MINISTER'S REPLY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 82, 3 October 1941, Page 4

MINISTER'S REPLY

TALK OF COERCION

"SO MUCH NONSENSE"

"The modern social system is built up on the fact that the State requires that the liberty and licence of the individual shall be curbed *at almost every point in the interests of ■ the community as a whole. This talk of coercion is just so much nonsense and won't bear any investigation," declared the Minister of Health (Mr. Nordmeyer), in replying to the debate.

Mr. Nordmeyer said that the parent was coerced to send his child to school and if the child was suffering from an infectious disease he was coerced into seeing that the child was isolated. Similar coercive measures were adopted towards motorists to ensure that they took due care on the roads.

. Under the Bill, continued Mr. Nordmeyer, the patient was left entirely free to choose' his - own doctor anywhere. He said that the Leader of the Opposition had suggested that the scheme should not be introduced at this time. Why had the Leader of the Opposition changed his" tune in the last few months? No one had been more emphatic' that the full social security scheme should be implemented. The Leader of the Opposition had also said that the scheme made no provision for consultant, surgical, or home nursing | service. No one pretended it did. What the Government was suggesting was that it must take one step at a time, i DOCTORS ON SERVICE. Referring to the criticism of the Bill based on.the number, pf..doctors| on active service, Mr. Nordmeyer said that 259 doctors, ami not 300 doctors, were engaged in military duties^ and there were only 192 overseas. There were 1693 names on the'register, so that the number remaining was 1434. Three years ago there were only 1457 names on the medical register, which meant in effect that today there were only 23 fewer doctors available. Obviously the number of doctors overseas did make a difference, but it was simply an exaggeration to suggest that the number overseas was such that the Government was not justified in bringing in the scheme at the present time. v Mr. Nordmeyer said that a doctor serving overseas with the rank of colonel was paid at the rate of £14 17s 6d weekly, and if he had a wife and two children he received an additional allowance of £2 9s. Assuming that the weekly value of his rations! and keep was £1 15s, his total weekly i income, tax free, would be £19 Is fid, j and the equivalent in New Zealand ifj he were in the Dominion paying taxes, on the same money would be between £25 and £26 a week. For a lieutenantcolonel the amount would be from £21 to £22, for a major '£20, for a captain £18 to £19, and for a lieutenant £16 to £17. In addition, the Government had guaranteed to the doctors overseas a sum for the first year after their return equivalent to that which they earned in the year before\they left New Zealand. THE FRIENDLY SOCIETIES. Referring to the criticism that had been expressed regarding the effects of the Social Security legislation on the" friendly societies, Mr. Nordmeyer said that under the monetary benefits extra payment was provided for lodge members. When the doctors had refused to service the friendly societies if they accepted Government'money the Opposition had not raised its voice in protest at the attitude of the doctors. He had received letters from lodge members stating that the first they knew that their lodges had carried a resolution antagonistic; to the scheme was when they read at in the newspapers, and certain members of the Opposition had been named as being very active in friendly society circles in seeing that the resolutions went through. ! I Reference had been made to a fall in friendly society membership, continued Mr. Nordmeyer. He had received a return from the Friendly Society Department showing what , had happened in this war and the last war. The report stated that the friendly society curve since September, 1939, followed almost exactly that of the first two years of the last war. The report added that the inference was *hat the effect of the social security scheme on the movement had been negligible. Answering the criticism that a deterioration of the standard of medical practice would result, Mr. Nordmeyer said that if the standard deteriorated it would not be the fault of the system or the Government but of the doctors who were rendering the service. He for one refused to believe that the method of payment would cause a deterioration in the standard.