GREYTOWN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 September 1938, Page 7

GREYTOWN

FOOTBALL JUBILEE Special.) The Greytown Football Club is commencing its Diamond Jubilee Celebrations today. This evening the Jubilee Ball will take place in the Town Hall. Tomorrow the parade of footballers, and the match with Athletic will draw supporters from all over the Wairarapa. Both teams are to be entertained at a dinner after the match. At 8 p.m. the Smoke Concert and reunion will take place. Parcel Afternoon. Mesdames Barcham, Richards, Smallwood and York organised a very successful parcel afternoon in aid of the stalls at the Anglican bazaar, which will take place in November. There were about sixty persons present, and a very pleasant time was spent by all. The competitions were won by Mesdames E. Graham, A. Nisbet, G. Hendry and W. J. Knell. A programme of items was rendered by the League of Mothers’ choir, Miss Kidell, Masters Robinson and H. Nichols.

Hockey Team. The Greytown junior boys hockey team to play Carterton at Carterton tomorrow commencing at 1.30 p.m. is as follows. All boys who cycle should leave the Post Office not later than 1 p.m. —Bouzaid, Hiscox, Barnard (capt), Hay, Walsh, Walsh, Knight, McKenzie, Keltie, Harris, Harris. Emergencies, Day, M. McKenzie. Any player nob available must notify Mr Maloney or Graham Barnard as soon as possible. Golf Match Cancelled. Advice has been received that the match between Martinborough and Greytown has been cancelled.

SOCIAL SECURITY ACT ADDRESS BY DR McMILLAN In spite of the very inclement weather an audience of well over 250 people listened to an address by Dr McMillan on the Social Security Act with special reference to the medical benefits. Dr McMillan was given a very attentive hearing in return for a brilliant logically-developed exposition of the scheme. Mr Ben Roberts was also present, and introduced the speaker. The Mayor, Mr A. W. Horton, presided.

The speaker expressed his pleasure at seeing so many women present. He claimed that it was to radical governments that the recognition of women and their social rights were due. Speaking in regard to the scheme, he said the Social Security Scheme was a scheme of co-operation for what individuals could not do. No one would try to defend New Zealand individually. Fire insurance was a group scheme. In the case of sickness, nobody knew who would be the next to suffer, and it therefore behoved individuals to act as a group for their benefit as individuals. Social security was not new. In the early Roman Empire funeral benefit provisions had been made. In Italy in the middle ages there had been doctors specifically appointed to take charge of the needs of districts. The occupational guilds in Britain were the forerunners of the Friendly Societies. Bismarck in 1882 introduced a scheme of benefits expressly to combat Socialism. Then came Lloyd George’s measure of 1912. The present scheme provided for two kinds of benefits, viz., in kind and in cash, the former being the medical benefits. The speaker claimed that there was an urgent need for reform of health services because at present many people fail to receive the full benefits that a medical service could provide; because many who require treatment cannot afford to pay; and because health treatment is definitely unco-ordinated. The 8.M.A., he said, claimed that medical services were already available; but that was so only on conditions, the chief being that one could receive them only as an outpatient of public hospitals. Many medical men, the speaker continued, gave service gratuitiously, but that was not fair, either to the patient or the doctor. It also involved the payment of fees by the well-to-do to balance the lack of payments by the poorer people. The speaker made several comparisons with the British Health Insurance scheme to show the similarity with the Labour Government’s Act, and dealt with the opposition to and subsequent success of Lloyd George’s scheme.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the following motion was moved by Mr E. Olliver, seconded by Mrs E. Fuller, and carried by enthusiastic acclamation:—“That this very representative meeting thank Dr McMillan for his lucid exposition of the Social Security Act, and the general philosophy underlying the Labour Party’s policy; and also expresses its confidence in the party’s candidate, Mr Ben Roberts.