English Heal Officer Lies N.Z.

Northern Advocate, 28 August 1947, Page 8

English Heal Officer Lies N.Z.

‘‘lt isn’t like England, where you might find yourself in a place about two months before people would bother to speak to you very much.”

So said Dr J. L. Newman, who has arrived in Whangarei to take up his appointment of Medical Officer of health for Northland.

The doctor’s duties will be to exercise supervision over the general health services, including housing and sanitation, in the North. School medical service and tuberculosis control will also come under'his supervision. Taking his medical degree at Cambridge University in 1931. Dr Newman went to King’s College Hospital, London, where he held three resident posts. Later he was resident medical officer at tlie Royal Chest Hospital until he embarked on his public health career. He took his diploma in public health and finally became a member of thd Royal College of Physicians. IN CIVIL DEFENCE Before starting county health work Dr Newman had been port medical officer at Southampton, and a school doctor.

During the Battle of Britain lie was in Sussex, working in a mobile firstaid unit, “and mucking about with civil defence.”

He then moved to Warwickshire where he was engaged in civil defence work, conducting an ambulance and first-aid service to relieve the strain on Coventry, which was in the heart of Warwickshire, 'if it was subject to another blitz.

The Health Department in England was run by local bodies and not by the State, the doctor continued. He was medical officer of health at Midhurst, Sussex, and visited centres in Warwickshire County also.

Some New Zealand airmen were stationed near Burpham, Sussex, and Dr Newman had many interesting talks with them and remarked on the interest taken by the New Zealanders when he said lie wanted to come to this country. He applied for a transfer at New Zealand House London, for a transfer to New Zealand and. after waiting from September to March, he found that his application had been successful.

“Best holiday I've had for seven yeai’s", Dr Newman continued, when referring to the trip to New Zealand on the Akaroa. He was accompanied by his wife, and two children—Richard, aged 8, and Helen aged 5. “I could say a lot of nice things about the people here if they could provide me with a house”, he smiled. He arrived in Auckland two weeks ago last Sunday, spent three days there, and came to Whangarei, which he described as “very pleasant indeed”. Mrs Newman had found the people here sociable and helpful, he said.

Dr Newman will fill the vacancy left by another English doctor, Dr C. W. Dixon, who left New Zealand two years ago to join UNRRA. He now is lecturer at Leeds, England. Since Dr Dixon’s departure, laymen of the Whangarei Health Department had carried on the work, assisted by occasional tours of the North by a doctor from Auckland. Last week Dr Newman visited Kaitaia, Rawene, Kaikohe, and Dargaville. To hear him pronounce the Maori names would make many people think that Dr Newman had been living here all his life.