Doctor and Hospital Board Membership

Chronicle (Levin), 12 June 1948, Page 6

Doctor and Hospital Board Membership

^ Press " Association)

(Per

WELLINGTON, June 11. The disqualiiicatibn of Dr. Hubert. George Rix, of LoweT Hutt, froni actiug as a niember of thii Wellington Hospital Board is upheld bv Mr. .Justice Fair in a judginent issued today. Itix sought a declara'tofy order in the Supreme Oourt that his existing contract with the •Wellington Hospital Board was' a cont-ract of employment witliin'the Local Bb/ctions and;.: •Polls Aiuendiuent ' Act • and that he was.aii-; j cording'ly not disquaiiliod froiu sitUhg. i 011 the Board. The! aj,)plicati'on' for the ' order was maJde foUowing an kitimatiou ; j by the Auditor-Geiieval to tlie- Board j that Rix couhlrnot validlycbe a .membet - in view of: his- 1 a^redment with the Board as a vfsithig' anaesthetistJ Rix was a member • eicicteJI .by-, Eastbourne1 and Hutt Oity to i'eqireseiit them on the | Board. • 1 ■• '«. . The judgment statess :'M. am , of opinion that the terms of employinem of an 'oflice, ' and certainly the .holder of ■ a ' office, ' and (/ertainlv the.;holde:,; of ai'place of pr.olit? in the gift of -the' Board, and tliat he was consequentlydisqualilied fronr beiing elected.to., and; now is disqualiftedl fi-om, .acting. as -p. ineniber of the .Hospital Board. Wliatever a medical jjraWtitioner 's position in law may be, he is both by the act itself and accordinlg to ordinarv parlance an officer of, the Board even though giving part-time service only. His position and employment might fauiy be described.-iji ordinarv language if the phrase were eommon as a 'place of prolit, ' while it is hardlv likely that anyone would thiuk -of applying that description to the work of a gardener or porter employed by the Board."