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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5118, 18 August 1877, Page 2

Me. Hamlin's new Bill to consolidate the law relating to medical practitioners, to appoint boards of medical" practitioners, and to provide ior the registration of properly qualified persons, will, we think, be very generally regarded as a most useful measure, , to the passing of which little, if,'any, opposition will be offered, either inside the House or out;of it. The Bill repeal's the ; Act of. 1869, except in so far as existing rights are concerned, and proposes to divide the colony into four districts,'in each of which there is to be, a Medical. Council, consisting of five legally qualified practitioHers resident in the locality. The four districts are 'to be, the Northern* comprising the Provincial Districts of Auckland, Hawke's Bay, and Taranaki; the Middle, comprising Wellington, Nelson, and Marlborough; the Canterbury, comprising that provincial district and Westland ; and the Otago District," comprising the Provincial . District of Otago. . The council is to hold office for five years, and the first council is to be appointed by the Governor, on or before'the Ist June, 1878. Any-person desirous of being registered must give notice to the council of the district in which he resides, who shall : judge of his qualification. If the applicant prove that his diploma has been obtained after due examination from some university, college, or other body, duly recognised in the United Kingdom, or in any of the Australasian colonies, he shall be entitled to registration. Foreign diplomas are to be held valid in the case of hospitals established exclusively for foreigners. No unregistered person is to assume the title of physician, surgeon, apothecary, &c, under a penalty of £SO. The Act is not to affect chemists, druggists, and dentists, in their trade of selling, compounding, and dispensing medicines. Any applicant to whom a certificate of qualification or registration is refused, or whose name is removed from the register, may appeal to any Judge of the Supreme Court. There are other provisos, but the above are the main features of the Bill. Its object is . evidently not to exclude from the practice of his profession any one who has a right to' practise, but to keep out a class of people who should be kept out —those who produce diplomas from Timbuctoo or some other out-of-the-way place, where, for a money payment, perhaps, a degree in law, physic, or divinity, or indeed in any other art or science, may be obtained. There are still such " universities" on the Continent of Europe, we believe, and probably elsewhere also. We observe by reference to a recent issue of the Lancet, that the (London Medical Council has lately taken steps to remove from the register of legally qualified practitioners a person who contrived to get on the roll on the strength of some American diploma, and two other persons in a like position will, the same journal expects, be similarly dealt with. The Medical Council referred to are evidently in earnest in taking steps that none but men qualified on due examination should be admitted to practice, and, in the interests of the public, whose health and lives are often, humanly speaking, in the hands of the "doctor," it is only right and proper that such should be the case. The London Council is not at all inclined to be illiberal. We learn from the journal above quoted that the committee is of opinion that qualifications granted under lesjal authority in any part of her Majesty's dominions ought to be regarded as presumptively entitled to recognition in the mother country, and-that as to qualifications granted under foreign Governments there are many which in a constitutional country ought to be admitted, as conferring on the foreigners who seek to practice under them in the British dominions a claim to be recognised as duly qualified. Wherever it is known that a degree or license to practico of any kind is not granted except after- passing due examination, such degree or license will be recognised, and this is just the principle, as we take it, that Mr. Hamlin seeks to embody in the new Medical Practioners Act for this colony. There cannot; be a doubt that a Bill of this kind was . required in this colony. All that has hitherto been necessary to qualify a. man to -practice medicine and surgery here was the production of a certificate or diploma of any kind before some Registrar or Deputy-Registrar of the Supreme Court; and the notification that .an application had been made to practice under it." This "was manifestly an insufficient security that none but . those who were really competent should be admitted to practise. Under the new. Bill, while ho unnecessary restrictions' .will be imposed, the public will have a

guarantee that mere quacks and empirics will not be allowed to call themselves physicians and surgeons, nor. to follow those professions with impunity.