MEDICAL MEN AND PARLIAMENT.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16423, 17 January 1919, Page 4

MEDICAL MEN AND PARLIAMENT.

There was a large and distinguished rJemblv of the medical profession at Stcinwa'v Hall (sports the "D-tilv Teleuraph ). wnen Henr\ "Morris presided over a meeting convened to further the lrecr entry; of doctors into Parliament. The cmef c , i, n movement was shown in purpose* of tne n ' oul "' lt the resolution moved by Dr. Aduuon, "Minister of Reconstruction, unanimously agreed to. . "That i" l ' ie intorests , national health it is o^cntialthattl^o^iis.deretl view* of the medical profession shall ho voiced hy medical men in the House of °Thf)°<'hairfflan pointed out that the underpin- ideas of those responsible for the meeting was the election of a committee of the whoep*,fession: the seeking out and soleotion of stiitable members who would in stand for Parliament, and tho adoption of methods whereby members en cLsen would bo truly representative of tho entire profession. Their object mi flit have been secured by sending members from their representative bodies as the universities do, but whatever the ultimate form might bo, it was necessary that the medical members i of Parliament should be able to speak ! for the profusion as a whole. In proposing the resolution, Dr. Addison said a brief consideration ot the facts of our national and social lifo .sufficed to reveal the wealth of opportunity for advice, direction, and help that was open to men of the right type and training in matters affecting the homos of the people, their conditions ot work, their wages and hours of labour, in the methods of production, in tiainine. invention. and research. Ino medical man was a politician in respect or disease or his patient. _ He was a medical man. Jiut- did it, theieiore, .follow when tho nation was striving its hardest and required the very befct it could of the life and capabilities of its citizens, that the medical man. as a ritizeu, had 110 interest, and eould take in. share, in its affairs? There was now, and there would be increasingly, a great need for the help of medical men in Parliament and in public workTbo necessary specialisation of medical services had led, and. if the best remits were to be obtained, must still lead', to the co-operation of more and more of them being required. The combating of the new and rilo methods of warfare. introduced by the Germans, (he diagnosis of conditions, the surgery and treatment of wounds, the training and equipment of tho disabled, and especially of that largo class of nerve cases which presented such anxious, difficult, and important issues, required the aid of medical and scientific research in manifold directions. An idle person or an incompetent one was a hindrance, and might be a danger m time of war. He. would bo just as much so in the time of reconstruction. The C'ii class, and all that it implied, meant that the nation's responsibilities could not end with water supply, drainage, tho prevention of tho spread of 111f options diseases, "tlie adulteration or . food, and the like. With tho /dyance of knowledge, sciencc, and experience, : we knew that much could bo done to safeguard the personal well-being of our , peopio beyond what we had hitherto ats temnted."and in devoting its minds to l this purpose lie believed that the Tnedi- * cal profession had a. jn*eat duty and an I unexampled opportunity Lcforo it.