THE COOK ISLANDS ADMINISTRATION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1106, 20 April 1911, Page 7

THE COOK ISLANDS ADMINISTRATION.

.CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS. [To tho Editor.] Sir,—Your latest article regarding the administration of the Cook islands discloses a very sad and most serious state of affairs, and as the result ot the publicity given by you surely the Government will now 1)0 moved to immediate action. Tho lethargy thnt has been shown by tho Minister in charge of those Islands is indeed pitiable. You show by actual correspondence between Dr. Dawson and Mr. J. E. Smith, the Resident Commissioner, that the public hospital at Rarotonga was officially open in April, 1910. Ytit on February 27, 1911, Dr. Dawson complains, to the Comiuisiioner that the three urgent cases which he had reported to the Commissioner as requiring immediate surgical treatment were refused admission to the hospital by Dr. Story, the Acting-Chief Medical Officer, the excuse apparently being that they could not be admitted until the return of Dr. Chesson, the Chief Medical Officer, absent in New Zealand. Tho correspondence also discloses the almost inconceivable fact that the Commissioner sets aside the urgent requests of Dr. Dawson and endorses and approves the action of Dr.' Story in his decision that ■ these urgent surgical cases must await the return of Dr. ChesEon. The risk of valiinble lives and the death of one of the patients does not appear to hove impressed them sufficiently to induce them to take action. Dr. Story was appointed, and no doubt paid to act for Dr. Chcsson; then surely it was his business to sso that immediate surgical treatment cases desiring admission to the hospital were attended to at once without any unnecessary delay. Dr. Chcsson should not have been permitted to leave tho Islands, until proper provision had been made for the treatment of all cases, especially those requiring immediate surgical treatment. It is difficult to believe that such provision .was not made, yet it is found that his substitute decided not to ndmit into the hospital'three serious cases for operation, but that they must await the return of his principal from New Zealand, and in this decision the Commissioner, whose dutv it is to protect the lives of all ,011 the Islands, concurs.

The Commissioner surely would have the power in such circumstances to insist upon the Acting-Chief Medical Officer receiving the patients and performing the necessary operations in the hopo of prolonging life.. If such a state of things as this occurred in New Zealand in connection with any of our hospitals the public would, unanimously insist upon the responsibility being sheeted home to the proper quarter. I wish to bring home very vividly to tho Hon. Mr. Carroll the seriousness of the refusal to admit these cases. Supposing that honourable gentleman was paying a visit to Rarotonga, and unfortunately was attacked with severe appendicitis, and lie was advised by a. medical man. of undoubted ability that immediate surgical treatment' was necessary, what would he think, and what, action would he take if he was informed by the Acting-Chief Medical Officer, and " concurred in by the Commissioner that his case would require to await the indefinite return of the Chief Medical Officer from New Zealand! Don't you think that there would be 'some'- vacant positions at Rarotongn? I cannot understand how tho Commissioner could have concurred in the delay in operating unon a native when Dr. Daw?on had no less than twice impressed upon him in'writing the urgency and seriousness of tho cases. Is it. .any wonder that Dr. Dawson in just indignation declared that it was an unfortunate circumstance that some surgical cases would not wait anyone's convenience? A very bad feature of a very Ivid business is the difficulty that Dr. Dawson experienced in 'obtaining from the Commissioner a renly to his (Dr. Dnwson's) imnnrtanr nnd urgent letter of February 27, 1911. Now that you have drawn so much weH-dr>erv«t attention to fhi« matter, it is-tn No hiiwl--that you will not rest until tho whole of tho circumstances are inquired into by the Government by ;menns of a Roypl C,ommJ¥fip,n.er, as yr»i 'have.suggested. I am sure that you ivill be supports by all tho.«e who,' possess humane feelings, and are interested in the mvinf of human life; even if it should bo' tho life of a iia'Hvn, the life of a lmtivo' beiii!'. to my mind, insfc us. valuable- as the life of n Cabinet Minister.—l am, .etc., STANLEY liANKIN. Brooklyn, Wellington, April 15, 1011. ANOTHER VERSION OF TIIE POSITION. [To tho Editor.] • ' Sir,—Some weeks ago I received a letter from my brother Dr. A. C. Story, who is Acting-Chief Medical Officer nt Kikau, Rarotonga. In this letter he gave mo particulars of the trouble there, and tho true fact's of the case appear to be the following:— . . Dr. Chessqn was appointed Chief Medical Officer in place of Dr. Dawson, resigned. Dr. Day'son had resigned, no doubt, as a protest against the utterly inadequate salary paid to him as Chief Medical Officer, and expected to be reappointed at an increased salary. On Dr. Chesson'.s appointment he (Dr. Dawson) returned to Rarotonga and started practice among tho few whites, expecting that, frith the private practice cut oft, no doctor would retain for long the position of Chief Medical Officer, and tho Government would be forced to beg Dr. Dawson to accept it at his own figure. A clique of these whites pay Dr. Dnwson JJI2O per annum, and they try to make it hot for the Commissioner, and "we .never speak as we pass by." I think you might leave out the "threo urgent cases," they're the red herring. Tho Hospital is not ready yet for the admission of patients, nnd you can be sure Dr. Dawson doesn't want to use the Hospital, or to work with any Chief Medical Officer, or any one acting as locum for that officer. The salary is a wretched one, and I cannot understand any medical man being anxious for the position.—l am, etc., BERNARD S. STORY, M.D., F.R.C.S. P.S.—Haven't we any budding playwright in New Zealand anxious for fame, because here is the. setting for a. new comic opera ? —B.S. Hastings, April 17. [We have no doubt there aro comic aspects of the administration of the affairs of the Cook Islands, although there is probably more farce than real comedy in tho particular matters wo have in mind. Tho position disclosed in regard to the Hospital, however, is the reverse of comic. Dr. Story says the Hospital is not yet ready for the admission of patients. We should like to regard this as a reason for the extraordinary attitude of the officials at the Islands in refusing admission to the urgent cases brought under their notice by Dr. Dawson; but unfortunately the new Hospital had been gazetted as open for the reception of patients more than uino months, when Dr. Dawson made his request. The Resident Commissioner's correspondence with Dr. Dawson, as published in our columns, also fails to support Dr. Story's statement. As a matter of fact the Hospital has now been open for something like 12 months, and a medical man has. we believe, been in daily attendance nt the institution.]