REST HOMES.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19770, 7 November 1929, Page 13

REST HOMES.

! CARE OF AGED NEEDY. BILL READ A SECOND TIME. [THE PBEBB Special Servkt ] V.-F.I T.I.V-TON. N'■■..--..r- r*. J "l irr -■-•"■ .«"rry tbat ai:_v m.. mi'i-rs ; '.-' •:,,- li.-:j"- "h'-'ii-l mak» tic supi;-.- ' •-.'■n r:.,i* »;..-«• rf -* hexes ar<* to 1<; j „m«'« or a«v:«i:;«." s-i:d the Minister f.".r | H, ;. it's rt!.- ll'.s. Mr >ra!U->Tthy 1 :: i ! •.*■:-. ,i!j :n *;>■ H'''i-' "i* Fi'-iT'-'T.Ti ; • . . - '..:- .•. ■■:.■■<■; f" t ; = >!■■■ .'■ ~;i r'. i !:.'-• •?-.>":•» F-i-- "Thwt win ?::■■ nr.- \ f h-- Pnr'" Minister smd my*.(■!:", a« Ministi-r tn charge of the Bill, winvd to avoid. The kmics aro intended to save many deserving people i whose only fault is their poverty from [drifting into gaols or asylums and to 'put them in nioro eong>.nial surround- j i Purine th>- .■our-" of th>- di-hato o;» [ it 1 .- ii- : .-:i«uri' the Hon. Mr Wi!i",,>rfi ex- I ' pr.-.«.-d thi- opinion, ;■<* a rr «u!t of thirty | , I r«-.illy ne..d»>d. it would h-!i. many | (people who rould not at present' 1-c ! in th«* ordinary way. It was lev of the grento.f yieees of hutnaniI larian |.>gi*!.-i':'"'a thn; had ev»>r V.-..?n t e..ni*eive'i. [ . Welmminr *»>• tU', Mr J. A. N..-h j j iR., Palmerstom .';> id h* to t!i.- i ' words "destitute persons" in the tit!•- | [and urged the Minister to allow the j , measure to he known as the "Rest 1 Homes Bill." ! Mr W. K. Parry f Lsk. Auckland j Central) said he, too, aohorred the term "destitute." I "I will undertake to alter that and call the measure- the 'Hest Homes Biil'' said thn Minister for Health. The Bill was ateorded the support of other members including the Leader of the Labour Party (Mr H. E. Holland;, who expressed a hope that the terminology "rogue and vagabond'" would be eliminated from Court proeednre as it belonged not to the present but to the Middle Ages. Mr R. A. Wright CR., Wellington Suburbs) said the problem before the Minister would be the determination as to who was a destitute person. He advised the Minister to safeguard himself if any proposal were contemplated for the subsidising of private rest homes. He agreed that the Bill wai a genuine attempt to deal with a problem of magnitude. "Thera is no rest home. It is a gaol that is provided," declared Mr E. J. Howard (Lab., Christehurch South), who said the legislation had been drafted by the prison authorities. "We are getting a prison with a sort of gilded j pill,'' he added. "Every clause in the Bill was written by a prison authority. - ' The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Coate-i: Von don't tuggt-st that the Minister for Health is a prison authority '? Mr Howard: No. hut I suggest the Minister for Health is not the author ft the Bill. The, Muii-ter: That is where you ;:re tm>!akeil. Mr Howard said he repudiated the w hole measure, tho authorship of nhirh haflied him. It might have been one of the babies left over from tho Reform Party. "I will claim it if no one else will," siid Mr Coates. Mr Howard: Whoever is the author, God bless him. It is not much, anyhow. Mr T. W. McDonald (U., Wairarapa) said the authorship did not matter; the main thing was to get the principle brought into operation. There were, however, some defect*, , and these should l»e remedied before the measure was passed. Amarcnvmt r.t the interpretation ', plared on the Bill by Mr Howard was expressed by the Minister for Health ' in replying to the debate. A person otild b" sent to a rest home without II conviction Iwin:: entered or even of tho charge of misdemeanour being heard. After making it clear that it was not intended that the rest homes should bv gaols or asylums, Mr Stallworthv a!«o made it* clear that the Bill had not been forced on him, as had hevn suggested. It had arisen ont of the necessity of poor old men and poor old women, who had been treated very harshly in the past, and ' was to provide for them treatment on • the lines of progressive sociological de- : vefopnu-nt. The Bill wa.s a new men- ' sire, and not a legacy left by the pre- ' vious Administration, and whatever , blame or prai>e attached to it the I Government took the responsibility for j its promotion. Referring to a point the Leader of • tho Opposition had made nt an earlier ( stage. Mr Stallworthy said there was ' 110 intention to interf< r- with the . iiVrty of those free-spirited, independent old men sych as were found. l for instance, on the northern gnm- j fields, by committing them willy nilly 4 to rest homes so long as they were . l ; ving without any menace or danger to themselves or others. ] The Bill was read a second time. 1