The Daily News. THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1917. MEDICAL ORGANISATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 July 1917, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1917. MEDICAL ORGANISATION.

The anxiety of the people of the Waimate Plains over losing the services ol their local doctor can readily be understood. The (juestion, however, is not a local one, for it concerns the whole ol the Dominion. Already a third of the doctors are serving with tho Forces, and the position will grow steadily worse with the sending of further reinforcements. Some, months ago the executive of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association, apprehending the position that would arise, made representations to the Government, and suggested a basis of organising the remaining members of the profession for home and war service, but all it got for its pains was a snub to the effect that there was a sufficiency of doctors volunteering for the army, and that there was no occasion to worry about anything eke. Thia reception ifl characteristic

of the Wait-and-Seo Government, which Will do nothing until it is forced 'by necessity or public opinion. Hence, we Eec thickly settled rural districts like those lying between Kew Plymouth and Hawera without a medical practitioner and an even more thickly populated j district between Hawera and Wanganui with the services of hut the one doctor, Ivhilst in some of the towns there are more medicos than there is work for. A little organisation and no district need bo entirely without the services of a doctor. At tlie outset Britain, through the British Medical Association, mobilised its doctors, and though the demands of the huge British army are exceedingly heavy, no one wants for medical attention in any part of England. Sir Francis Bell has told us that as yet there has been no organisation. It was a frank confession of lack of duty or absolute ineptitude on tho part of his oenfreres. The party truce, instead of being an advantage in these times of stress, as most of us hoped, has made for inefficiency, strangled initiative and generally operated disastrously. In Britain the Government has 'been national in fact as well as in name, and any member found wanting has been quickly dropped, and the process has gone on until the very best talent in the country to deal with the emergency has been sorted out. Here there has been no change at all; the men occupying Cabinet positions have 'been chosen not for their fitness but out of political exigency. They feel secure in their positions, especially now they have extended the life of Parliament, and for that reason show no disposition to grapple with the many problems confronting tho couhtfy. A general election would act as a purge that could not prove other than beneficial to Now Zealand at the present time, but unfortunately for the welfare of the country it is a contingency the gentlemen on the box seats of the national coach will no doubt take good care to prevent.