NATIONALISED SERVICES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 91, 3 September 1912, Page 6

NATIONALISED SERVICES.

To the Editor. Sir,—ln your issue of to-day (Monday) thereare three items which'point in l he direction of nationalisation of public ■.erviees in preference, to continued or further private and company proprietary and management. The first f notice is that the United States will inaugurate at the opening of next year a system of parcel post. For many years a large section of the American people 'have been asking for this, and now they are to get it, but the express companies will be "hard hit." That is the reason why the system was so long delayed. Those companies are rich and influential, and must be (so they say) considered even though it be at the cost of the convenience and the expense of the public. The second item is the good news that our Postmaster-General is about to reduce the rates of our parcel post. Why not a step further'; The Government through the post office carries parcels up to lllbs delivered; then by the railways it carries all sorts and sundries to and from certain stations. It seems that there need be very little expansion of the two departments, or cooperation beteen them, for the Government to undertake general carrying. It would be a great convenience to the public if that were done. Now a parcel, say from Dunedin, may be forwarded through the agency of a carrying company, out of the several operating, who in turn use the Government railways andtheU.S.S.Co. services. Of course the carrying companies would be suspended, but not so their horses r-iid drivers, in fict, there would be move work done in that line because of the increaicd facilities and reduced cost. Wy '.<\-c. to see every one well paid for his work, but no useless work in the way of duplicated services. The third item pointing in the direction of nationalisation of services is the report of the evidence given by Mr Harrison, analytical chemist, before the select committee of the House ' of Commons re proprietary medicines. He was acting as analyst for the British Medical Association, and the result of his work is published in a, book called '•Secret Remedies." It is amusing to read that book, and would shake most readers' faith in patent medicines—if they ever had any. I never use patent medicines. If I am sick I consult a doe-, tor, and if he does not do me anv good I have just to treat myself as "bilk I know how. One thing is Very plain from the evidence of Mr Harrison, both before the committee and in his book, that these much advertised medicines in most cases contain less than a penny's worth of drugs for the shillings they cost. Hare is one, a certain much advertised pill contains aloes, powdered ginger and powdered soap; then a box of these which costs about half a farthing is sold for—something more than a shilling. Now the best way to deal with this is by the means as the Insurance Act intro- | duced in England—free medical attendance or a nationalisation of the medi-. eal services. It would mean an extension of the present Health Department, as H exists in our country v so as to embrace both the remedial as well as the preventive services rendered to the community by the doctors. By this the patent medicines would be "hard hit," as in fact they will bo by the Insurance Act above referred to; for the beneficiaries thereunder will not in future go to, the proprietary medicine, but. to the doctor, when feeling not exactly up to par. It would only turn a' larger portion of his attention of the prevention of disease than hitherto, and would .give him the i statusof a very important'public land give him greatly increased authority.—l am, etc., GEO. T. MAUNDER. I 2/9/12. ' ; ' ■ I P.S.—lf you would''allow me I could ■ point other directions in which nationalisation or municipalization of services I now rendered through private or com- | pany enterprise, would tend to increase convenience and Jess cost to the public. O.T.M. - ; [We would be pleased to give .our correspondent the opportunity he desires.— Ed.l