FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 77, 22 June 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By the LOOK-OUT MAN THAT TASMAN FLIGHT Our Australian brothers appear to be very earnest in their desire to be first to fly the Tasman, and, if certain statements are to be believed, a “hopoff” will be made from the Commonwealth side in August or September. The flight has been talked of in New Zealand for years. In Australia they have talked very little, but they are liable to do any moment; for they have a way, very often, of getting off the mark without preamble. The New Zealand project has, at last taken definite shape, but New Zealand has not a machine suitable for the purpose, and it will take months to secure one from England. Against this, there is the assurance of Colonel White, of the Victorian Aero Club, that a non-stop flight from Melbourne will be attempted “in a few months.” It seems to have resolved into a race for the honour between Australia and New Zealand. That the Tasman will shortly be crossed by airmen seems assured —but from which end? PARASITES ON PRODUCTION One of the most conservative of the leading journals in Great Britain has entered the arena to fight for the New Zealand farmer against the greedy middleman who manipulates slumps and mercurial movements in the butter trade, and always makes a profit. “The Spectator” in its issue of May 7, not only printed an informative letter from a South Island farmer, Mr. Grimdsale Anderson, of Marlborough, on the necessity for giving New Zealand farmers relief from “the stranglehold of vested interests,” but added a footnote frankly pledging its support of the establishment of control boards. “Under existing conditions too much power is left to the middleman,” said “The Spectator.” A week later a vigorous protest was made by the chairman of the Bristol Provision Trade Association against the journal’s policy. “The Spectator” retorted briskly that it was unshaken in its belief that the middleman made too large a profit. And so say all of us! THE MODERN ROME Rome burned while Nero fiddled. Part of Auckland burns (and a lot more of it is likely to) while the municipal emperors of this city are discussing £2,000,000 water supply schemes and there trickles through the fire-hose§ insufficient water to quench a Bryant and May’s vesta. The blazing roof of a maternity hospital fell in a couple of days ago, just as two newly-ipade mothers and their babes were removed to safety, and the husband of the matron made his escape to heat the collapse of the wall by three seconds. When the firemen carrte to make a save, there was only sufficient water-pressure available for one liose, and it was a fairly feeble stream at that. It only needs a fire to get hold of a nice big wooden boardinghouse, equipped with rotten rope and woodenladder fire-escapes, in an area where fluid is on tap only to a limited ex--tent, and the result on the authorities will be similar to an electric shock.i Superintendent Wilson has referred to the scandal of scant water-pressure at fires, in scathing terms, time after time, but it doesn’t seem to have made much difference. If a fire broke out in the house of one of the gentlemen responsible for this condition of things, and his dwelling (underinsured) was destroyed owing to lack of water, it would make all the difference in the world.

THE QUACK STILE QUACKS A three-year-old Maori child at Gisborne becomes sick. Its parents take it to a gentleman who is a retired school teacher, and who has set up in business as a herbalist. (It may be pointed out that under existing legislation—or the lack of it—anybody can set up as a herbalist). This gentleman “diagnoses” a bad cough. Not having had the training or experience required to treat illness, he can’t see that the cough is not merely a cough, but the symptom of a dangerous disorder, so he “prescribes” a mixture of paregoric, peppermint, aniseed oil and honey; also methylated spirit and water “to open the pores.” Suitable enough, no doubt, for an ordinary cold —but the child dies. A post-mortem' examination shows pleurisy of several days’ duration, bronchitis and pneumonia. A skilled stethescopic examination by a qualified physician would have, revealed the development or complications early in the drama, and the child’s life might have been saved by suitable treatment and nursing. The qualifications of the “herbalist” were contained in his statement that he had “studied medicine about 60 years ago.” He added that he had been prescribing medicine for the Maoris since 1868. One can only hope that too many ot his patients did not fare as did the child in the case under review. Also, one wonders how much longer the Government is going to permit unqualified persons to treat the sick.