TRAINING IN MASSAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16798, 14 March 1918, Page 6

TRAINING IN MASSAGE.

1* ' ■ VALUE OF CERTIFICATES.

MISREPRESENTATION ALLEGED. The hearing of a civil action between .' Mary Band, of Auckland (Mr. Stanton), ,; and Sister Maysie, of Auckland, masseuse j (Mr. McConnell), 'in which the plaintiff claimed £13 15s special damages and £1001;:; general damages, for alleged misrepre- 1 sentation in connection with the defendant's school of massage, was continued / before Mr. E. C. Cuttcn, 8.M., at the Magistrate's Court yesterday. i An advertisement, authorised by tho , I Public Health Department, and published on February 25, 1918, which was put in, notified persons desiring to qualify in professional massage.treatment that theOtago i School of Massage, at Dunedin, was the Vjnly school in New Zealand recognised by the Government' apart from the postgraduate course for trained nurses established at tho Auckland Hospital. Privato tuition and certificates. from unauthorised persons would not receive Government recognition. Charles E. Maguire, medical superintendent of the Auckland Hospital, said ! that' some time ago he received a letter from Sister Maysie with reference to the dismissal of one of her pupils from voluntary work at the hospital as a masseuse. > The writer stated that she was not aware ' that there was an official school at Dun- - edin, and asked if there were any authority to which she could submit the examination papers of her pupils to get them properly acknowledged. He advised her to writo to the registrar of nurses, Department. of Public Health, who deals with such matters in tho Dominion. The only recognised school of massage in tho Dominion j was in Dunedin under the Otago Hospital Board. Ho would not recognise anybody who had not the Dunedin school or local hospital certificate. Plaintiff gave evidence on tho lines of the statement of claim which set out that in or about the month of July, 1917, Hie ( ; defendant, who was conducting a school of massage in Auckland, represented to the plaintiff that she was a masseuse, hoivliiig a qualification from the Swedish School of Massage in Dunedin, and was authorised to issue certificates, entitling the holder to be registered as a masseuse/' The plaintiff was induced by there and other representations to become a pupil of defendant, and paid £13 13s for fees. The plaintiff attended the school for two months, and passed the examination, receivings certificate'and gold medal, but tho certificate she found to be valueless and not recognised by any authorities as of any value, and the defendant had been unable to teach or practise massage. Mr,. McConnell, outlining the defence. said that, firstly, Sister Maysie did hot make statements which were untrue, and, secondly, if she did make such statements she did not know they were untrue, as she had been misled by a communication from tho Swedish School of Massage at Dunedin, which purported to authorise her to issue certificates and to teach pupils massage. If any misrepresentation had been made it was entirely innocent, and devoid of any intention to defraud. Tho defendant, who was a niece of tho late Dr. Bamardo, was a gold medallist of Guy's Hospital, London, where slio had been trained as a nurse, and as a masseuse for nine years. Subsequently, sho was connected with hospitals in • India, America, and Australia. She saved in the Boer War, for her services in which she was presented with a gold medal by General Baden Powell. When she came to Now Zealand she could not find a recognised authority in connection with massage treatment, but was told that there was such an authority at Dunedin. From a newspaper advertisement she got in touch with .the Swedish school, and, upon payment of a fee of £5 5.«. received what purported to be an authority to issue certificates. The evidence for the defence had only just been opened, when tho case was adjourned until to-day.