DR. FRENGLEY AND HIS MINISTER.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 427, 19 November 1918, Page 2

DR. FRENGLEY AND HIS MINISTER.

Have we only pulled down the Kaiser for another to spring up ? This is a question people must have been asking themselves since they saw that Mr Russell, the Minister for Public Health, had issued instructions countermanding the order that the hotels should remain closed, given by the responsible medical man whom Mr Russell had appointed to take charge ot the measures for combatting the epidemic in the Auckland province. Surely there never was a plainer exemplification of the old Greek saying that " they whom tbe gods seek to destroy they first make mad." We have never seen a more glaring case of high-handed interference by a Minister with an act of a responsible officer of a Department, and if the people of New Zealand are willing to stand this sort of thing they are tamer and more spiritless than we gave them credit for. Perhaps, however, it is only that we ignorant people in the North dp not understand. In our simple way we had thought DrFrengley was doing his work with energy, dispatch, and a thoroughness that showed he had a full grip of the situation. If Mr Russell has discovered him to be helplessly incompetent he has earned the thanks of the community by the action he has taken. If the Minister knows that the consumption of immature whisky is one ot the best ways of keeping away pneumonic complications, and if he is sure that congregating in bars and drinking from carelessly-washed glasses is a good way to prevent the infection from spreading, we must ever remain grateful to him for what he has done. It is clear that there is not room for two commanders of such diametrically opposed opinions as to the correct medical way ot fighting the disease to remain upon the bridge. Mr Russell cannot allow us to remain in

clanger of further mistakes being made. We put it to him that only two courses remain open to him—either to dismiss Dr Frengley as not knowing his business or to send in his own resignation. Since the above was written Cabinet has reversed the decison of the Minister for Health to allow the hotels to remain open. As this directly traverses the Minister's management of his own Department we presume his resignation will immediately follow.