CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 172, 19 January 1912, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

IN THE AIR. Although the world is probably in a state of suppressed excitement waiting to see what New Zealand is going to do next and preparing to follow our lead, there is no evidence that we are showing the way in aerial navigation. It is likely that this is the only civilised country where flights of aeroplanes have not taken place, and as far as New Zeajanders are concerned the art of flying has not been discovered. The probability that the flying machine will play a tremendously important part in future international conflicts as well as in the arts of peace might spur our enterprising people into line with those nations that are generally so grateful for our guidance. Readers of aerial doings may have noticed that the fatalities from aerial accidents are now few, and busy students are so perfecting the air machines that they have ceased to be playthings. The fact that an airship has recently made a trip over Paris at a great height with eighteen passengers proves that the initial and doubtful stages have passed. Nations are vieing -with each other in a desire to obtain everything that is latest and safest in the airship line, and even the Commonwealth, which is so largely occupied in minor matters, is showing some interest in the air. A leading showman recently said that New Zealand was, for the number of its people "the finest show country on earth." We believe that enterprising aerial navigators might easily take a fortune out. of New Zealand by showing the people that airships really do exist, A FEDERAL FACTORY. As soon as the New Year holidays were over the latest industrial enterprise of the Federal Government was put into operation. This is the clothing factory, which is to furnish uniforms and other equipment for the defence forces of the Commonwealth. During the first six months of its life the factory is to make 42,000 shirts, 30,000 pairs of breeches, 20,000 overcoats, and a large number of ammunition bags.' There is room in the factory for about 300 operatives, and it is hoped that they will be able to supply all the requirements of the defence forces, and later on to make uniforms and mail-bags for the postal service. The regulations for the control of the factory do credit to the Government. All the employees are to enjoy Federal and Victorian holidays on full pay, the factory is to be closed for a fortnight during the Christinas season, the operatives having leave of absence on full pay, and employees who are forced to he absent through illness or injury are not to lose their wages. The working week cdnsists of forty-eight hours, but overtime may be worked provided the employees are paid at the rate of "time and a-half." A medical officer is attached to the factory. There are large 'dining rooms, in which the manager proposes to supply cheap mid-day meals, there are gardens in which the employees niay sit during their leisure moments, and a social hall is to be provided. The authorities have made elaborate provision for the lighting, heating and ventilation of the factory, in order that the workers may spend their eight hours a day in a thoroughly wholesome environment. Every girl is informed as she enters the building that "no employee engaged on machine work is allowed to have her hair hanging down her baok." As a further precaution against accidents the authorities have provided electric buttons by means of which the foremen may cut off the electric power from all the machinery at a moment's notice. The organisation of the factory has been planned most carefully, and "the newest employees of the Commonwealth are working amidst almost luxurious surroundings. RADIUM HOSPITALS. Though Paris saw the discovery of radium through M. and Mme. Curie, its first radium hospital was opened only a few weeks ago. The nature of the institution and its work are described by a correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. The maladies treated are rheumatism, gout and various arthritic affections, which have all been proved in German hospitals to be susceptible to the healing properties of radium. The most effective way of applying the cure is by means of inhalation of radium emanations, and this method has been adopted in Paris. The hospital provides accommodation for eight or ten patients in a comfortable room, the doors sfend windows of which have been padded and made almost hermetically tight. The radium emanation is provided by means of a "vollinhalatorium," a device which is popular in Germany. In appearance it is simply an upright tube, about four feet high, at the bottom of which the radium is placed. Special currents of air are, forced up through the tube, and convey the emanations of radium through the room with the air, which is constantly renewed by a supply of oxygen. All the patients have to do is to sit in the room for an hour or two each day, for perhaps thirty days, and breathe naturally. The virtue of this simple treatment seems to depend entirely on the influence of the radium emanations on the blood. The air which is inhaled into the lungs is essential to the blood, and apparently the emanations of radium enter the blood just as the air does. Excellent results have been obtained by medical men in Germany in the treatment of certain forms of gout with radium. Dr. His, of Berlin, succeeded in curing twenty-four out of twenty-eight cases which he subjected to the inhalation treatment, and other prominent medical men have attained a great deal of success. At present, of course, radium is a very costly substance, and the treatment is expensive, but the experiments which have j been made by the medical profession seem to show that the results are well worth the money.