NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 94, 22 April 1931, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

Yesterday in Parliament.

Th'o problem of tho farmer occupied an important place in the deliberations of tho House of Kopresentatives yesterday. It had been intended to discuss the question of the wheat duties, but soon after the House met in the afternoon the Leader ■of the Opposition moved the adjournment in order to give the Houso an opportunity of considering tho plight of the farmer who was unable to obtain sufficient supplies ot fertiliser. The suggestion wag made by Mr. Coates that the Government should set up a comprehensive committoo of interested parties to consider the price of fertilisers and the best method of providing farmers with the finance necessary to go in for the systematic uso!of artificial manures. Mr. Ooates found support from all sides of the House, but tho Minister of Agriculture pointed out that although the Government was making a genuine effort to meet tho position it was hampered by lack-of finance. The motion to adjourn wns "talked out" by tho 5.30 p.m. adjournment. In the evening tho House turned its attention to the provisions of the Finance Bill No: 2, which aims to give effect to further economy proposals. , Although critical of several of the proposals, Beform members showed no great disinclination to swallow the pill, bitter though they agreed it was. Speakers from tho Labour benches, supported, by some of the Independents, wero frankly hostile to the principles of the' Bill, however, and an indication was given that portions of: the Bill would be icsisted in the Committee stages. The second reading debato'had'.not concluded when the House adjourned at midnight. St. George's Day. To-morrow, 23rd April, is St. George's Day. Banks and legal offices will be closed, but in no other, respect is, the day observed as a holiday. Saturday next, being Anzac Day, is a full holiday, comparable to a Sunday. Hospital Management. "More work, tin the part of a board of directors often means less efficiency in the business. The best organised and most successful companies requiro few meetings of directors. Long agenda papers should make any directorate suspicious of its organisation. Either it is not giving enough responsibility to its executive officers or the latter are refusing to accept it," said Dr. B. Campbell Begg, a Civic Leaguo candidate for the Hospital Board, speaking at Kilbirnie last evening. "When the work of any hospital board appears to bo unwieldy it is time to make a general survey of the wholo situation. If members of boards would cut their meetings in half and the members give up the saved time to the study of hospital bylaws and the rich literaturo on organisation available in other and senior countries, there would be nothing but gain to tho institutions under their charge." The Patient Comes Pirst. "Tho motto that I -would pasto up in every department of a hospital would be 'put yourself in the patient's place,'" said Dr. E. Campbell Begg, a Civic Leaguo candidate for tho Hospital Board, in his address at Kilbirnie last evening. "Patients ' are not _ units that have become enmeshed in the network of a machine, but human men and women in time of trouble, anxious for their own future, fearful of. the fate of their families, ill at ease perhaps in _ tho unusual publicity of a ward, brought in contact -with a, to them, unwonted sight of affliction in the mass. Kindliness, care, attention, and human sympathy mean much ,to them: A hospital can be so organised that every patient must feel that attention is being concentrated on his particular case, that every member of the staff is actuated by one motive, to lisc all skill and caro to make him well again in the least possible time. And the poorer and mpve helpless the patient tho more meticulous should bo the care taken not to hurt his feelings or, his pride. If there is to be differential treatment at all, let it be in favour of the weakest. The strong can look after themselves."