OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2609, 2 April 1889, Page 3

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

(riiOM Oil: OWN COKKI-.SI'U.NnKNT.) iSviinkv, March ] 'J 1 UK political developments of the past, week have been imp' rtant. Hir Honry Varices lias assumed the rein*, arid, aided by a now team, specially selected " for this occasion only " he proposes to pans the estimates and attempt a Land liill. Consider ill}? that in a full House ho can only boast a majority of four, and that ho. signally failed t, i carry out a more modest programme when two-thirds of the House supported him, tho outlook is not very piomising. If two members wue to change side? tin 1 majority would vanish, and it is impossible that any rea'ly useful work can bo done. Inn House A HO equally divided the truest wisdom would be to efface party linos as much as possible and proceed with such business as would commend itself to both sides. My withdrawing the Protection issue from Ins programme, Mr .Dibbs otlered facilities for the adoption of such a course. But it was declined by the Freetraders and they in their turn have no right to expect any more consideration than they have shown. The. freetraders base most ~f their hopes or. a continued lease of pnvcr on tho .squatting vote. A Land liill has been piomised which will attract the support ot this section. who mostly style themselves Protectionists. There is no doubt that a Land Bill is urgently needed. But it is needed in the interests of the whole country, and a measure which is framed to c.itch votes is sure to be. drawn up in the interests of a favoured class. The land question is of more lital and immediate importance than the Protection issue. If I lie public estate is .sacrificed to party exigencies it will bo a. clear case of dropping the, substance to grasp the .shadow. What is the deficit? Four millions, km per .Mr (iarvan, or two and a half millions a- per Air lUmis and Mr jVlacMillaii ? When doctors differ who shall decide. When all these treasurer* and ex-treasurers can't com* within a million of one another, the much enduring liritisii .investor may be expected to be in a. pretty quandary. The point that will impress itself upon him moit of all is the fact that there is a dolicit. The medical men of the metropolis, and indeed of the colony generally, aro sorely dissatisfied with their position. Many of the special privileges and emoluments which are freely accorded them in other countries arc denied them here. .Men without diplomas are allowed to practice, and the immense income which in other countries, is diverted into pockets of the medical profession by tho poll-tax, which they are enabled to levy under the name of compulsory vaccination is here dependent on tho free will of those people who believe in the operation. For the medical profession, as a whole, I have a great- deal of respect. Some of the best and self-denying men of the community are members of it, and they justly claim tho affection of all they have 'benefited. Still, when it comes to a question of granting excessive powers to any class of men, however meritorious, there is naturallv a great deal oi unwillingness. In the case'r.f New .South Wales this unwillingness has hitherto proveiited the passing of such an Act as the doctors would like. < I am bound, too, to confess that this inaction lias, so far, been thoroughly justified by results. The death rate of the colony is vei y favourable, as compared with that, of countries in which the medical profession is able to exercise greater power. As for smallpox, wa have had several outbreaks iu the colony, but their ravages have not been one whit greater than those which this disease has made in other countries, which have made vaccination compulsory. The. case of the doctors against the quacks would be stronger if there were not so many quacks among the holders of diplomas. The delinicion of a " quack" according to the dictionaries, is "a boastful pretender to skill lie does net possess. ''The possession of a diploma certainly implies a certain amount of medical "cram." J'.ut it can't give medical skill—that combination of intuition, resource, decision and general helpfulness. The •' healer" like tho poot in born, not made. He can be perfected by study and experience, but no amount of study and experience can perfect a talent which is not there. Thou there are the men who are too la/.y and self-indulgent to apply themselves to anything else than the taking of fees, and the, spending of tliem when tlioy have got them. All these tilings help to explain why some of the so-called "quacks" aro popular and respected, whilst some of the diplomaed men are mere '■ legally-qualified' tillers of graveyards. iTnfortmiatoly it is impossible to confer exceptional privileges on the. worthy members of the profession, without at the name time them on the unworthy. The secret hope of many leading doctors, and the loudly expressed claim.-, of their jotir.i ilisti;; organs is that may be 111 id : compulsory. This would mean a fee of from five shillings to a guinea from every member of the community, and it would of course a'id enormously to the

general emoluments of tils profession. i s!vm!<J bo very sorry to -say that this is the only reason why they advocate it. J>ut fit-ill it has an influence that must not be overlooked. Those hopes are now recedine: further and further into llic dim future. I'Vnm the very outset there have been sturdy sceptics who have denied the eliicacy of vaccination and have endeavoured to attract public attention to the terrible risks involved in it. Tilo hi to Dr. Biereton, of this eiiy, was a prominent champion of the el-aims of truth in this regard, and his letters on the subject, which appeared in the Sydney Horning Herald, have never yet been satisfactorily answered. Still the power of early te.ichinc? was sui'icient to secure a widespieai veneration for the practice of tlnxß wlio objected were looked upon as rather troublusom > heretic-:, so that the present freedom of Xew South Wales from the scourge of "compulsory cowpox " must be regarded as due to political causes, rather than to intelligent c eiviction. At last, however, there are siprn ? that the march of scicutilie inquiry is to invade this lonu'-accepted practice. In the new issue of t.he Kucydiii-wplia J'ritannica, the article on vaccination points out very strongly und ei>ucln«kely that many dangerous and fatal (li-easfs are conveyed by vaccination. Furthermore that it does not protect from KinaUpoN. as is shown by the statistics of several epidemic-*. And lastly, that re- \ aceinalion, the sheet anchor of vaccinating doctor-', is equally powerless. All rccruits in (he (lei-man armv, for instance, are com-pulri->rily re-vaccinated. Yet in the epidemic of IX7I. the mortality from sinallpo\ aiivmis tliwe re-vaccinated patients was four or live times fjruatei than anions the civil population of the samo age. The '\Ve-tii»iri.-.ter Review- is one of the first of le. iding map!/.ines to break tlmr.gh the conspiracy of silence which has hitherto suppressed the publication of facts of this kind. An exhaustive article on the subject will be found in the current issue of this periodical.