PARLIAMENTARY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2178, 6 September 1907, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. PROTECTION OF INFANT LIFE. AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION. Press Association. WELLINGTON, September 5. Tlie Council mot at 2.30 p.m. The debate on Mr. Collins’ motion to consider the provision in force for the protection of infant life was resumed by Mr, Beehan, who held that

the question of a living wage entered largely into tho subject under discussion. ' By improving tlio position of married men something might be done to improve the present condition of things. He trusted that the question of the declining birtli-rato and marriage rate and the awful.destruotion of infant lifo would soon bo a thing of tho past. Mr. Collins said the worst vil of present-day civilisation was the low estimate attached to family lifo. Ho considered the facility for divorce, had resulted in lessoning tho .regard for many of tho duties of social life. Divorce was becoming a crying evil. The question of tlio non-birth of children or tlio destruction of child life was one of tho most perplexing, of modern times. Seeing wo get littlo immigration it was all the more important that wo should encourage and foster infant life. In tho proposed now law a child should only be permitted to bo taken charge of by a pereon who could and .would civo. it opportunities of home life, and with regard to children committed to industrial schools an improvement could bo made by making court proceedings private. , . Mr. McOardle did not think the Government could, as suggested, sot as’do land for men with largo families, hut they might well give married men promotion before single men. If this were done by tho Government the example might be followed by private employers. Ho eulogised Mr. Collins and tho Loader of itlie House for coming forward in the way they had done. Ho strenuously ur.-od tho necessity for a stringent inspection of the milk supply, as it was a question which affected adults ns well as children. The debate was adjourned on the motion of Mr. Marshall, and tho Council roso at 4.45.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

PUBLIC HEALTH VOTE. The House met at 2.30. The House went into Committee of Supply. Tho first class taken was Public Heiitth Department, total vote £38,959.

TREATMENT OF INDIGENT CONSUMPTIVES. WHO SHOULD PAY FOR ITP Replying to questions Mr. Fowlds staled that the item £25,000, Cambridge Sanatorium, included the cost ol movements of tlio staff both for travelling allowances" and expenses. The. staff had to move about considerably and the cost was therefore high. Mr. Hornsby asked if provision was made on the Estimates whereby indigent patients could be admitted to the sanatoria of the colony. 'Married men had been unable to get admittance to tho sanatoria because they could not pay the feo of two guineas per day. Ho urged that it would be better to place these people in tho sanatoria, where they could be cured antf enabled to perform their duties again. Mr Fowlds said the hospitals were

doing a great deal in tho direction suggested by Mr Hornsby, but if a patient from, say, Masterton was sent to the sanatoria it was then expected that the district from which the patient was sent should pay the cost of treatment. He urged that consumption annexes should be constructed in connection with all the hospitals in the colony.

Mr Jennings took exception to Mr Fpwldis’ suggestion re construction of annexes, as. many of the hospitals were not in suitable climates for the cure of consumptives. Mr Hogg said that persons who could pay two guineas per week were able to procure medical attention for themselves, and had no need for the sanatorium. He considered it inhuman to shut tho doors of tlio sanatoria to practically destitute people. Ho quoted an instance of a man in the Wairarapa who had been compelled to give up his dairy business by the health authorities and yot could not get into the Otaki Sanatorium. Mr Fowlds said tliero was certainly a lot of inhumanity about the case named by Mr Hogg, but that was on the part of the Wairarapa Hospital Board, who should pay the paltry two guineas per week required by the Otaki Sanatorium. It could not be expected that the Wellington Hospital Board would undertake to accept patients from outside districts without payment." Replying to Mr ■Jennings, he said it was no part of oho Department’s policy to differentiate between patients from country districts.

Mr Syme said it was as hard to. get country patients into the Cambridge Sanatorium as get them into Heaven.

HEALTH OF THE MAORIS. PROTEST BY MR HERRIES. Mr Herries asked why it was the Department did nothing for natives that the native medical officers recommended. The Government as a whale must take the blame for neglecting to attend to or carry out recommendations made by tlio medical officer whose duty it was to attend tho native race. In connection with this he drew attention to the Estimates, which showed that though £2700 was voted last, year to the adini:i.. - oil of the native medical and health service only £695 had been oxpended. If they suppressed toliungas they must give more assistance to Dr. Pomavo to look after the natives as well as white people occasionally in the backblocks. Mr Greerislade said the Waikato Sanatorium was in an almost ideal spotand doing good work. Themedioal officer had lately visited England, and his experience gained by that visit would be of considerable benefit to sanatorium patients. He urged that a larger subsidy should be given tho doctor who looked after tho natives. AVhat sort of medicine could they expect from a man who only received a subsidy of £4O a year. Mr James Allen said that though tho natives were now ready to go to the hospitals thero was a difficulty in getting them admitted!. Referring to Dr. Pomare’s report urging that homes sjiould be established for aged Maoris, ho said tho Minister should make a definite statement as to whether he agreed with liis medical officer’s report. Mr Major said that if the health of the Maoris was not better'looked after the race would become extinct. He stated that there was no medical man from New Plymouth to Pat’ea who was subsidised to look after the lia-

1,03 SUBSIDISING NURSES. . Mr. Ell referring to tho" indigent poor in tho large cities said there wore a number of ladies’ nurses who went about attending tho poor and he urged that these should be subsidised on a pound for pound basis. Mr. Malcolm urged that a system ol cottage hospitals should bo established to meet requirements of country districts. Ho thought tlio time hail arrived when medical inspection should bo proviedd freo by tho Government. Wo had vets going about the country inspecting stock, and ho thought if medical inspection was free for human beings many sufferers would bo saved years of suffering. Mr. Massey considered that Dr. Pomare was a thoroughly sincere and capable man and regrettted that no notice had been taken of his recommendations. Ho hoped that some business-like arrangements would be made by the Health Department to allow of young Maori girls being trained as hospital nurses. Mr. A. L. D. Fraser said it was

impossible for Dr. Pomare and his assistants to attend thoroughly to the thousands of Maoris of two islands. Four years ago ho (Mr. Fraser) asked that a medical officor should be sent to Kianga, Hawke’s Bay, to attend to a repugnant disease, that was rife among the men, women and children, but he had not been there yet. He added that the schoolmasters had acted as medical advisers and had been in the habit of sending to Napier for drugs when required, but now a regulation had been mado compelling them to send 'to Auckland for drugs. He asked the Minister to alter this at once so that drugs urgently needed could bo obtained quickly. As to Dr. Pomare ho ridioulecl tho Idea that the

individualisation of Native land 9 was a panacea to all tho ills of tho Maoris. Mr. Fowlds said tho contract was mado some years ago to obtain drugs to bo supplied from Auckland, and as this firm represented that it had tlio stock of drugs on hand required for tlio Maoris tlio practieo was continued until the stock was exhausted, when it would 1)0 discontinued. Ho did not propose to allow teacliors to procure drugs whonovor they desirod, as that cost three times tho usual amount, but teachers could nialco application on proscribed forms. He said he would look into the question of subsidising district nursing. Referring to Mr. Jns. Allen’s question ho said no propositions had been made to him by Dr. Pomaro or to the Department to establish Old Men’s Homos. Ho said ho had given the Hospital Boards to understand that so far as tho Maoris were concerned as patients they woro on tho samo footing as Europeans, and if it was satisfactorily proved to him that differentiation had taken place ho should take steps to withhold the subsidy until tho Board realised its sense of duty. Tho difficulty aroso in obtaining Maori girls sufficiently advanced and equipped to train as nurses. Ho added tliero woro five Maori girls being trained. Replying to Mr. Grconslado lio vs;iid that in future tlio sanatorium would bo known ns Waikato, and not Cambridge Sanatorium. Ho explained that tho amount of tlio vote, Native Health Department, was being exceeded and would necessitate an extra amount being placed on tlio supplementary estimates.

Mr. T. Mackenzie said it was tho usual practice of Hospital Boards to leave to tho matron the task of selecting Maori girls for training as nurses, and he understood it was exceedingly difficult to obtain girls sufficiently educated,, and who had tho necessary manner to fit them for tho position. The Houso adjourned at 5.30 p.m.