THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1880. THE HOSPITAL ENQUIRY.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2080, 23 October 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1880. THE HOSPITAL ENQUIRY.

The proceedings in connection with the enquiry now going on at the Hospital seem to ns to partake very considerably of the character of a farce. A commission is issued, and, as the result proves, the colony has to pay the piper. We should like to know, and we think the public are entitled to know, what practical result will arise from this enquiry, which promises not only to ho a protracted but expensive one. It seems, so far as can he gathered, that the majority of the Board of Health are not now in favour of the enquiry, and that, however the original request may have been brought about, the Board are not at present unanimous in carrying the affair through to tho bitter end. Now we contend that, instead of going through all the formality of appointing a Commissioner and taking evidence at great cost to the public, the duty of the Board was clearly and plainly defined in section 28 of their own Act. That section provides that every householder (or, like the House Surgeon, every person charge of an institution) shall immediately give notice of the occurrence of any infections disease in his house to

the Local Board o£ Health. I£ he fails to do so, then he is liable to a penalty of £lO. How the whole gist of the charge made by the Board of Health against the House Surgeon is the non-reporting of cases of infections disease. That is the real point apart from a little something behind the scenes, which perhaps is well known. Now there can be no mistake as to what should have boon the course adopted by the Board immediately on the report of their medical officer. “ The law,” says Mr. Hobbs, “ has been broken,” and the Board did what ? Did they carry out the provisions of section 28 as the law directs they should do P Not at all. If they were satisfied, as Mr. Hobbs leads us to believe, that a breach of the Act had been committed, why do they go outside it and ask for a commission P There is not one word throughout the entire Health Act—which, be it remembered, the Board say has been broken—of enquiry by Commission should any of its provisions be alleged to have been broken. It is laid down in more than one place that any person not reporting cases of infectious diseases renders himself liable to a penalty of £lO, and more than this, the method of recovery of this penalty is provided. Is it before a Royal Commission P Certainly not. It is provided that the ordinary course in breaches of the law shall be followed, viz., that the offender shall be summoned before the Resident Magistrate or two Justices of the Peace, who have power, upon proof of the offence, to inflict the fine. Why the Board should depart from this very simple procedure we are at a loss to say. Supposing John Jones or Richard Doe break the law, some months hence will the Board ask the Government for a Commission of enquiry ? If so, the Board of Health will become an exceedingly expensive department, and the sooner their expansive notions on the matter of Royal Commissions receive a check the better. Taking the Act, which is all the Board of Health have to go upon, there is not a word about commissions, and therefore we fail to see on what grounds the enquiry is held. Into the matters at issue between the two Boards we do not propose to enter. They are at present sub judice, but we do conceive it is in the interest of the public, who have to pay the cost, that we should know the reasons which have induced the Board of Health to step entirely outside their functions and the very Act by which they are constituted. “We want to know yon know ” why the Board did not—if they were going to take any official notice of the matter —go under clause 28 and summon Dr. Davies for a breach of the Act. That would have been intelligible and within their powers, and would be, as Mr. Hobbs put it, vindicating the law, and wo doubt very much whether the Board have the right to ask for a Commission on a subject which is already legislated upon, and for which a statutory course of action is provided. Another point is this : —What can the Government do supposing Dr. Skae reports that on enquiring he finds the law has been broken P It is little likely, perhaps impossible, that in such a case anything would be done under the Act. A reprimand, a suspension of somebody, would probably eventuate, but the machinery already provided to meet such cases would have existed in vain. In point of fact the enquiry will be found absolutely to frustrate the provisions of the very Act Mr. Hobbs is so tender over.

In conclusion, we contend that the Board of Health have no locus standi in this matter at all. Their case is that the Health Act has been contravened. Unless they prove this they have no case, and have no right, in Court. Yery well. This being so, they are bound on a breach of the Act to take proceedings under the Act as laid down by it. It must be remembered that this is a totally different case to an enquiry into the management of the Hospital as a public institution. Then we should not have one word to say as to the status of those conducting it. But this is not so. It is a 'prosecution under the 28th section of the Health Act for a breach of that Act, and those prosecuting are bound within the four corners of that Act or they have no business to prosecute at all, any more than the man in the street. The enquiry by Commission has all along been unnecessary, for the Legislature had already provided for such a crisis as has arisen. But while making the above remarks we do not wish it to be understood that we ignore the energy, and, we may fairly say, patriotism, which Dr. Nedwill has brought to bear on tho subject, At risk of considerable odium he has unflinchingly upheld the authority of the Board of Health and the public interests, and it would bo well if every public officer were to do his duty with similar singleness of mind and efficient seal. We have merely referred to what we consider an error of judgment on the part of the Board under which he serves.