APATHY DEPLORED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 April 1938, Page 10

APATHY DEPLORED

PARENTS NOT SHOULDERING RESPONSIBILITY ATTITUDE TOWARDS DENTAL CLINIC. . BREEZE AT LAST NIGHT’S MEETING. The failure of parents to realise their responsibilities to the Masterton Dental .Clinic committee and the effect of this apathy on the financial position, was emphasised at a largely attended meeting held last night to discuss proposals to place the clinic on a sounder financial basis. An allegation that it was the policy of the committe and not that of past Governments that had prevented children from Catholic schools from receiving treatment was warmly denied and gave rise to some heat-

ed exchanges. After a very full discussion it was decided that the Clinic Committee make further determined efforts to collect fees and to awaken parents to a sense of their responsibility. A recommendation was also passed that the committee consider the question of raising funds to erect a new Dental Clinic building in Masterton. It was stated that the fees collected last year totalled £llO/4/6, of which the three Masterton schools contributed £3B/2/-. Fees outstanding.over a twoyear period amounted to £374.

Mr A Donald, chairman of the Dental Clinic Committee, who presided, said the thanks of the committee were due to Mr J. Robertson, M.P., for convening the meeting, at which an endeavour would be made to unravel the difficulties facing the committee. After tracing the history of the Dental Clinic since its establishment in Masterton about 15 years ago, Mr Donald said that the committee had always experienced financial difficulties as the parents had failed \to live up to their promises and responsibilities. For a time a fee of 2/6 a child was charged, but there was still difficulty in collecting the fees. After detailing the various methods employed in an endeavour to collect the fees, Mr Donald recalled that a climax was reached three years ago when the Government threatened to withdraw the nurses, as had been done in Wanganui if the committee did not pay its portion of their salary. As the outcome of a meeting, it was decided that if they collected 5/- from each child they could carry on nicely and also establish a sinking fund, even allowing for the fact that only 20 to 25 per cent, of the parents would pay the fees.

NEED FOR NEW BUILDING. Masterton, Mr Donald continued, was the only town in the Wairarapa that did not have its own Dental Clinic building. In Masterton the clinic did not have a building of its own because it took the committee all its time to collect sufficient fees to carry on. They - had been given generous treatment by the Trust Lands Trust, at times receiving grants equal to the annual rental, of £lO4, owed by the committee to the Trust for the use of the rooms. He thought that the solution of the whole problem was to acquire a building of their own. Referring to a proposal to co-ordinate the work of the Dental Clinic with that of the Plunket Society, Mr. Donald daid that although members of the society had been enthusiastic, the scheme had been turned down by its Advisory Committee. They had now reached a point where this year the committee had been unable to pay its rent to the Trust, which, without being approached, had written it off. He considered that the provision of grants for Dental Clinic treatment for children should be first on the Trust’s list. The committee had no sinking fund, was in debt and would always be in debt under the present system. If the £350 owing to the committee could be collected, the Dental Clinic could be refloated. Although accounts had been sent out twice to every parent concerned, the result was not sufficient to cover the cost of postage and printing, an amount of about £7.

POSITION OF TOWN SCHOOLS. Mr Donald said the overhead expenses of the committee today were £2lB, which, with a third nurse added, would increase to about £250 a year. While he did not wish to raise the town versus country question, he pointed out that while during the slump the country schools had not paid up too well, today, under a system whereby the school committees undertook the collection of the fees, most of the country schools were solvent with the Dental Clinic. He was sorry to say that the town schools were not in the same position. Last year £l4/7/6 had been collected from 300 patients at the Central School, the average working out at 11.4 d per child, leaving 10/2 per child outstanding. For 200 patients treated, the Masterton West and Side School contributed £lB/2/6, an average of 21.7 d per child, leaving a balance owing of 9/10 per child. There were 100 patients from Lansdowne School, who paid £5/12/6, an average of 13.5 d per child. They also owed 9/10 per child. If they could have collected half of the money outstanding there would have been no need for the meeting. Referring to recent statements regarding the non-treatment of children from the' Catholic schools, Mr Donald said that the Department had time and again replied that owing to an insufficiency of nurses it was impossible to take in the Catholic children. It had been, and probably still was, the principle of the Government to give national schools first preference. NO DIFFERENTIATIONS.

Mr Robertson said it was not the policy of the present Government to differentiate between State and denominational schools. All children were to receive treatment, irrespective of class or creed. According to his information, no application had been made until recently for an extra nurse for the Masterton Clinic. Increased numbers of nurses were now being trained and a third nurse would be coming to Masterton this month. From the support given by the parents

it would appear that there was a lack of appreciation of the great work done by the Dental Clinic. It was questionable whether they should not reduce the 5/- fee, which in Wellington was 2/6 and in the Hutt 1/6. He did not know of any other place that charged as much as 5/-. He thought there was a definite case for calling on the Trust for assistance and also considered that a Clinic building should be erected in Masterton, two-thirds of the cost of which would be contributed by the Government. It was up to the meeting to formulate a definite plan to enable the clinic to carry on. In reply to a question by Father N. Moore, Mr Donald said that no doubt as soon as the third nurse arrived, instructions would be issued to include children from St. Patrick’s school.

Father Moore said that past Governments had taken the same attitude as the present one—that pupils of Catholic schools should receive the same treatment as those of other schools. From had been said he took it that the representations made in the past on behalf of St. Patrick’s School had not been forwarded to the Department. Mr Donald challenged the accuracy of this statement. Father Moore: “As far as Masterton Catholic schools are concerned, we will be responsible for the charge, whether it is 5/- or £1 a child. I think that the attitude that has arisen has not been due to the policy of the Government, but to that of the Masterton Dental Clinic Committee.” AN EMPHATIC DENIAL.

Mr Donald: “I want to give that an emphatic denial. The implication by Father. Moore is that the Dental Clinic Committee has been responsible for keeping the Catholic children out.” Father Moore: “Then why were no applications made for a third nurse?”

The secretary of the Dental Clinic Committee, Mr Madden, said that over a period of years applications had been made by Catholic schools for treatment. These - applications had been sent on to Wellington, but the Government had stated that it did not have sufficient nurses available. He took full blame for the delay in the last application, received in December of last year, being forwarded to Wellington. Owing to the Christmas holidays, the application had been overlooked and had not been sent until March 7. Since then the Department had approved of another nurse being sent to Masterton. That was the only occasion he knew of when a definite application from St. Patrick’s school had not gone forward. When the third nurse arrived, the children from St. Patrick’s would receive treatment. Over the years, Mr Madden continued, the members of the committee had never considered the question of one religion against any other. They had simply been told that nurses were not available to provide the treatment. Mr W. R. Nicol said that during his long period on the Dental Clinic Committee, the Director of Dental Hygiene had frequently told them there were not sufficient nurses to enlarge the scope of treatment in Masterton. It did not make any difference to him what school the children came from. Although they might not be in writing, repeated applications had been made to have Catholic children included. He gave an assurance that the committee had nothing in the world against the Catholic children. PAYMENT GUARANTEED.

After several sharp exchanges between Father Moore and Mr Donald regarding the policy of past Governments towards dental clinic treatment for Catholic schools, Mr W. Brady asked: “Why should you expect the Trust, whose funds are for the whole of the Small Farm Area, to give you money when you exclude certain sections from treatment at the clinic? The St. Vincent de Paul Society guaranteed 5/- for each of the children treated from St. Patrick’s but that offer was refused by the Dental Clinic Committee. A third nurse was allowed to leave Masterton rather include the Catholic children. Mr Donald: “Do you think we had any control over that?” Mr Brady: “If you had taken in St. Patrick’s children you would have had sufficient funds to retain the third nurse.” He thought it was a wrong policy to consider spending a lot of money on a new building and urged that efforts should be concentrated on providing treatment for all children. EFFORTS OF HEADMASTERS. Mr E. G. Coddington, Headmaster of the Central School, said the task of collecting Dental Clinic fees was most heart-breaking. Every avenue of collection had been explored, he added, and went on to point out that a few years ago the Central School had raised £5O for the Clinic, while a combined effort had brought in another £75. It was not the fault of the schools, i

the committees or the headmasters that the fees were not coming in. “It is the parents and not us you want,” he said, adding: “If you could get a big muster of parents here and dress them down, instead of the schools and committees, it might be better.” The unsatisfactory state of affairs, observed Mr Nicol, was brought about by the failure of parents to realise their responsibilities. Every effort should be made to drive Mme to parents an appreciation of the wonderful service of the Dental Clinic. He was forced to the opinion that the fee should be demanded before treatment was given. It was no good asking afterwards as they would not get it. They would have to be cruel to be kind.

After referring to the efforts made by the Lansdowne School Committee to collect the fees, Mr H. E. Pither said the revenue had dropped when the fee was increased from 2/6 to 5/-. Mr Brady: “If the parents will not pay for the treatment then stop the treatment.” (Hear, hear.)

Mr Donald pointed to the difficulty of differentiating between the parent who could pay and the one who could not.

Mr Pither: “Yotl mean the parent who won’t pay.” Mr W. McGovern said he had put in half-a-day trying to collect fees from Native children attending the Te Ore Ore school. The result was 7/- and the promise of another 2/-. FEES OUTSTANDING. In answer to a question, Mr Donald said that over a two-year period a sum of £374/13/9 was owing to the Clinic Committee, which had also written off hundreds of pounds. After referring to the money spent by the Trust each year 1 in providing free school books for necessitious cases —a service which in other districts was performed by the Government —Mr Donald suggested that an effort should be made to secure a straight-out grant of £5OO from the Trust towards the cost of a new Dental Clinic building, which would cost from £l2OO to £l5OO. That, he thought, would remove their difficulties to some extent.

Mr Robertson suggested that they might obtain better results if the fee was reduced to 2/6 per child. They should endeavour to bring home to parents the injustice they were doing to their children by endangering the position of the Dental Clinic. It was a disquietening feature that about £3OO was owing by the schools. Mr Coddington: “It is not the schools. It is the parents." In the course of a general discussion opinion were divided as to whether a reduction should be made in the fee and it was eventually decided that the matter be left to the Dental Clinic Committe to make a further determined effort to collect the fees. A recommendation was also passed to the committee that it consider ways and means of raising the necessary finance, with Government subsidy, to erect a new Dental Clinic building in Masterton. Votes of thanks were passed to Messrs. Robertson and Donald and to members of the Clinic Committee.