COSTING WORK

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 118, 21 May 1941, Page 3

COSTING WORK

MEDICAL BENEFITS IMPORTANCE OF CHEMISTS Work involved in calculating the costs of various prescriptions under the pharmaceutical benefits scheme was referred to at to-day's sitting of the Xo. 1 Armed Forces Appeal Board when appeals were entered by Boots the Chemists (N.Z.), Ltd., on behalf of two qualified chemists called up in the overseas ballot. Mr. C. R. Orr Walker, S.M., presided. In referring to the shortage of chemists generally, Mr. Cocker, who presented the case for the company, said two chemists had already left the firm's employ to join the Health Department to assist the Government in connection with the pricing of prescriptions under the new benefits scheme. They would remain permanently in that position, as the work would go on all the time owing to the variation in prescriptions, each of which would entail a different cost. The appeal for the two reservists concerned to-day, Norman Kingston Clarke and Arthur Spackman, was allowed, adjournment being granted sine die on the usual conditions. Railway Worker Sine die adjournments were also allowed in the cases of 12 reservists, employees of the New Zealand Railways workshops at Otahuhu. appeals for whom were entered by the Director of National Service on the grounds of public interest. The men are employed as fitters, turners, welders, iron machinists, blacksmiths and an acting-draftsman. The men concerned were: Robert Lawrence Thomas, Raymond Theodore Haultain, Samuel Esmond Pemberton, Brian Havnes. John Michael Keane, Theodore John Seward, William Desmond Hendry, Reginald Glendinning Jobes. Andrew Patrick Terence Brown, John Ronald Steele, Walter John Dainty, Harry Victor Howard Waller. Appeals for postponement of service in order to enable them to complete their examinations for M.Sc. were granted William Anderson McGillivray and William Ernest Russell. An order was made that they j should not be called up before December 1. The appeals were sustained by Professor F. P. Worley, who stated that chemists were urgently required in connection with special war work in Australia, and, from the military point of view, these reservists, who had applied for positions with the Commonwealth Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, would be more valuable if they completed their degrees. An extension of time until December 1 was also allowed Arthur Lockwood Keall in order to complete his examinations at the Auckland University College. Other appeals dealt with were on the grounds of status and undue hardship.