The postman’s double knock

Health Week, a novel experiment just ended, might have been called Disease Week.Not all the ills that flesh is heir to — a danmosa hereditas  — were paraded but a good many of them were — a choice selection, ills that might fall to the lot of Otago people. Leprosy and yellow fever we can afford to disregard; not so cancer and the White Plague. All of us who went to the war and some of us who did not, have experienced personally the man-handling of a doctor; he “sounded” us, — a postman’s double knock on our chest-wall, front and back; he counted our heart-beat; he clapped on the stethoscope with the weird direction “Say ninety-nine,” and again on the other side, “Say ninety-nine”; we confess to something of nerve-strain while it lasted and to a sigh of relief when it ended. So at the ending of Health Week. How do we find ourselves'' Fair to middling, as an oldtime Dunedin doctor used to say,— wiser a lot, and a little tired. Gratuitous advice from the medical profession is welcome, especially as it is backed up by gratutious service in the public hospitals. Other learned professions should be stirred to emulation. Perhaps we ought to have a Law Week, and after that a Commerce Week. Experts could throw light on the ins and outs of profiteering, the commercial value of patent medicines, and the virtue of drapery advertising. Meanwhile we bless ourselves that Health Week is over. We are still breathing anaesthetics and antiseptics, a waft of carbolic as it were. But that will pass. 

Courtesy in tramcars
Sir, - You recently quoted from the Auckland Star a remark upon the courtesy of the young girls of that city in giving up their seats to older women. May I add in testimony as to the chivalry of Dunedin girls? I am a grey-haired woman who never stands in a crowded tramcar. Some young girl invariably rises and gives me her seat. I am pleased to say that the remarks as to the behaviour of youths and young men in Auckland do not apply to our city, for they make a practice of standing. A few hints, however, to the younger lads might bear fruit. — I am. etc - W. C. T. C  St. Clair, October 18.

Of cabbages and things
There has been a keen demand for all kinds of vegetables. Small cabbages and poorly grown lettuces are, however, very hard to quit. The following are the latest wholesale prices; Apples.— Choice dessert Delicious, to 19s Democrats, to 10s; Stunners, best, 10s to 12s 6d: small, 3s 6d to 5s; cookers, to 6s 6d for best; second and third grade, difficult to sell, 2s to 3s 6d per case. Oranges, 26s. Lemons. — Adelaide, 12s to 15s. Bananas.— Ripe, 30s to 35s per case. Cucumbers, 14s to 18s per dozen. Swedes. — Cases of about 50lb, locally grown, 5s to 5s 3d per case. Carrots.— Local, 3s to 4s per case; 9s 6d for sack of about 100lb. Rhubarb, 1d to 2d per lb. Spring onions, 8d to l0d per bundle of six bunches. Cauliflowers: 16s to 23s 6d per sack for choice; prime. 10s to 14s per sack: loose, 6s to 14s per dozen. Cabbages, to 7s per dozen; medium, 3s. Beetroot, 1s 6d per dozen bunches. Parsnips.— In short supply. Spinach, 2s 6d to 3s per dozen bunches. Lettuce.— Choice, 6s to 7s 9d; prime, to 4s per dozen; small. 1s to 2s case. Leeks, 8d per bunch; 6s 6d per case of 10 bundles. New Potatoes.— Local, 1s to 2s 6d per lb: Auckland and Hutt 
grown, 4d per lb. — ODT, 20.10.1923