THURSDAY AUGUST 27.

Otago Witness, Issue 2842, 2 September 1908, Page 33

THURSDAY AUGUST 27.

In the Legislative Council, The Hon. Mr MACDONALD asked ifi* Attorney-general whether his attention had been drawn to the following paragraph which appeared yesterday in the columns of the Evening Post : — ' ' Dangerous delay — Wellington's Fever Hospital; straight talk from Dr Ewart. D have again to report the serious illness of a fever ward nurse. As I have previously informed you, nearly every nurse •on taking , up duty in the. fever" wards has been seized with an illness of some! sort. .The matter has become a serious one, and I think the trustees should coneider the advisability of closing the wards altogether," and whether it was the iqtention of the Government to deal' immediately aud effectively with the question of fever cases in the City of Wellington ? The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said that! the trustees of the hospital had the question of another site in hand, and the 1 Government was doing what it could to assist the trustees. REGISTRATION OF DEATHS. The Hon. Mr BAILLIE moved that the .Government take into consideration the desirability of amending the Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Act to the following effect :— That every death should be certified by a. medical man 'after having tested the radial! artery. Mr Baiilie said he understood that this was done in Australia, and h£ thought it should be done in the Domt> nion. A bill was also being introduced! in the Imperial Parliament 1 for the same purpose. Statistics quoted in England* showed that 149 persons had been buried) alive, and that 219 persons had been. revived after having been laid out a» dead. Even in Wellington a case had been brought under his notice in which* a person had been revived on two occajsions after being certified to as dead,) He also instanced a case at Palmerstoft' North. *He would perhaps be told that! it would cost thousands of pounds to! provide officers, but surely it was bette£ to pay thousands^ than that one unfortu* nate person should be consigned prematurely to an early grave.'

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said it! 2*ras desirable that everybody ehould be seen by a medical man before a death certificate was given. If by testing the '. yadial artery was meant feeling for pul- : cation, he understood that that would ' fee the first thing a medical man would , do, but he found that some medical men thought that this was not necessary. He understood that a practice existed of medical men attending a person 'in sickness to give a certificate to the person in attendance on the patient when called. He thought it was desirable that doctor* should certify from an inspection of a l>ody that death had taken place. In regard to the registration of a death before burial, .this was not always desirable ! y- in the case of a backwoodsman, for instance, who died some distance away from a registrar. In these cases it would also be undesirable to keep a body awaiting a doctor's inspection. The Hon. Dr COLLINS said he was disposed to support this motion, as ' medical men frequently came across I people who had a dread of being buried , alivel In a long experience, he had s never come across a case where a person i apparently dead and certified- to had ! come to .life, and he had never come across a medical man who had had that personal experience. Still, there might be, a slight chance of a person being buried alive. He would be glad to see , some amendment made to the act in the direction indicated. It "was said that the only true test of death was to wait until putrefication set in, but it wa6 not desirable to retain a body, especially in . cases of fever, until putrefication took i place. He thought that the clause re- | lating to stillborn children ehould be j " amended to provide that burial should not take place until the body had been seen "by a medical man. Tho Hon. Mr CARNCROSS f.iid it was difficult to find out how many cases had occurred, as unfortunate creatures were coffined up. He knew of" an instance where a young woman was laid' out and prepared for interment, • and the slamming of a door caused a slight movement in the body, which was noticed, j and the young woman wa6 alive to-day. • The Hon. Mr M'CARDLE mentioned * similar case, that of a Native woman. The motion was agreed to on the ivoicee. SHIPPING TRANSACTIONS. The Hon. Mr MACDONALD moved that there be laid upon the table of the Council such information from vouchers and records ia the possession of the treasury as t would enable a correct statement to- ■ be, made of tho amount paid annually by the New Zealand Government during the past five years for freight, passages, etc., between the United Kingdom and New Zealand,, and that erach statement should contain full information as to the comraission .allowed in connection with all shipping transactions with a firm known as "E. A. Smith." The Hon. Mr JENKINSON pointed out | that Mr Maodonald had not given any reasons for his motion. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said he could not answer the question, but he had asked the different departments, and was informed that it would take an enormous amount of labour to supply the in- I formation for one year only. On that , account the Government could not see I its way to supply the information. " Mr MACDONALD, in reply, said he had desired to avoid any reference to personal or disagreeable matters, but he , had drafted his motion so that the Government could make inquiry. Wiih the leave of the Council he destred to withdraw the motion, and to submit it in another form, setting forth all the matters connected with the 6ubjeot, with which he was acquainted. | The requeet to withdraw the motion was | opposed, and the motion was declared lost on the voices. QUACKERY PREVENTIONS. The Hon. Mr CALLAN moved the second reading of the Quackery Prevention Bill. He said he hoped the bill would become law, as it would protect young people and adults from unscrupulous per- ; sons, who pretended that their prepara- i tions would cure all the ills that flesh j was heir to. He added tliat many of the " preparations contained harmful drugs, and especially the soothing medicines for children, which largely contained alcohol and morphia. — Agreed to. In the House oj Representatives, "Mr REMINGTON drew the Speaker's totterition to the fact that he had received ia letter from a person in his electorate, standing as a Labour candidate, stating that if Mr Remington obtained a billet for him he would not oppose him at the j election. Mr Remington asked whether this was not a breach of privilege. The SPEAKER said this was not a breach of privilege, though it was objectionable. LOCAL BILLS. The Oamaru Harbour Board Loan Bill (Hon. Mr Duncan) was read a third time and passed, and the Christchurch City I Betterment Bill (Mr Gray) was put j through the committee stages, read a third time, and passed. Mr MAJOR moved the second reading of th« Opunake Harbour Bill, the motion j being carried on the voices. Mr OKEY moved the second reading of the New Plymouth Harbour Board Empowering Bill.-Tbe PRIME MINISTER supported the mer.i>ure, and the second reading was carried. "Mr KIDD moved the second reading of 'the Auckland (Symond street) Cemeteries Bill. a.nd the motion was carried. The Public Reserves Act Amendment i Bill (Sir J. G. Ward) was read a second time pro forma. THE EDUCATION BILL. The Hon. Mr FOWLDS moved that the House go into committee to consider the Education Act Amendment Bill. He said that the bill made a great improve- ! ment in the Education Act, and would J make a greater improvement in the education system of the Dominion. He had j

1 received many expressions of approval and some suggested amendments, some of which could not be entertained. The object of the bill was to improve the status of teachers and to increase the staffing of schools, and both those objects would, of course, if carried out, be to the benefit of the educational system. Hitherto we had had no^cause to complain of the character of efficiency of our teachers, who compared favourably with ■ the teachers anywhere in the world. It-j was true that there had been an increase . in the number of uncertificated teachers, ! but the number here was not in excess of the number, in other countries. The increase was due to the increase in the I number of small schools in sparsely- j populated districts. However, he thought , it was advisable to limit the number of such teachers and to encourage teachers to go up for certificates. The explanation of the fact that the number of uneertincated teachers had increased was that so many fresh positions had had i to be occupied, and ia many cases it was out of the question that certificated 1 teachers should be appointed. It must ' also be remembered that there had been a change in the system of teachers examinations, besides which the Superannuation Act had resulted in the i drawal of several teachers from the ranks j of the profession. Against that it was i stated that never before had so many ■ teachers been found who were seeking to improve their status in the profession. I The training colleges, he Jaelieved, were \ capable of training all the teachers re- | quired for the Dominion. The proportion of male teachers was satisfactory. J The new scale provided not only for an 1 increase of salaries, but for a better system !of promotion. Mr Fowlds gave figures showing that salaries paid in New Zealand compared favouiably with those paid in England. Further, it was provided that no teacher's salary should be reduced for two years after a grade had been decreased owing to a fall in the average attendance. The Minister went on to urge that the average attendance was the best basis on which to calculate the size and importance of a i school, but he pointed out that teachers' 1 salaries did not, under the present regulations, vary with the varations in the average attendance. In the application of the regulations about three years elapsed before a teacher's salary was effected, and he urged that the regulations had worked out very satisfactorily. The largest proportion of increased salaries provided by the bill was naturally given to those in the smaller schools. The bill did not propose to raise the capitation i on schools in grade O, which was the highest in the world (£6 per child), and it provided a fixed salary for teachers in schools with over nine children. Mr Fowlds went on. to sketch the quite possible career of a teacher who entered" a training college at the age of 18, and who could at 44 years of age reach a salary of £370. One feature of the bill j was that salary increased even though a ! teacher remained in the same position. No scheme of promotion of teachers could possibly succeed unless the boards had power to transfer teachers. The Hon. Mr DUNCAN: Where do committees come in? The MINISTER replied that the committees were in a better position than i before. It was a proper and legitimate thing to trust the boards with the power contained in the bill. The boards would not dare to do anything improper. A teacher had to be chosen with consideration for his particular fitness for the position to which he was to be assigned. Coming to the staffing of schools, he said that in many of the schools of the Dominion there had been too many scholars in a class foT one teacher to. .deal , with. Individuality of pupils had to be [ looked after. The method proposed in the bill to increase the staffing was to substitute adult for pupil teachers. It would be two or three years before they had sufficient adult teachers to work iip to the -standard aimed at in the bill. When the second schedule of the bill came into operation, it would be necessary to have 725 adult teachers. He explained i the probationer system provided for in | the bill. i Mr MASSEY congratulated the Education Committee upon the work it had i done on the bill, though he did not pledge ; himself to support all its details. He j thought more attention should be devoted i to increasing salaries and less to increasing staffing. If we wanted men with brains in our schools we must pay for them. He was opposed to the present system of paving by average attendance. He re- j gretted that pupil teachers were to be done away with, and said that proposal i was a very grave mistake. Some of our | best teachers had started as pupil teachers. We did not hear as much as we should of the good work done by school committees. He hoped the House would place on the Statute Book a measure which would remove the friction between the committees and the boards of education. Referring to salaries, he said the schedule to the bill was an improvement j on the existing conditions, but there was i room for still further improvement. A serious defect in the bill was this : that by increased staffing a greater strain was i put on the superannuation fund without I provision being made to meet it. The j Government should do its duty and place the teachers' superannuation fund on a firm basis. Sir J. G. WARD : We told the teachers that we Ehould do so. Mr MAPSEY : I am glad to have that assurance from the hon. gentleman. Mr BUDDO congratulated the Minister ; on the proposed increase of salaries, and | generally exn roct:o ' 1 ->>-«<- '<-•! of the bill. He was not altogether in accord \vit>- J abolition of the pupil t earlier system. He hoped the time would some when teachers' salaries should no longer be dependent upon the average attendance. Mr MALCOLM said he thought the ! bill was in many respects disappointing. I The support given to it was an indication of how extreme was the necessity of 1 teachers to get any kind of legislation.

The condition of teachers was pitiable. He was strongly opposed to making salaries dependent upon the average attendance. Mr Malcolm said a system of promotion was required ensuring to every teacher certainty of promotion. He supported the Minister upon the decision to leave the appointment of teachers in the hands of the Education Boards. He thtfffght too much had been made of the necessity for extra staffing, which cost more and prejudiced salaries. Moreover, there were advantages in large classes which were absent from small classes, such as rivalry and emulation. He was of opinion that the whole system of primary, secondary, and university education should be co-ordinated and interrelated. The debate was adjourned.