LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 March 1939, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Infectious Diseases. For the week ended yesterday, 14 cases of infectious disease and three deaths—two from tuberculosis and one from septic abortion—were reported to the Wellington office of the Health Department from the central Wellington area. There were six cases of diphtheria, tour of tuberculosis, two of erysipelas and one case each of puerperal fever and septic abortion.

Import Regulations. The ruling of the Attorney-General on the validity of the Government’s import control regulations is being obtained by the Governor-General Lord Galway, following receipt of the importers’ petition early this month, an Auckland Press Association message reports. The clause in the petition on which the Attorney-General is being consulted states: There exists a very grave doubts as to whether the import regulations are intra vires and valid.

Greyhound Racing. A proposal to secede from the National Coursing Association was considered at a meeting of the mechanical hare greyhound racing clubs in Danaevirke during the week-end. Delegates were present from Dannevirke, Napier, Masterton, Wellington and Wanganui. It was considered that if the association was unwilling to exercise proper control over the mechanical hare section of greyhound racing a separate body should be set up. All delegates were in full support of the Napier Club’s move in applying for permission to install a totalisator. It was agreed that each club should pass i motion supporting Napier’s move.

Diphtheria Immunization. The immunization of Wellington primary school children against diphtheria by means of three small doses rf anatoxin is continuing at the rate of from 100 to 150 injections a day. Dr F. S .Maclean, medical officer ot health, Wellington, said yesterday that .he response from parents for their consent to the treatment continued to oe very gratifying. In addition, hundreds of requests for immunizing macerial had been received from general practitioners who had been approached by their patients. The department welcomed that, as it meant that a greater number of children would be mmunized.

Modern Girl Criticised. Closely approaching her 95th birthday, which she will celebrate on Thursday, Mrs Anne E. Manning, an Englishwoman who came to New Zealand from England in 1875, who now resides in Wellington, does not consider that the modern girl would make the same sterling pioneering stock as the girls of her own generation. “These modern girls are certainly very different from the girls of my day,” she said in an interview yesterday. “I do not think they will live to my age, because they do not take care'of themselves. As for their dress, it is frightful —they do not put enough on.”

Shooting Seagulls. “It has been brought under my notice during the past months that a good deal of shooting practice is being done by some individuals along the shore between Ohiro Bay and the Red Rocks,” said Mr R. A. Nicol, inspector for the Wellington Society forthe Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “These young sportsmen have developed a habit of potting the seagulls, and I have seen several dead and dying birds as the result of such wanton cruelty. I would remind these people that seagulls are protected, and that those who destroy them can be prosecuted.”

University Awards. The Shirtcliffe Scholarship Selection Committee, set up under the gift to the University of New Zealand in 1935 by Sir George Shirtcliffe, Wellington, has made the following awards: —Shirtcliffe Fellowship: H. B. Fell, Victoria University College, Wellington. Shirtcliffe research scholarship: E. G. Edie University of Otago. Shirtcliffe graduate bursary: L. G. Geering, University of Otago. The committee of. the Senate of the University of New Zealand has made the following among other awards: —Senior scholarships, English: Hazel M. Pettit, Victoria University College, Wellington, and formerly a pupil of the. Wairarapa College.

Political Science. The work of the first Department □f Political Science and Public Administration to be established at a university college in New Zealand was □egun at Victoria University College, Wellington, last night, when the recently appointed professor of political science, Professor L. M. Lipson, B.A. (Oxford), Ph.D. (Chicago), delivered ihe inaugural lecture at a public meeting at the college. Discusing the subject, “What Is Political Science?” Professor Lipson emphasised the importance its study might assume in a university college in a democracy where all the citizens had the right to participate in government and the duty to pass judgment on it.

Caravan Problems. The modern enthusiasm for caravantouring among motorists has created new problems on the roads, according to reports made at a meeting of the executive of the South Island Motor Union. The chairman, Mr W. R. Carey, told the story of a motorist with a caravan who met another motorist on a narrow road on the West Coast. He could not back the caravan and the other motorist was obliged to back his car for 10 miles. He had also been told that a caravan had recently delayed traffic on the Rakaia Bridge. He wondered what would happen on a narrow road when caravan met caravan and neither could back. The meeting had before it remits from the Canterbury Automobile Association proposing certain regulations to govern caravans. These will be considered at the halfyearly meeting.

Secret Ballot. A decision to give financial support toward the establishment of a Labour daily newspaper in New Zealand by way of a levy was made by members of the Ohinemuri Mines and Batteries Union. Waihi, in a secret ballot. The ballot paper read: “Are you in favour of a levy of £1 per member for a Labour daily newspaper, to be paid in three instalments, in May and November. 1939, and March, 1940?” The voting was: In favour, 201; against, 185. More than 80 per cent of the unionists voted. They are mine or battery employees of the Martha Gold Mining Company ("Waihi), Limited, and of the Golden Dawn Mines (Owharoa). It is understood that so long as a secret ballot is taken a levy to the extent of £2 a year can be struck for any purpose.