HOSPITALS AND HEALTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 October 1945, Page 2

HOSPITALS AND HEALTH

DEFAULTER’S BURSARY ANGRY ENQUIRIES WELLINGTON, Oct. 5. Allegations made last year by the ; opposition of Ministerial influence in ' favour of a military defaulter who received a dental bursary were renewed in the House of Representatives to-day, during-a discussion of , a vote of £2,588,636 for the Department of Health. . ■ Mrs. Ross asked: “Will the Minister of Defence state whether air- ; men returned from overseas are now informed that their free rail warrants must be availed of immediately; that is within their disembarkation leave period or else allow them, to lapse?' She also inquired whether if that was so, the Minister would take the necessary steps to see that the promises made to men in leaflets issued overseas were kept so, that they might avail themselves of their free rail passes within 12 months of their return. , , Mr. Anderton, reporting on. behalf of the Public Health Committee, on the petition of an Auckland woman, praying for compensation for alleged wrongful detention in a mental institution, said the committee recommended the petition to the Government for consideration.” . The committee expressed the desire that I should say that there is or there seemed to be, on the evidence we received, a definite necessity for some reorganisation of the treatment of people in a mental hospital,” added Mr. Anderton. , „ .4. Speaking to the Health Department vote, when the House went into committee on the estimates, Mr. Acland referred to a statement in the annual report of the Director General that New Zealand already had more hospital beds per thousand of population than any other country in the world. In view of this, said Mr. Acland. why was it that there was still an acute shortage of beds and need for many hospital extensions. We were . spending about £12,000,000 yearly or about £8 per person on sickness and that was a tremendous amount for a country with such a favourable climate as New Zealand enjoyed. Mr. Acland said that the Director General’s report had also referred to a decline of nutritional standards among school-children since 1940, but

it had been stated in the House by the Minister of Finance and others that the income of family men during the war years had been adequate. Mr Acland asked what was the reason for this nutritional decline, and what was being done to counteract wide incidence of sickness among New Zealanders. . J ~ Mr. Bodkin, speaking to an item for dental bursaries, recalled that on the same estimate last, year the Opposition had raised the question of a dental bursary which was granted a conscientious objector. On the day of that discussion —6/10/44—an urgent letter was sent by a special messenger from the Director of National Service to the Director of Mobilisation requesting that the release of the man concerned, which had been made 18 months previously in order to enable him to take up studies as a dental bursar at the Otago Dental School should be confirmed. Mr. Bodkin asked what Minister of the Crown had been RESPONSIBLE FOR ORDERING.

that memorandum to be sent. It was a policy letter, and no head ot the Department had evei' signed such a letter except at Ministerial direction. Mr. Bodkin said he had taxed Mr. McLagan, the Minister of Industrial Manpower, concerning the matter, and Mr. McLagan had denied any knowledge of it. “That raises the question of Ministerial responsibility for what took place, and also reveals a very ugly situation,” said Mr. Bodkin ’“This committee is entitled to know what Minister was responsible for the letter.” It was plain that some member of the Cabinet had intervened, realising that the position of this man was not secure, and that he might either be recalled to the employ of the Wellington Education Board or called back into camp by the Army. . mi . An Opposition voice: This man was not a conscientious objector; he -was a military defaulter. Mr. Doidge: This is the man about whom it was said last year there had been arrant political jobbery. Mr Bodkin said that what had occurred showed that there had been no attempt to observe the principles that were generally observed m Democracy. This defaulter was still enjoying his bursary at Otago. It showed the extent of POLITICAL PIS&LL possessed by some individuals when they could immediately call on a Minister to intervene on. their behalf. Mr Nordmeyer said Mr Bodkin’s speech showed with what brutal vindictiveness members of that party followed that particular man. “I want to correct the falsehoods that have been told,” said Mr Nordmeyer. Both Mr Oram and Mr Polson rose to a point of order, questioning the Minister’s use of the word “falsehoods,” which,, it was implied, referred to members of the House who had spoken. „ Mr McKeen (Chairman of Committees): Members are very touchy this morning. The word was in order provided it was not used against any Member of the House. Mr Nordmeyer went on to say that deliberate falsehoods had been circulating throughout the country. It had been said that the man had applied for a dental bursary, knowing he was going to get one, and that it would be the means of his getting, out of camp. The man was a conscientious objector, and when he appealed he was declined and sentenced to two months’ imprisonment. His father, who served in the Great War, persuaded his son to enter the Armed ■Forces. It was not until the-man had been in camp for three weeks that he iaecame aware of the Governments intention to introduce bursaries, fine first lie was that the man had submitted an application before he entered camp. The fact was that he did not apply until five weeks after the bursary announcement had been made, and, added Mr Nordmeyer, he applied for a bursary as h soldier. Opposition voice: Some soldier! Mr Nordmeyer, when reading to the House the man’s qualifications, said that when the application had been made he was serving in. the New Zealand Medical Corps’ depot at Tventham. There was a chorus of Opposition interjections at this stage. . < Mr. Clyde Carr: A lot of yelping curs. Mr. Sheat rose to a point of order. Mr. McKeen: What is wrong with members this morning. Can’t members conduct themselves in a proper manner? , . A Government Member: So they are. Mr. McKeen (to Mr. Carr): Did the Honourable Member make that remark? Mr. Carr: I said they were like a lot of yelping curs. Mr. McKeen asked for the withdrawal of the remark. Mr. Carr: I was only using the com-* parison. Mr. McKeen: Apologise immediately. _ „

' Mr. Carr: Yes sir. Mr. Nordmeyer, continuing, said that recommendations Were made to

him through the Department concerned. There was hO suggestion Whatever of political influence being used. He had no knowledge then or now of what political party the man belong-, ed to, and, at the time of the recommendations, he had not known that the man was a defaulter. HAD HE KNOWN .THAT

he would not have awarded the bursary. He knew only after the award Was made and the contract signed that the man was a defaulter. A case could be made for the cancellation of the bursary,-but there was absolutely mo case to support the allegation of political interference. Mr. Sutherland: As soon as you found out, you should have shot him back to the Army. Mr. Nordmeyer: That, is a matter of opinion. The facts are that he was awarded the. bursary as a soldier. Mr. Polson: If you were not informed that the man was a defaulter some one fell down very badly. Mr. Nordmeyer said that since then steps had been taken to investigate every applicant’s military or national service. When the recommendation was made, there was probably not time to investigate the man’s position. There had been talk of a letter alleged to have been sent by the Director of National Service to the Director Mobilisation asking that the man’s release from the Army be confirmed, continued Mr. Nordmeyer. He personally knew nothing whatever of such letter, and, further, he could not imagine any good purpose being served if such a letter was sent.

Mr. Sheat: It would put him beyond the Army. Mr. Sutherland said that someone must know something about the letter, and the matter should be cleared up in the House. Mr. Macdonald said that-a complete lack of principle had been shown in this case. He asked the Minister was the man still in the dental school. Mr. Nordmeyer: So far as I know. Mr: Macdonald said that a mistake had been made, and it was the duty of the Government to rectify it. So much instruction had now been, given tlfb man that it would be wasteful to discharge him, but if. that was the argument which the Minister intended to use it would not hold water, because the bursary was obtained in. circumstances which amounted to false pretences. It would be no hardship to discharge the. man because he was already a qualified school teacher. He asked the' Minister to say on what grounds and how was the man released from the Army. Mr. Doidge said it was two years ago since the matter was raised by the Opposition and the Prime Minister had promised to look into it, and said that if a mistake had been made it would be rectified. He asked the Minister why was the bursary granted and why was the Minister not informed- the man was a defaulter, and why was the man being retained now that the Minister knew all the facts of the case. Mr. Nordmeyer said that personally he took up the attitude that the steps which might be taken by successful soldier applicants to obtain their release were no affair of his. He merely granted bursaries on recommendations made to him. He knew nothing of the steps taken in this or'any other case by the man concerned to obtain his release.. . Mr. Doidge said an undertaking had been given that a wrong which had been ’done would be set right, but that undertaking had remained unfulfilled. “In my view the situation is

ONE THAT STINKS,” he said. . . , Mr. Nordmeyer, answering points raised earlier by Mr. Acland.- said that only in recent .years, since social security came into being, had the matter of sickness''come prominently before the public, which could now see something of the actual cost of sickness. However, he agreed that more ought to be done on the preventive side. The recent discussion in the House on recreation and physical welfare, the Government housing programme, and the recent report from an overseas authority on factory hygiene—some of his recommendations would be incorporated in the Factory Bill, to come before the House shortly—all indicated the Government’s interest in a positive approach to the good health of the nation. Special attention was beingpaid to children, although it had been impossible during the war to recruit sufficient doctors for the Division of School Hygiene. Mr. Nordmeyer said that some malnutrition might have resulted from rationing during the war years. If wise feeding had been carried out by parents with alternative foodstuffs The New Zealand diet was adequate, but only advice and not compulsion could be used m persuading parents to follow a good dietary programme for their children. However, it was likely that much of the decline of the children’s health standard referred to m the report of the Director-General was due to the lack of adequate rest and sleep. Many parents did not realise the importance of these factors m the health of children, and the Department had been carrying out an advisory campaign to convince parents of the need for adequate attention to these matters. Mr. Bowden drew attention to the need for a better standard of

HYGIENE IN EATING HOUSES. The thing that disgusted the public was the lack of suitable and adequate crockery- Cracked cups were detrimental to general cleanliness. Sufficient import licenses should be granted to enable eating-house proprietors to replace their stocks and the regulations should also be tightened up to see that the public was no longer subject to the risks of contamination and infection which, possibly, had been unavoidable during the war. ~ Mr. Nordmeyer said that it was quite correct that New Zealand nowled the world in the provision of hospital beds, but it had to be borne in mind that a very high proportion of maternity cases were dealt with in both public and private hospitals and also that relatively high provision was made for tuberculosis cases. It was the Department’s policy to have ten beds per 1000 of population in every hospital district. Mr. Bowden said that the number of private maternity hospitals in the Dominion was decreasing. One factor contributing to this was that they had not been afforded facilities for obtaining general staff. Another difficulty was that private maternity hospitals were not recognised as training institutions. He considered there was a deliberate policy on the part of the Government to force private maternity hospitals out of business.

Mix Nordmeyer said there was no foundation for Mr. Bowden’s statement. From time to time the Government was issuing licenses for the erection of new private maternity hospitals in different parts of the country, The Government’s policy was to foster private maternity hospitals. He agreed that some of them had suffered from staff shortages, but so had public hospitals. The National Service Department’s aim was to help maternity hospitals to obtain domestic staff. The House adjourned for lunch at 1 n.m.