LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 January 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A Kcnter message says the infinenxs. is steadily waning in London, the week's death's being 184, as compared with 942 a month ago. The total deaths for the United Kingdom amount to 110,000.

Writing to a New Plymouth friend by last mail. Sir Thomas Mackenzie aavs: "It is not usually known that a German attempt was made to invade England. The only knowledge which the general public had of the attempt v /as derived from observing for days the bodies of a number of dead Germans which were washed ashore at Scarborough." New Year was ushered in at New Plymouth in the orthodox manner A large crowd gathered in the streets in town on Tuesday evening, and while for the most part they returned to their homes at a reasonable hour, some remained to "din out the old, din in the naw" with customary hilarity. Just in the last moments of the year, whistles and bells rang out their dual message of farewell to the old and welcome to the new, and from some directions came the strains of "Auld Lang Syne," and so the year 1919 wa9 duly ushered in. For the most part those who were abroad were orderly and well-behaved. There were some signs of larrikiiiism, in the shape of gates lifted oil' hinges and the figures 1919 chalked on walls and doors in conspicuous places. No act more harmful than these appeared to have been perpetrated.

A heroic deed performed t»j! Lieut. Colonel T. O. Guthrie, of the New Zealand Medical Corps, who died the Royal Oak Hotel, Wellington, a tev> days a'go, is mentioned through ill® columns of the Christchurch Press oy Mr. T. W. Pairman, of Governor's Bay. Mr Pairman wrote: "The heroic igt- i.< not yet-past. We are hearing constant;) of deeds on the battlefield and on the. stormy wave. With your kind permission I would like to record an act of another kind of bravery performed by one of my medical confreres, a» act wholly unappreciated by those most interested,*, because., it was not understood, and accomplished in a lowly cottage of the humble poor. The hero was Dr. Thomas Orr Guthrie, who has quite recently gone to his eternal /est. Tracheotomy had been performed in the morning on a child suffering from diphtheria. It gave instant relief, but at, midnight the doctor was hurriedly summoned, to find the patient suffocating from the silver tube becoming blocked, by ?.■ tough piece of diphthfiric membrane. Forceps failed to move it. A few seconds more meant death. Dr. Guthrie did not hesitate, but, applying his lips to the tube, cucked it clear of the obstruction. The child ivas saved. There was no anti-toxin in those days; the doctor was quite cognisant of' tho tremendous danger to himself, but he ignored all that for the sake of his little helpless patient. Truly the world never knows its greatest men." The Ngamotu picnic will be continued to-day for the children. The result of the competitions will be announced this afternoon.

An invitation. Visitors to Wr!tara (ire c6rdially invited to visit The Big Store. It is one of the sights which should not be missed. It will also be a good opportunity of purchasing a present for a friend, and at the same time receive a free gift for yourself (if you spend 10s) as a memento of your visit. ■ "NAZOL" for {oflueazft and Catarrh.

Remarkable developments have occurred in England during the past few months, says an English paper, in the method of treating shell-shock cases amongst soldiers, and four case of neurosis which have arisen as the result of war' service. Long-standing and apparently hopeless cases of paralysis, i loss of speech or hearing, and otflei" functional nervous diseases, have been cured* in a few dayo—sometimes in a few minutes—by purely persuasive treatment and without the aid of hypnotism or electric massage. Apparently tho doctors in Britain are no wiser than those in New Zealand regarding the world-wide epidemic. A sufferer writing from Glasgow to a brother in Wellington says; "Tho old-time influenza by my recollection was a simple, if severe cold in the head. Whai the doctors mean fey applying the iiame to a severe fever, accompanied by -uncoseciousneas and utter helplessness, I don't know, and, tfliai is more, I don't think the doctors know. It is oil over the Kingdom, anyway, and it leaves the victim mortally weak, with the great risk of (so-called) pneumonia following ii i'-t cases of weakly people, and the doctors fear mortally a chill on recovery from influenza. It attacks all classes and all ages, and lot 3of t"chooki er& closed, and Y7orks are seriously interI'eitd with owing to the epidemic among the workpeople. My doctor said that if the temperature roso to 103 the fever took charge, and his fight was to get that reduced; But I am curio-jo to kaow where and how the original infeo tion arose —the doctors look v/iso, but have nothing to say-" The letter continues: "Many doctors hi Britain try to deny that it is aa infectious disease, bu\ t see reported So-day (October 6, 1310) that the Trench Government has ordered it to be reported aa infectious. Ths British doctors will *.vt!:e up and follow the French lead in perhaps twenty years to come, and then let themselves down easy by giving it tome ne-w nams to cloud the issue. Op to ths prestutt it is very mysterious what the cursed thing is."

Writing to a friend in Christchurch, an Edinburgh business man say*v: ''lf only one could feel as .two of the politicians as of the fighting men, one's mind would be at "ease. But there are men here 30 stupid, o*~ so hopelessly cellseeking,' that they actually hope and work for tlie status of pre-war daya, as if tliat hectic age had not j;one for ever. When peace does come tlisra will be great upheavals, politically, socially, ."iud commercially., and in nothing move, markedly than in th n tatter direct-ion. One sees the signs 011 every eido. Of course, living expenses here are -:ery great, food being about two and a half pre-war prices, and, therefor;*, Vv making botrt ends meat that ig. one's endeavor just now, abandoning any idea of doing more than that —when I2s-iaa pound's equivalent. But all through the laboring clascea there is great prosperity and great spending. To-<iay .Edmbnrgn >s crammed with Glasgow folk, modelling up and down Princes Street, all with caps oa (the men, that is), hands in pockets, bright yellow shoes, and cigarettes, as becomes the proletariat from Olydeside during Glasgow Far Tte?!:. The trains have been miming in tni'i-e sections, 1 and most of tiio munitioners travel first class, and to the dc"i?, with expense."

IiKS will nvo'iabiv be IV mosu momentous year since the uecinr.ing of the UlivisUr.n'era. ISO. sat; .fovopo ccelli-

is,. wi&. t.» of revolution Drastic, «:ij «'■« cloefc v.-« put bad', ft'ationaiißii or internationaliym will to tho qaesiwa of the coming Peace Confereacc. Wh'.ch is it to but If or.e wins the Conference will w misnamed, it is for yon '.O thin!:. o;t, WhiJa*; yon 1 J-, thinking, What'; tiir most in(lwiduiiKst'c" tiiir; i> •cwsteiice?— "thouf'efr': wtaM ,vcu are thW:teg, •::ork wit it yorcr mii'd a-7*ieb. test,

.. ir:si-.r''.oS3 suit ;''.;).or-TWck) .:t £7, or tv iCf/iv-mjide to £5? Why .-lior.K-.'r l)c o.:-, ?ojafortal>k and well ds-ossed Cue o!Vov man?

The Ngp.motu committee has been unfortunate in having another wet New Year's Day, and it is hoped that the public will support it ami attend to-day's children's picnic. The admission is sixpence for adults.

Did Panta Clans forget any little boy or girl? If so, here's a chance to make n child happy. The Big Store, Waitara, is clearing out the left-overs in Christmas toys, dolls, panics, etc., at a reduction of 3d to fid in the Is. Also is offering frea Christmas gifts to ail purchasers spending 10s and upwards. Come and get yours.