THE WRONG POINT OF VIEW

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2502, 1 July 1915, Page 4

THE WRONG POINT OF VIEW

Mucn of the criticism which has been (lirected against the medical side of the Defence Department, we fear, has not been reoeived by the Ministers concerned in the right spirit. Granted that a good many of the complaints.put forward have been unfounded or greatly exaggerated, there still remains the fact that there have been_ very marked shortcomings in certain directions. Ministers, under stress of their heavy tasks, have shown a tendency to treat the complaints brought under their notice from the wrong point of view. They are oftentimes too readv to regard criticism of the detailed working of the Department to which they belong as a direct reflection on themselves or something to be resented; instead of realising that while they may be nominally responsible as the head of the Department, it is the men who have failed in the actual execution, of their tasks who must be called to account. Loyalty to one's subordinates may be a good thing within reason, but a Minister who is prepared to take on himself the responsibility for the incompetence or neglect of his subordinates in matters over which he as Minister cannotpossibly exercise personal supervision is carrying his "sense of loyalty too far. Moreover, Ministers should not even for a moment lose sight of. the fact that though* they may owe somethiug to tlieiy subordinates, they owe still more to the" public. Complaints that disclose shortcomings in the detailed administration of the Defence Department should be specially welcomed by the Minister as affording him opportunity fur removing weaknesses which otherwise might never come under his notice. So also with the Medical Department. Anything which makes for greater efficiency should be welcomed, nven thonsb, it. may sometimes be nr.esentcd' in an un-

palatable form. No one expects perfection from any Minister or any Department; and the lot- of the Minister of Defence and that of the Minister of Public Health in these strenuous times would be made easier if they could rid themselves of the mistaken idea that it is always necessary to act on the defensive''where their subordinates are accused of being or of having been at "fault. Rcccnt changes have resulted ii. considerable improvement in the provision made for eases of measles and other sickness at Traitham Cain]), and there is hope that- such shortcomings as remain will be speedily removed. Dr. Valintine this morning indicates some of the steps takmi in this direction. If we might offer him a suggestion, it is that there are many women ready and anxious to assist in nursing work who, though not skilled nurses, could render useful service by relieving the trained nurses of some of their duties. The shortage of women nurses which appears to exist might be partly met in this way by a judicious distribution of trained and untrained nurses at the various emergency hospitals.