DOMINION NEWS.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 June 1928, Page 4

DOMINION NEWS.

(By Telegraph—Per Press Association. ' ELECTRICAL. WELLINGTON, June 19. About one hundred delegates attended the opening of the electric supply authority engineers association annual conference, Mr H. F. Toogood presiding. After reports and accounts had been adopted, committees were appointed to deal with the various remits. The chairman reviewed the position of electric supply in New Zealand and dealt briefly with the work-before the conference which lie anticipated would be finished within three days. In the course of his address, Mr Toogood said tho use of electricity was progressing rapidly, but the saturation point was still a long way off. He was convinced future developments lay as much in the direction of increased domestic use of power as it did in the industrial field. He strongly commented on the future of the Public Works Department to consult the Association on the establishment of an Approval Board to pass electrical equipment. This had not yet eventuated and the Association would be justified in showing some impatience owing to the delay in dealing with the matter. " A CHANGE OF ATTITUDE. HOSPITAL BOARD AND ITS SUPERINTENDENT. NAPIER., June 18. When Dr Valintine, Director-General of Health, recently attended a special meeting of tho Hawke’s Bay Hospital Board to discuss an offer of £3OOO to provide a solarium in Napier the board passed a motiqn of tlianks and confidence to Dr Valintine and, incidental, ly expressed agreement with the Direc-tor-General that the Medical Superintendent (Dr J. Allan Berry) had done wrong in making a statement to tho Press on the subject. To-day the hoard adopted the report of that special meeting, but not before the words “and confidence” had been deleted from the motion of compliment to Dr Valintine. In the course of discussion to-day members of the board indicated unanimous approval of tho Medical Superintendent’s action throughout the whole affair, including hits statement to the Press in reply to Dr Valintino’s use of the words “ pure misrepresentation ”, when lie (the Director-General) was approached hv a pressman in reference to tho report made to the board.

The explanation of members of the hoard of the attitude adopted towards Dr Berry at the special meeting was that they had not seen the remarks of Dr Valintine which, however* appeared prominently in both local papers and also in most other papers throughout the Dominion. Great indignation has been • expressed locally since the special meeting at the attitude taken up by the board towards its medical superintendent, all three papers and numerous correspondents commenting strongly. Tiie outcome, apparently is that the board members have seen the error of their ways and have made amends by withdrawing tho expression of confidence in Dr Valintine, expressing unqualified approval of Dr Berry and incidentally granting the latter a substantial increase in salary.

TWO YOUNG MEN FINED. WELLINGTON, June 18

John Gerald Sigley, twenty-six, and Robert 'Timothy Iveary, twenty-three, clerks, were fined £5 each for disorderly behaviour, also £5 for assault, and oidered to pay £3 for mischief. The accused men, returning from a dance, under the influence of liquor, forced their attention on two girls. They forced a way into their home, and assaulted their father, an elderly Chinese. They threw stones and created a violent disturbance.

Mr Salmon, S.M., refused to suppress their names. He said that their behaviour was a slur on the Civil Service, an 1 they would have to bear the brunt, of it. BUTTER-? PRICES. AUCKLAND, Juno 18. An advance of a penny in the retail price of all brands of second giale butter takes effect to-day, the new price being Is 7d. The price of first g'ade butter will remain at Is Bd. The rise is due to improved prices on the London market. CANCER TREATMENT. AUCKLAND, June 19. On the recommendation of its honorary medical staff, the Auckland Hospital Board decided to-day that the method of treating cancer proposed by Mr R. R. Field should not be adopted at the hospital. After investigating the treatment, the medical staff considered that the method was futile, and recommended the Board not to pursue the matter. Mr Field’s treatment included the exposure of the patients to the early morning sun for about three hours, and the administration of potassium in tho form of bicarbonate of potash, with citric acid. The committee of the honorary staff reported it did not regard his suggested treatment as being either fundamentally sound in conception or hopeful in application. They believed, on the contrary, that where the most reasonable of cure existed, the treatment advocated by Air Field would diminish the chances of recovery the longer it was persisted in.

TWO CALLS TO MINISTER., INVERCARGILL, June 19. A situation, said to he unique in the annals of the New Zealand Presbyterian Church, arose when the Rev. M. A- Gow, of Wainniawa, recoived two calls, one from Waikaka and one from Centre Bush on the same day. So unusual was the position that no church legislation had been framed to cover it, and a special meeting of the Southland Presbytery was convened to-day to discuss the question. It wqs decided to place the two calls in the hands of tho Minister, who' said that he‘felt that he was under a moral obligation to tho Waikaka congregation, qnd thought ]ie would be doing right in accepting the call,

BLENHEIM SUICIDE. BLENHEIM, Juno 19,

Sylvester Dyson Sheard, employed ns a carpenter, was found by his wife in his workshop at his residence in Blenheim, hanging from J> rafter, quite dead. The cause presumably was a depressed mind.