REGISTERED OPTICIANS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 229, 27 September 1930, Page 8

REGISTERED OPTICIANS.

My association desires me to call your attention to the enclosed paragraph, which: appeared recently in your paper.; The heading, "An Honorary Optician," should hot have been used under the circumstances, as Canon Haselden is not a registered optician. I would point out that whether preceded by the adjective "honorary" or not, anyone using the designation "optician" must be registered under the Opticians Act, 1928. Anyone using this term without right is liable to' a fine ox twenty pounds, as you will see from the following excerpt from the Act: "Every per* son commits an offence and is liable to a fine of twenty pounds, who, not 'being a registered medical. practitioner or a registered optician, practises or professes to practise' as an optician." It is realised that Canon Haselden does not describe himself as an optician, but, as a "specialist in spectacles," and that the heading "Honorary Optician" was put in by a member of your staff probably in ignorance of the afore-mentioned Opticians Act. Owing to the fact that the Act has come into force , only recently it is not surprising that a mistake of this nature still occurs. Canon Haselden is, no doubt, doing a great deal to cheer the patients in the hospital, and, provided he understands the different types of lenses, he is probably helping some poor souls during the tedious hours in hospital. The glasses that he distributes, ibeing the disused glasses of friends, can only : be regarded as temporary or emergency glasses, for nothing short of a thorough examination and the individual prescription of suitable lenses can bring real eyesight comfort. The day of ready-made us has 'been over for anany a long year and the use of anybody elses glasses is, in most cases, a very grave mistake. T. DARTNALL PEACOCK, Hon. Secretary, Auckland Association of Optometrists.