LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3198, 24 September 1917, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION'S OFFER

'■ Sir, —As one who has long retired froi active practice I am perhaps enabled t view with a more impartiaj eye the pre sent misunderstanding between 'he Gov ernmcnt and the British Medical- Asso ciation. This association is practicall; u trade union, that is to say, it is a bixi; of men, all of the earae calling, bandsi together to 6ecure just treatment for it members and to safeguard their right and privileges. In a democracy lik New Zealand trade .unions are looke< ■upon as beneficial and indispeusabl organisations, so lonf as they hold a jus balance between their own interests am those of the general public. The Britisl Medical Association, liko other trad unions, guards its members --from tli sweating tendencies of free competition and tries to ensure by collective bai gaining that a fair' fee. is paid for fai work. When a dispute occurs betwee: employers and employees, and the em ployers bring in employee competitor from foreign countries in-order to coerc their employees to accept terms whicl the latter think unfair, a great deal o resentment is felt. 'A short ag the Medical Association was the victin of this treatment, and it was resented just as it would have ten by any othe trade union. Some members of Parlia ment and of the Government iipplaade and endorsed this victimisation, and i is by a thinly veiled - threat of fimila treatment that the Government is r.oi trying to force the association to ncocp a Bill which would impose condition which every member of it would con sider unfair. The facts of the present _ misunder standing are as follow:—Up till i.ow tli medical service required.by. the Defenc Department has been obtained entire!; by voluntary enlistment, and more thai a third of the profession is already 01 active service. There has been no organ isation and very little foresight. Tin has resulted in some- districts being dc pitted while others havs not suppliei their proper share. To obviate tins am to avoid a continuance of this wastefu method the British Medical Associatioi proposed a scheme for the consideratioi of the Government. It asked lhat a' idvisory board representative of the pro fession should be set up and given sta tutory power to conscript the whole pro fession, not merely those of to" 1 ™?: age. It asked as a condition that tli scheme should bf, under the JJefenc Department, and not under that of I ui) lie Health. Those conscripted were t bo used by the Defence Departmant jither in the military service proper o re be lent for civil service; but it wa: jxpressly stipulated that this civil em ployment should mean remedying de pletions caused by the war, . and _no supplying the needs of districts lyhicl lad been short-handed before the wax That is, that the medical profession it a irillinz patriotically to put itself to an, inconvenience and to make any lacrihc •equired for war/ purposes, but tor 11 jther. It strongly objected jonscripted by the Pnblie .P aaTtment, because it suspccted iliat tha Department would use this scheme a -.he thin end of the wedge which migh ater on bo driven home in the shape o i State medical service. . On receipt of this offer the Bntisl Medical Association was informed tua •he Defence Department could get al :ho volunteers it required by the jre :ent methods, which were so T\a stetu , «d further that that Department woul, lot undertake it, and thai the Puolr Tealtli Department would never consen o accept assistance which suppliei ind managed by the Defence Depart nent. The offer of the British Medica Association Was turned down and , Iraft Bill sent,to it bv two, I, A lealth Department. embodying ril .th loints which were so strongl} objectei o bv the profession. This, of course he British Medical Association couli lo ln a anTwer to this, and after severa nterviews and much wrrespondence th iritish Medical Association has i ts offer in a draft Bill which is UN iein" considered by the Government. It would seem that the profession hai nade a generous and patriotic offer o distance, which woufd entail mud acrifice on its part; the only condition. ,eing mch as it considers are require or the conservation of its rights cn< irivileges • when peaceful times return Moreover, bv the proposed scheme it i onfidently believed that all ,f military and civil service would b ully supplied, with a minimum of in onvenience and disorganisation. ' This disinterested offer has not bee ecoived in a very friendly .fPF.t IRS been met with thinly veiled threat fpains and penalties in the -vent P he Governments scheme not bein a ac ented. If compulsory conscription, fo IT P U work, of all trades professions, am llsses were found to be necessary fo he public safety, the medical l'kft every other class, would obey pat ioticX and cheerfully, but it woulj urely lie a manifest injustice that m-di S men should be compulsonly ccn cripted as a class for civil work"whei , similar treatment is not cPP^ ed J ither occupations, such as mw-M, car lentors, stonemasons, seamen, printers awvers etc. If these are conscripts n classes of trades and professionsi foi TT/irlv then the profession "\\oulc ccept "the'treatment without a n 1 "™" 1 « a war meaifflre of urgency, but otherrise it is certain that it will only yield n compulsion and feh a strong *»* if injustice.' Willin? service mustsmeV ie the best for the Government and Sr the public, but how can willing ervice be expected if the onvincei that it has wjth yranny and »3^- GE E . ANSON.