Justice Stringer did : j the other day. and leave tlie publica- . tion of the name to the discretion of ! the press. 1 don’t like these orders. ! My feeling is strongly against making them. Of course counsel in the perforinjince of their duty almost always ’ I apply for the suppression of the name. ; I Suppression of all names might as well , : be ordered with the result that crime . ’would increase. There is no dictum : for the lower court to suppress a name ' and leave it to the higher court to exercise discretion in the matter. 1 am. very sorry that, the Court should I he placed in this position. Mr .Johnston—J hope- tho Press will not publish the name in this case. The Magistrate—The Press can do : just what they like. Sligo pleaded guilty and was committed for sentence. INQUEST VERDICT. El/CHAM , March 8. At the inquest this morning on ! Blanche Ivy Tiplndy, 29, found dead , in bed at her father’s residence on j Sunday morning a verdict was return- I ed that the cause of death was coma, due to pressure oil the brain, the result of hemorrhage, this being seconda to a long standing disease of the kidneys. CONSULTATION BY RADIO. j AUCKLAND, March 7. j Instances of the value of wireless in i transmitting medical advice to ships ' which have no surgeon aboard are not j now uncommon, hut it was the expori- 1 enco of Dr C. B. Tudehope, ship’s j surgeon of the liner Tamaroa to have j two calls of this nature during the last voyage of tho vessel, which arrived ; hero from London to-day. In the middle of the Atlantic the | Tamaroa had a message from a Spanish tramp vessel asking for directions , fur the treatment of a seaman who had contracted pleurisy lifter injury to his chest. Dr Tudehope gave the , necessary instruction in a series of ! messages and had the satisfaction of I learning sonic time later that the j patient was milking good progress. j j A good distance of the Pacific had ; i been traversed when another wireless consultation took place between the j I Alabin, a steamer owned by the Shaw, ; j Savill, ‘and Albion C0..-the owners of , j Tamaroa, and Dr Tudehope. His ) advice was required on this occasion in the case of a seaman who had contracted a septic If uni and arm. Again Dr Tudehope had tlie pleasure of learn- j ing that his unseen patient had made : rapid progress.

STEAMER AGROUND, j X.UTKR, March 7. | While making the c lit ranee to the Iron Pot in the inner harbour last night, the Anchor t .mutiny's freighter, Totnrn, fouled a pipi hank <>pposie Lever Street, through being caught by the tide. The vessel is broadside on to the hank and no serious damage is anticipated. Ail at- , tempt was made to get her off fast night, hut without .success and at high water this morning . another attempt proved abortive. A third effort was j successful at 10.30 to-night when the vessel was refloated and berthed, apparently without having suffered serious damage. The Totara is from Wellington with a freight of cement from Tarokolie and is scheduled to return to Wellington after discharging here. She is of 121 tons and under the command of Captain Bnggot. BRITAIN’S FUTURE. EVILS OF THE DOLE. ■AUCKLAND, .March 7. Impressions of Britain gathered during a visit of fifteen months were given by Sir Thomas Mackenzie on his return by the Tamaroa to-day. i “I ant very anxious about the, Old Country just now,” said Sir Thomas. ‘‘She has ,a heavy debt burden, and is up against strong competition from Germany. That country is in a. much better position than Britain owing to the. exploitation of the mark, which has enabled many debts and mortgages to he |yiid off.” Another factor in Germany’s progress was that the German workman worked long hours for less pay.

While the factors he had mentioned gave cou.se for anxiety, Sir Thomas continued, there was a bright side to the picture in the industrial revival 1-1 it was proceeding throughout Britain. But while all the best brains and influences were being brought to bear, there was still much to he done. The existence of competition from. Germany. of which the most difficult feature was that all the prejudices had disappeared, and Germany was in the same position as she occupied before the war, was not the only weight on industrial progress. A good deal of exploitation was going on, and having the effect of increasing the- cost of living. The dole system was also having a pernicious effect. “I was struck with the statement made by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Bourne.” added Sir Thomas. ‘'Speaking of the dole question, the Cardinal remarked that a good deal was once said concerning the" idle rich, but the phrase had now changed to ‘the idle poor.’ The strange part is that men are receiving money and can receive it only so long as they do nothing. Thus we have the anomaly that while farmers are unable to pay for labour to clear their land of weeds, and while the building and maintenance of roads h.is to go on, men are receiving the dole and forced to remain idle.’’

FOOT AND MUUTH DISEASE. PRECAUTIONS NECESSARY. WELLINGTON. .March 7. The dread of the entry of foot and mouth disease into New Zealand, is fully justified considering the havoc played among flocks and herds of the Northern hemisphere, and also South America. If it obtained a hold in this country the results would he disastrous, as three exports, wool, meat and dairy produce, would be affected. The Meat Producers’ Board had before their last meeting information that tlie United States Department of Agriculture hacl again called attention to the new regulations preventing the entry into the States of fresh and frozen meats front countries having rinder-pest or foot and mouth disease. The department stated that the effect of all the present regulations is to ad-

mit fresh and frozen meats from January 1 from Canada, Ireland, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, only tlie new order excluding the Argentine, Brazil and Uruguay. The board passed a strong resolution for the favourable consideration of tbe Government, as follows: ‘‘That this hoard, while strongly supporting a net commending all that is being done by tbe Department of Agriculture to prevent tbe entry of foot and mouth disease into New Zealand, begs to urge as strongly as possible that the Government prohibit the importation of hay, straw, etc., from the Continent of Europe. South America and other countries where foot and mouth disease exists and also to give consideration to the question of seeds from the same

point of view.” It is pointed out in connection with the regulations in America that New Zealand and Australia are now the only large exporters of meat that can elfectivcly supply the United States market.

TO GHECK DIPHTHERIA. ANTI-TOXIN FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN. WELLINGTON. March 7. Preventive treatment for diphtheria by anti-toxin injections has hitherto been carried out by the health authorities in only a few selected schools and orphanages, but of late this method of immunisation has been considerably extended. During tint past four weeks about (jjO school children in Wellington have been immunised while a large number have been similarly treated in the Poverty Bav district where there has 1 ,■•--11 a considerable amount of diphtheria. Eleven hundred children were immunised between April and December, 102,3, while a very much larger number were treated last year. No child has been given immunisation without the consent of the parents. Treatments are not compulsory and strong persuasion is not even being adopted as it appears wiser gradually to educate the public by demonstrating the benefit of tlie treatment than to create antagonism by enforcing a measure parents do not fully comprehend. Except for temporary slight sickness in a few cases the treatment has been carried on with very little inconvenience and tlie response from parents has been exceedingly gratifying. A satisfactory feature of the work has been the request from several school committees that children attending their schools should have the benefit of the treatment. GUILD SUFFOCATED. NAPIER, March 7. A child named Heath liick Hellior, aged two years eleven months, son of Mr and -Mrs P. S. Hellior, Raffles St., met with his death to-day under tragic c ii ciimstanccs. With two other hoys, Troy and Roderick, aged five and three respectively, young Hellior went out playing this morning. At lunch time the three were missed by their mothers and a search was instigated. It was not till five o’clock that the father of Troy heard his son call from a temporarily vacant house and just inside of the hack porch he found the three hoys imprisoned in a small cupboard into which they had crawled and allowed the door, which had a spring catch, to close behind them. A doctor was summoned ana revived the two older hoys, hut little Hcllier was dead, having apparently been suffocated. Evidently the three hoys had been shut ill the cupboard from about 10 o’clock to five o’clock. Admittance to the house must have been gained through a fly proof door, the latch of which had been broken. The smallest hoy seems to have got into th(> cupboard first, followed h.v tlie other two.

BATHER RESCUED. CHRISTCHURCH. March 8. While swimming in the Waimakariri river at Stewart’s Gully on Sunday afternoon, u young man, aged about twenty years, was suddenly seized with cramp and was in imminent danger of drowning, lie had gone down twice and had swallowed a lot of water when he was rescued by Mr G. Stokes, a member of the District Engineer’s staff. Mr Stokes was spending the day at the river with his wife and family. He was fishing, when lie noticed the mail in difficulties, lie dived in and dragged the bather to shore, and had to use life-saving niehods to restore res jiiit.it ion. This is the third finm J, v't Air Stokes has rescued people from drowning.