The Daily News TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13. THE LATE SESSION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 248, 13 October 1908, Page 2

The Daily News TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13. THE LATE SESSION.

For work accomplished and pioinises lullilled, tile third session of the sixteenth Parliament of New /calami lias earned for itself a high position in comparison with the records of previous Parliaments. For this achievement the greatest credit is due to the leader of tho Government, Sir Josihpii Ward, whose unfailing ui-lmnity and tact are very considerable factors in file making of Dominion history. Oae of tho most outstanding features of the present Premier's leadership has been the almost total absence of the once abused system of legislation-by exhaustion. Late sittings of weary legislators are now extremely rare, and we lind that during the late session, the House only sat altogether 57 hours after midnight. This reversion to a more natural order of tilings, to an average eight hours' work (Hie neglect of which had exacted a grivvous toll of physically-broken legislators in recent years), lias made .i|Uell' apparent in many ways that make for the harmonious progress of Parliament, t'lie betterment of legislation, and the physical well-being of the members.

To a very great extent the session has been an "amending'' one, a bringing up-to-date of a mass ot existing legislation. It was manifestly impossible from thu start that the huge programme mapped out by Hie Government at the commencement of the session could be overtaken, but much more has been accomplished than was popularly considered possible. Of the Ion" list of amending legislation which we°ipublislied yesterday morning, probably the most important, from their "cneral application, are the amendments made to the Coroners Act, Fire Brigades Act, 'Government Advances to ,Settlers, Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration, Local Bodies' Loans, Education, Old-age Pensions, Public Service Classification and Superannuation, and Police OffeiK-'-s Acts. The Mciklc Acquittal Act, whi.h afforded redress by the expunging of Meikle's name from the prison records in accordance with the recommendation of the Special Commission, was as much by way of reparation as ,the Hone would grant. The Government assessed the compensation to be paid at £SOOO, but the vote was defeated by a substantial majority. The last is no doubt not heard of this celebrated affair, and no doubt another vitupcrous campaign will be engineered from the old quarter. The Second Ballot Act, with the exception of the Arbitration Act amendments, was .probably the keenest debated measure placed on the Statutebook. Regarding the Labor Law debates, however, it is only proper io acknowledge that the eminently fair and reasonable way in which the Hon. J. A. Millar mot the views of employers as we'll as labor deprived the debate of the bitter hostility that was generally believed would lie evinced towards the Government proposals. The Second Ballot Act as it now stands, we believe,.

has the .support of by far the majority of the electors. The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Purchase A<?t and the Naval Subsidy Act stand out as timely achievements that have the fuU weight of public support behind them. A very appreciable step forward has been made towards Sir Joseph Ward's aim of national pensions by the enlarging of the scope 01 superannuation. The Government's proposal for national pensions, which will be put prominently before the electors during the succeedI ing few weeks, marks the most a:n- ---| bitious attempt to confer a national

boon on a people ever evolved by any Government, and the success that has already followed the Civil ,Service superannuation schemes evolved by Sir Joseph during recent years will give the people confidence lo acclaim the allembracing benefits offered them. legislation relating to the laud has been conlincd chiefly to important amendments to the Maori Land L:nvs, bringing into elfect the recommendations of the able Royal Commissioner-;, •Sir llobert Stout and Mr. Ngata, M.l'. The Statutes Consolidation, involving the consolidation of fifty statutes iiwo five, a work of truly herculean proportions, fills a greatly-felt want. A vciy considerable amount of time was devoted to consideration of local measures, important amongst which were the Xew Plymouth and Opuuake Harbor Acts. Tlie splendid support accorded liv the Premier to these local measures, which are of supreme importance :o this rovinee, alone made their passage into law possible, and supporters of the Xew Plymouth Harbor are not u:imindful of the fact. In short, the Government's record during the past session is such that its supporters can approach the country with a clear conscience in the knowledge that they have honestly endeavored to cope with the pressing and intricato problems of the day in a manner" best calculated to advance the social and material well-being of the people.

A MEDICAL ■' BOYCOTT." Aueklandera are at the present moment keenly interested in an alleged ni"dieal "boycott" ill the northern capital. The position, brielly stated by Auckland papers, is that some years ago the rate paid for friendly societies' medical club work in Auckland was lills per member, tin? doctor supplying the medicine. Then the Friendly Societies' Union sought to reduce the. amount Hi 14s, and the medical profession resisted the reduction. The British Jledical Association. took action in the matter, and fixed the fee at Ids, and in the columns of the British Medical Journal a "warning notice" was published, requesting members of the Association to communicate with the secretary of the Auckland branch before accepting any appointment of local friendly societies. Some of the local doctors agreed to do the work for 14s, and the British ■Medical Association, resisting what >l. regarde'd as an attempt at cutting down a fair professional fee, has tried to enforce its decision upoa these doctors by means that can only be adequately described as boycotting. The non-members of tin l Association who are doing friendly society work state that not oniV have they been boycotted, in consequence, but the chemists and dispensers and nurses who work lor them are also boycotted. This alleged boycott, it is stated, may result in injury to the publie, as in a of serious illness life might be endangered through an Association medical man refusing to meet n "boycotted'' doctor in consultation. The latest development of tin- quarrel has, according to the Star, been the lormal citation of a member of the British Medical Association -before its council to answer a charge of assisting at an operalion performed by a legally qualified and registered practitioner win, lor the reasons explained, has fallen under the ban of the Association. Commenting on the boycott, the Star says that the taking up of such an arbitrary and aggressive line of action ov.r

so >ni.i 11 ;inil sordid a matter seems liij.liJ.v inconsistent with Ihi traditions oi lii'oic-Moiial dignity, (in,, ctintfiiijiorarjaverts that sonic <.| thi> doctors who

11 arc engaged in damaging t ln* profes siuiial status and limiting tin- uscfulncs I of their fellow-practilioncrs by enforc ing thi s boycott, have themselves taku np I l'iemlly society work on practical!) the same terms. Tile paper understand' Unit members of the British Medical Association are doing this work at 20" per head, including medicine. As ine:i----i tioncd above, tile maximum fee tor attendance permitted by the British Medical Association is ]lis, which leaves only -Is per head per annum to pay for medicine and the labour and trouble of dispensing. Now it is contended by many of the friendly societies and doctors anil chemists at Auckland that the dispensing cannot possibly be done for 4s n year unless on terms that are extremely unsatisfactory to the patient; ami I,he Star says it certainly caujiot imagine that any member of the British Medical Associalion would nnderlnke such woik on conditions unfavourable to the health or interest of the general public. The only possible inference, therefore, is that the doctors who are doing this work at; 20s per head must apeiul 5s or (is a year per head for the dispensing. H seems to follow inevitably that I he doctors who are doing the "inclusive'' work at 20s pel' head are necessarily accepting less than the British .Medical Association minimum of lli ;i a year for professional attendance. And what. I lien, asks the Star, is the excuse lor I lie boycott instituted against |hr outlawed doctors, whose only fault is lhat 1 he v. 100. have accepted less I han. Ills a year? Afler referring to the pettiness of (!«•• dispute so far as the monetary aspect .of the question is concerned, the. Star points out how necessary i|. is that (lie I medical profession should be prepared to aid each oilier in every possible way by consulting together anil by assisting at ope'.'."lions when required, and how serious may be the consequences of tie: refusal on the part of certain doctors lo consult or operate with others. Mention i s made of a case in which the doctor attending a patient who was in danger of bleeding to death through an accident, appealed to three doctors in' succession for assistance, and was refijs-' '

Ed because, they were British Medical Association members, and lie was doing \ friendly society work nominally at .!:• | t per head les-, llian the British Medical ] Association allowed. In another case, i a, member of the British Medical Assuci- 1 ation, having promised to assist one of the outlawed doctors in a serious emergency, insisted upon being released from his .promise because the British .Medical Association had threatened to proceed against him for thus infringing its "lie. Tin; Star adds that, if necessary, it can produce other instances of the same character. The Auckland Branch of the British Jledical Association says th.it the charges are manifestly incorrect and misleading, as the Association lias not coerced anyone, and members claim the

rigni as inuivuiuais to decline to lie coerced into consultations they object to. To this the Star replies that though the Association did not ollieiailv apply the boycott, nevertheless members oi the British Medical Association have threatened and have boycotted 11111dispensers, and chemists for doing work for the, ostracised doctors, and that this lias been done in pursuance uf the poli:-y that the British Medical Association has itself officially and authoritatively adopted. Our contemporary strongly denounces the iniquitous system whk-h now prevents the suffering poor from obtaining from t)lie members of this indispensable profession, whose privileges the law protects, the medical aid and skill which the law assumes is always forthcoming when it i s needed. It characterises the action of the British Medical Association as outrageous and intolerable, and suggests that, if some radical change i s not speedily effected, the aid of Parliament should be '.nvoked to pass direct legislation dealing with the rights and duties of the medical profession.