HEALTH IN VICTORIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20027, 17 August 1928, Page 15

HEALTH IN VICTORIA.

NEW MINISTRY CREATED. STATE AND FEDERAL RIGHTS. [from our own correspondent.] SYDNEY, Aug. 9. Australia, already very much over-gov-erned, is to have still another Ministry—this time in Victoria, a Ministry of Public Health. There is already a Federal Ministry of Public Health. New South Wales and Queensland, to mention only two of the States, have Ministries of Health, which overlap the work of the Federal Department, but each seems jealous of its rights, and neither will give way. And now Victoria proposes to follow the bad example of others. In the absence of co-operation with the Federal authorities a Ministry in Vic-, toria will probably be very much more useful than the existing commission of health, which has never been regarded as ideal, because its powers were greatly limited. Theoretically, the commisson is capable of doing anything it wants to do. In practice it finds that it can do nothing, for it has no funds. It is treated as a joke, but public health .is no joke, so it seems that the time for a change is long overdue. The commission superseded the old Board of Health in 1920, and ever since then it has been an unhappy body. Great things were expected of it. But it had no control over' any officer of the department, and no say in the expenditure of the department's funds. It could pass resolutions, but if any of them involved the expenditure of any money, they could not be carried out. It lias neither • staff equipment nor funds. There are other similar bodies in Australia. Of course, the commission took itself seriously, and has frequently asked that it should be vested with some real authority, real control of the staff, and a. voice in framing the estimates of the department. It w-anted to be able to investigate and carry out research to assist local authorities. It wanted to educate the public. It is still -wanting these things, and before it gets any of them it is going to bo replaced by a Ministry. Such a Ministry has been sought for years by those interested in health matters. The creation of another Ministry cannot make a vast difference to the size of the public debt. It cannot mean a very great increase in taxation. And it will provide a position for another politician who is waiting on the doorstep of the Cabinet room.