DENTISTS REGISTRATION

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 215, 11 September 1925, Page 9

DENTISTS REGISTRATION

| CLAIM OF ASSISTANTS. ) I MINISTER URGES TO ACT. j I I "MAY END IN TIIE LAW COURTS." (By Telegrapli.—Parliamentary Reporter.) 1 WELLINGTON, Thursday. An appeal to the Minister of Health ,! to proceed with the Dentists Amend- . j ment Bill, to allow of thirty unregis- > i terod dentists opportunity of registerr | ing, was made by several members in j [ j the House this afternoon. "This que=- : . j tion of registration of dentists seems to 1 be one that is going to cr.d in the law , I courts." remarked Mr. Savage (Auck-' . j laud West). "It is up to some one to [ | see that these men are not persecuted . j as well as prosecuted." . | Mr. W. A. Veitch (Wanganui) urged [ I the Minister of Health to say what he . was going to do about the bill, which. he contended, had a large amount of ; . public sympathy behind it. The bill , would have been gone on with last [ I year but for the opposition of the Mm!- --! ister of Justice. It seemed like perse- ; cution to prosecute men while the dcci- j ; ! sion of the Minister was being awaited ' .I as to what he was going to do with l the bill. If those opposing the mea-- . j sure persisted in perpetuating an injus- | , j tiee to those men desiring an opportu- j , j nity of registration, then prejudice I i i might be aroused against the Dentists' j - ; Association being allowed to hold its j . i privileges, and, instead of having its j position strengthened, the association j . might find legislation going through which would be to its detriment. He j . i did not say that as a threat. If the ! . I measure was passed the difficulty would | | never arise again so far as dentists were .' | concerned. , I If the men concerned were given a , i fair chance of being registered, said Mr. ; | Parry (Auckland Central), the standard , of efficiency would not be impaired. The Community's Interest. i The health of the community should >! be the first consideration, said Mr. A. i ; | Harris (Waitemata). The men had i ! been given an opportunity of passing I .i an examination, but some of them l , . failed. If they were going to allow j \ ! unqualified men to practice dentistry I \ 'they were going to take a great risk. * j | ! Mr. Macpherson (Oamaru) said that I r many of tho applicants were efficient i ' ) practitioners, and he objected to the . i shutting out of men who for years had I > given good service to the community, I and who would be an ornament to I the profession. He appealed for justice for the men concerned. j Mr. Jordan (Manukau) similarly sup- . ported the petition. Keeping His Word. \ The Minister of Health, Sir Maui I Pomare. said he was quite in sympathy with his own bill on the subject. The , dental profession had itself to blame for , the position in which unregistered men . j found themselves. They had man- - . oeuvred tliem into their present posi- . j tion. There could be no gainsaying ) that by an Act of Parliament dentists I were allowed to employ men in their i I surgeries who were not fully qualified j l j and who were to act under the super- l s I vision of dentists. The dentists, how- - \ ever, took advantage of that for many i I | years, and even left their mechanics in j I charge of their businesses while they , - went to England. (Hear, hear.) Now I dentists wished to condemn those men. 'T want to ask," said Sir Jiaui, "where > was the interest for public welfare when ' these dentists employed their mechanics '■ to do their work for them?" ' Labour Members: That's a good point. j The paramount interest, said the 1 | Minister, should be the health of the ; j community. Why would dentists no; allow the men to pass a bill which ; , would not lower or injure public health r j one bit? The men had been doing the ; . work for years, and numbers of them j had sat for examinations and had passed. Was he to be told that those | I who had passed the examination were , j practising to the detriment of public I health? That was the logical conclu- [ I sion. Then, again, how many of the ; ! dentists in New Zealand had gone , through the University? Applicants wero willing to sit for univej-sity examinations every year. It was a cardinal principle of British justice that no man's living should be taken away from him, yet here was an attempt to do that very thing. j Sir Maui Pomare denied that there ' was anything between the Minister of Justice and himself in regard to the matter. He said he had promised last year that ho would reintroduce a bill . this year, and the late Mr. Massey had > made the same promise. "So far as 1 jI am concerned," said Sir Maui in con- ! • | elusion, ''I am keeping my word, and •, I don't think there is any man in the I • | House who will want any man to break I his word. j , , Mr. McKay (Hawke's Bay) urged the ! : j Minister not to allow the matter to ; . I drop, as an injustice was at present : | being perpetrated. The men concerned » | should be permitted the right to sit for ! an examination, and to sit again if they ; j failed. In other walks of life a man i j was not debarred from earning a liveli- | hood, and if they failed at one exam-1 t ination they could sit for another. ! s The hope was expressed by Mr. W. i H. Field (Otaki) that the bill would become law this session. The Dentists' j i Association was guilty of an injustice ' ; in not allowing these men the oppor- : -. tonity of being registered. i Discussion had arisen over the report! of the Public Petitions Committee (M ' : to Z), on a petition from Mr. B. G. j Sanft. of Auckland, praying that he be registered as a dentist under the Dental Act. The committeo recommended that the petition be considered by the Public Health Committee, apd this reeojnipendatiop was adopted.