TRAINING OF GIRLS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20916, 22 September 1939, Page 2

TRAINING OF GIRLS

DOMEBTIC WORK AND NURBINQ BILL RECEIVED FAVOURABLY (By Telegraph.—Special to Times) WELLINGTON, Thursday The Nurses and Midwives Registration Amendment Bill, which has as its main object the training of nursing aids, was received favourably when the second reading of the Bill was taken in the House of Representatives tonight. •‘The purpose of Ibis Bill is to provide training for girls, some of whom are too young to enter the nursing profession and others of whom do not wish to take the full nursing course, so that they will be able to attend to many cases of sickness that occur in the community,” said the Minister of Health, the Hon. P. Fraser, when moving the second reading. “The girls will also be equipped to perform domestic work in any home to which they may be called. It is believed that the training they will receive in both directions will enable muchneeded help to be given in many homes, particularly in the country." Girls who served two years as nursing aids and then wished to enter the “nursing profession would be able to count those two years as one year's training for the purposes of their nursing experience. Mr Fraser added. Certain small hospitals were not considered suitable for training nurses, but they could be used for the training of nursing aids. A number of schemes had been put before the Government, and the one contained in the Bill was a sincere effort to deal with the problem of providing nursing assistance in the home. “I believe this scheme will fill a long-felt want," said Mr W. J. Poison (Opposition—6tratford). “It will be very valuable because it will give a girl that dignity and status that will distinguish her from a domestic. It is simple and practical. It will be welcomed by women generally, and especially by country women.” The Bill was passed.