NURSES' PAY.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16508, 28 April 1919, Page 2

NURSES' PAY.

10 IKB EDITOR OP "THE FEESS." 1 Sir, —For a good many months past I havo been writing agitating for better treatment of nurses, without eliciting any notice beyond a semi-apologetic letter from the chairman of tho Hospital Board. Whence therefore this combined display of indignation on the part of Dr. Fox and Mrs Christie? Surely it did not require the brutal publicity of an election campaign to stir the latent conscience of officialdom. I deliberately and of set intent used strong language at Sydenham in the forlorn hope of exciting comment-. 1 have succeeded better than I anticipated. I am delighted that Dr. Fox has entered the field. My forlorn hope may materialise into a successful assault. I pass Dr. Fox's remarks aboutthe legal profession, which merely show that he is 30 years behind the times in liis knowledge of the ethics of that profession in this country. Both lie and Mrs Christie are somewhat- nnlcind in suggesting that I am actuated bv personal electioneering motives. What I have done in tho past- is proof io tho contrary. In any event-, if I wore so actuated it would bo an unwise more on mv part, as T am not likely to diverta single vote from the Labour candidate, while it is quite probable I may offend a number of my own supporters. Mv sole object is to endeavour to , achieve some measure of justice to the nursing profession. Dr. Fox challenges my figures regarding salaries. The figures I quoted wero published in the "Lyttelton Times'' 011 December 17th last from informatioh supplied by Mr Wharton, the Hospital Board secretary. Here they are:— Nurse*: First year £12 to £20. year £25 to £30, third year £30 to £3-3. fourth year, first six months, £32 to £57. second six mouths £60 to £60.

Sisters: Commoncing at £80, and ris- ; by increments of £'10 per annum to £100.

* Dr. Fox and Mrs Christie both dispute these figures, hut neither agrees with the other regarding the remuneration actually paid, so perhaps it would l>e hotter to accept the secretary's figures as the more accurate. In addition to the salary paid Dr. Fox adds ■S:'j2 a year for "comfortable board anu lodging, with every convenience, garden, tennis courts, etc., etc., everything that pertains to a relincd home.'' Persons living in "refined homes" have to keep up a certain style. The nurses aro expected to do so. Now how far will £20 a year go in dressing a yomyx woman who lives in a "refined home"?

Let ns compare the position of girls 111 offices with the nurses. Office girls easily earn £2 to £3 a week, some of them more. As a rule they work seven, or less hours a clay for five d.iys a week; three or four hours on the sixth day, with every Sunday and all holidays off. A nurse works eight to ten hours a day every day of the week. Sundays included, and has no holidays except a period of two or three weeks in each year. Her work is of a fair more arduous and strenuous character than tliafc of the office girl, and requires qualities of a high order. According tor Dr. Fox, a fourth-year nurse receives a maximum of £65, and if we add his £o2 for board, her total remuneration for the year is C 137. By this time she is high.y skilled and indispensable to the doctor and surgeon. Yet after lour years' hard work, and after passing examinations requiring a. high standard of intelligence, she is worse paid than the office girl with a. similar period of training. Other comparisons could he made equally disadvantageous to the hospital authorities. The nurses consist of a. body of noble, self-sacrifieing women, who are eo engrossed in their profession that they never dream of complaining of the inequality of their position. During the epidemic some of these nurses worked 12 and even 16 hours in a day, ;tnd I heard of one case where a nurse fainted exhausted over the body of her patient. Yet not a word of complaint. Are wo all so materialistic that we have no thought of justice for these noble, women? . I can't and don't believe it. I put this proposition to Br. Fox and the liospital authorities as a fair basis, of remuneration and work as a beginning iu the process of amelioration: — Probationers, 10s a week for first three months; 15s a week for next nine months.

Nurses, 20s a week for first year, with annual increments of os a week until the full period of four years' training is completed. Under this scale the nurse in her fourth year would receive a salary of 30s a week, when she would still be badly paid. In addition to this tho hours of work should be limited to eight hours a day (except in cases of emergency when overtime fchould be paid), with a whole day off in eaoh week. If a working man were compelled to work eight hours a day for seven days a week at 1-s a day lie would call it slavery. But, presumably, it would bo improper to apply that term to the case of a young woman working a minimum of eight hours a clay for seven days a week at a wage ol less than 8s a week. In conclusion, I would like to say that I did not state at Sydenham that tlie nurses scrubbed floors. I expressly excepted scrubbing—perhaps the exception led one of the reporters astray.— lours, etc., , J J. J. DOUGALL.