THE MEDICAL PROFESSION

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21123, 26 March 1934, Page 12

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION

progress of no years EXPERIENCES Of r.'R. V,. IRVING The g La ' e medical ricic -5c 1 30 years a-d , f r 1 ' medical 1 g Christchurc 1 -e <-■ 1 a 1 P W. Irving i. c \ h reporter c T P 1 Dr. Jr m a 1 t „ 1 Irving w ' 1 C 10 morrow for Engla a, t 1 c their hone Dr. Lwmg _ 0 a born b it c." C 11 11 1379, \ T a 7 u and \a- car - 1 0 C*. lege, of % i m f \<~ \ proud. I *. j E = -> J on comp.t r_, j c 1 o = I took his f ->i cc c a C ■- bridge Ui \ e c -, locum + encos "< ' r -> r 1i Of Engkma D I r = i*-*u ed to Christchun: u -< 1 e n d t iie as-1 sistant hou e 1 1 j utn Dr. Fox, at the public hospital. He and Dr. Fox were the only resident members of the .-'ait in those days. Public Hospital Praised Dr. Irving s_:d it was extraordinary how the public hospital aad grown and he had the very highest opinion of it. I: had an excellent board whhh realised that to get things done k must spend money, j Dr. Irving was en the honorary staff for mrmv year* and the board, he said, treated I"ni very well and k provided *ae hospital with everything it possioly could. Dr Irving c nH he spent a year as medical 'superintendent of the Hawke's Bnv hospi*.but returned to Christchurch in WuO, and he had practised here ever since. Being kc-enlv interested m the j welfare of his proiession Dr. Irving took a crominefli part in the British Medical Association and he had held every office in it that it was possible for him to hold. He was president of the local division and also of the New Zealand branch, and was a member of the executive in Welling o '" l - He had also recently resigned from the chairmanship of the New Zealand medical council He was representative of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association on the Board of Health. Incidentally. Dr. Irving mentioned that his father was the first president of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association in Christchurch about 1836. Dr. Irving had hoped that his son would also occupy the office, but he had too good a "position at Home to leave. The work m the Obstetrical Society was Dr. living's greatest hobby, and lie paid a tribute to the work of Dr. Doris Gordon. The society set out to raise £25.000, but succeeded in securing £31,000. and he greatly regretted that he had not seen the foundation stone of the maternity training hospital in Dunedin laid before he left. Dr. Irving added that he had been examiner in midwifery and gynaecology. More Highly Qualified Dr. Irving said that the type of doctor in general practice had changed greatly during the last 30 years, and the young men of to-day were most efficient. Most of those w..0 qualified at Dunedin went Home and obtained higher degrees in medicine and surgery. Christchurch, he thought, was wonderfully supplied with doctors. The means of progression of doctors had also changed, and Dr. Irving had used the push bicycle, the gig, and the motor-car 0:1 his rounds. The very great improvement in obstetrical"nursing during the last 30 years was also commented on by Dr. Irving, who said that this had been brought about almost entirely by the St. Helens Hospitals, which were established by the Rt. Hon. R. J. Seddon. When he started in practice there were no obstetrical nurses as they were known to-day. The nurses then had no special training, but when the St. Helens nurses began to go through the country, all this was changed. They knew their work and could be relied upon, and this made an immense difference to the doctor and to the patient. Dr. Irving said he had taken an Interest in matters outside, the medical proiession, and that was a thing he thought all doctors should do. It was a mistake, he thought, for doctors to keep their noses too . hard down en the grindstone. He was on the beard of Christ's College, and was en the Cathedral Chapter and several other bodies. He was a life member of the Clipper Ship Crusader Association, that being the shin in which he arrived in 1879. A son and a married daughter in England and another daughter who desired to continue her musical studies in London were the chief reasons for Dr. Irving's decision to make his future home in England, probably in Hampshire, but he intended to make a trip to New Zealand again. He had too many friends here not to do that. Everybody, he said, had been most kind to him, and if half of the things that had been said about him were true, it was a great deal of which to be proud. It was a wonderful thing to know that people appreciated what he had been able to do.