SAWBONES STRIKE.

NZ Truth, Issue 12, 16 November 1907, Page 3

SAWBONES STRIKE.

MEDICAL MEN MILITANT.

The British Medical Association's Action.

TwO Strikes of Surgeons m England.

It is beginning to be generally recognised that the strongest unions are unions of professional men. • The unions of members of the legal profession are very strong, and so is the union of medical men that is called the British Medical Association. In England there have recently heen some strikes of medical men that have attracted considerable attention. Two of these "strikes" are thus reported :— Southend has put itself m a strange p os I ! tion of opposition to the entire medical profession. Dr. Nash, the borough medical officer, was appointed m 1901, under a three years' agreement ' at a salary of £400 PER ANNUM. In 1904 he was reappointed, and his salary had meanwhile increased to £500. Last month the time came round for another triennial agreement, and it was proposed by the Health Committee to reappoint him once more with £650 (£SO beir^ paid by the local Education Committee). But although the members of the Health Committee are favorable to Dr. Nash, the whole of the town council ure not. In the end a proposal was made that the medical officer be appointed for a year only, at a salary of €500. As Dr. Nash refused to accept such ter:n=:. advertisements Vere sent to ihe "Lancelot" and the "British Medical Journal" inviting au plica-

tions for a medical officer of health for the borough. The council, however, reckoned without their host— the organisation of THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. compared with which the industrial trade unions of England are mere weaklings. It is understood that, as a result of the prominence given to the matter m the medical press, only one application had been received. The Town Council sat for five hours on Tuesday night and discussed the re-appointment over again. The Health Committee recommended that the previous recommendation of the Council be rescinded, and that Dr. Nash be reinstated at an increased salary, viz, £600 per annum. Mr Leaney, the leader of the opposition, declared that Dr. Nash had publicly said he would not bathe ofl Southend beach for £1000 because of the sewage there ! THIS KIND OF TALK, he said, had handicapped Southend m the recent action m which the Council were cast m damages for polluting with sewage the oyster layings of Mr H,ob o 't, of London. Dr. Nash, Mr Leaney proceeded, had also warned the public against the dangers of eating the polluted shell-fish of Southend, and m this way he had given the town a bad name. Eventually, the proposal to re-ap-point Dr. Nash for three years was rejected by one vote ; and, therefore, unless an arrangement is made, Southend will be without a medical officer m a month or so, when the term of Dr. Nash's temporary re-ap-pointment expires. A remarkable state of things exists m Sheffield with regard to the staffing, of the workhouse hospital. There have been difficulties for some time, and they have now become so pronounced that the whole of THE MEDICAL STAFF of the hospital, both' resident and visiting, have resigned, and the guardians see a possibility of a professional boycott, which will prevent them from ..obtaining another staff. For two or three years past the hospital has been administered as an institution separate from the work-, house, arid there has been friction during the whole of this period. . No resident medical staff has stayed for any length of time, and the present 'is not the first occasion on which the whole staff has resigned. It is generally believed that the difficulty has arisen from the attempt of the guardians to make the matron the administrative head of the hospital, and THE MEDICAL STAFF subordinate to her. Tne guardians themselves profess ignorance as to the cause, of the trouble. At a meeting of the Board on Wednesday the resignations were considered, and it was decided to write to the Sheffield branch of the British Medical Association, m the belief that recent resignations are m some measure attributable to the action of that body. They ask for particulars of the nature of the difficulties which are supposed to exist.