A.—.l

14

called " The Nurses Register of New Zealand." The Nurses Registration Amendment Act, 1920, is the only subsequent enactment. (b.) Subsection (3) of section 4 of the Act of 1908 reads : — " Every person is entitled to registration, on payment of a fee of one pound, who holds a certificate from the medical officer or authorities of any itospital out of New Zealand recognized by the Minister under any regulations tinder this Act that the holder has received such training and passed such examination as would be required from New Zealand nurses under this Act." (6 1.) On the 30th May, 1914, regulations (gazetted 4th June, 1914) were made revoking all regulations heretofore made under the 1908 Act, and in lieu thereof making regulations in respect of hospitals acting as training-schools for nurses. Regulation 17 of the said regulations reads : — •" Hospitals outside New Zealand shall be deemed recognized as train-ing-schools under the Act by the Minister on his signature being affixed to the certificate of registration presented by the Registrar. " Nurses trained outside New Zealand applying for registration shall afford proof of having undergone a course of training for three years and of having passed a final examination. " Nurses trained outside New Zealand whose course of training satisfies the Registrar, but who have not passed a final examination or whose certificate does not so state, may be allowed to sit for the State examination on payment of the prescribed fee." (b 2.) The New Zealand Government is willing to continue the provision made in the above regulations to admit nurses registered in the United Kingdom to registration in New Zealand, provided the applicant shall afford proof of having undergone a course of training for a period of not less than three years in a trainingschool for nurses in the United Kingdom recognized by the General Nursing Council, and of having passed a final examination. This examination to be that of the General Nursing Council after such examinations have been instituted. (6 3.) With regard to the New Zealand intention to require as contingent to registration a period of training of not less than three years, the Government of New Zealand desire to refer to the initial Nurses Registration Act of 1901. Section 4 thereof, while laying down the conditions under which registration was to be obtainable in New Zealand in the future, at the same time granted another way of entrance for those who could not at that time fulfil those conditions, provided application was made by such persons before the 30th June, 1902. For the past twenty years, therefore, New Zealand nurses could only be admitted to registration by having had three-years training in a hospital within the meaning of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act (usually called a "general" or "public" hospital), together with systematic instruction in theoretical and practical nursing from the medical officer and the matron of that hospital, and by passing a final examination. (b 4.) It may be that at the commencement of the Act in the United Kingdom nurses may be admitted to registration who cannot give proof of a three-years course of training. It is considered that to admit such nurses to the New Zealand register would be inequitable, because of the practice which has held good for twenty years with respect to New-Zealanders themselves. (c.) The standard for training in New Zealand at present is as set forth in subsection (2) of section 2of the Nurses Registration Amendment Act, 1920. In the meaning of subsection (2) (a) of that section, " hospitals approved for the purpose by the Registrar " (Director-General of Health) are hospitals within the meaning of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act, 1909, and are judged according to the class of cases admitted, the personnel, equipment, and facilities for instruction, and not necessarily with regard to a defined number of beds being available. The regulations gazetted on the 4th June, 1914, already referred to, and on the 3rd August, 1916, prescribed the conditions under which such a hospital shall be eligible for recognition as a training-school for nurses. In the first-mentioned are also regulations as to the course of training and examinations. The final examination (generally known as the " State examination ") is held biannually, and consists of a written, oral, and practical part. It extends over two