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1924. NEW ZEALAND.

KELVIN HOSPITAL COMMISSION (REPORT OF THE).

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

COMMISSION TO INQUIRE INTO AND REPORT UPON THE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF PUERPERAL SEPTICEMIA AND LIKE DISEASES, IN PARTICULAR RELATION TO THE ILLNESS OF PATIENTS AT THE KELVIN MATERNITY HOSPITAL, AUCKLAND. Jellicoe, Governor-General. To all to whom these presents shall come, and to FREDERICK Earl, Esquire, K.C., 0.8.E., of Auckland, Barrister; Sir Donald Johnstone McGavin, C.M.G., D.5.0., M.D., F.R.C.S., Director-General of Medical Services; James Sands Elliott, M.D., Wellington, Medical Practitioner; and Lady Jacobina Luke, C.8.E., 15 Burnell Avenue, Wellington, Married Woman: Greeting. Whereas it is expedient that inquiry should be made into the conditions under which the disease of puerperal septicemia, or like diseases, arise or is spread, and particularly into the occurrence of maternal deaths at the Kelvin Maternity Hospital, Auckland, during the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, for the purpose of ascertaining the cause or causes of such deaths or illnesses; the circumstances thereof ; whether there was any, and, if so, what, connection in their causes or origins ; whether all necessary and desirable measures were taken to prevent their occurrence ; and what steps, if any, are necessary or desirable to guard against, deal with, or prevent the recurrence of similar illnesses, or deaths, under like circumstances : Now, therefore, I, John Rushworth, Viscount Jellicoe, Governor-General of the Dominion of New Zealand, in exercise of the powers conferred by the Health Act, 1920, the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908, and all other powers and authorities whatsoever enabling me in this behalf, and acting by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of the said Dominion, do hereby constitute and appoint you the said Frederick Earl, Donald Johnstone McGavin, James Sands Elliott, and Jacobina Luke to be a Commission to investigate and report all such matters, and particularly— (I.) The circumstances surrounding the illness of — (a.) Mrs. Heather Hill Barker, who died at Kelvin Maternity Hospital on or about the twenty-second day of July, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, and whose cause of death was certified — childbirth two days, uraemia eight hours.

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