MEDICAL CONFERENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 199, 20 February 1912, Page 5

MEDICAL CONFERENCE.

OPENS AT TIMARU.

By Telegraph—Frees Aaeocktieo. Timaru, Last Night. A conference of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association opens here to-morrow. This evening the visitors and a gathering of townspeople listened to an address from the president (Dr. H. V. Drew, of Timaru). The president dealt with the various subjects in a non-technical manner, such as consumpcancer, insanity, teeth, alcohol, quackery, and the British Insurance Bill. The keynote in relation to diseases was that prevention was better than the cure. He recommended the medical inspection of schools and the distribution of plain advice concerning hygiene and suppression of quacks. The State should exercise greater powers, as the health of the people was the greatest of national interests. Criminals and feeble-minded people should be prevented from propagation of their kind. Regarding alcohol, none should be allowed to use it until 21 years of age, and that, with the present laws enforced, should be sufficient. The congress work begins in the morning. In the afternoon the members will be guests of the Hospital Board at a garden party in the hospital grounds.