GERMAN JEWISH DOCTOR

Southland Times, Issue 24598, 21 November 1941, Page 6

GERMAN JEWISH DOCTOR

CITIZENS OBJECT TO APPOINTMENT HOSPITAL BOARD DEFENDS ITS ACTION The rights and wrongs of the appointment of a German refugee doctor to a position in a public hospital were argued at the meeting of the Southland Hospital Board yesterday. For some weeks tire board has employed Dr J. Weiser, a Jewish refugee from Germany, as resident house surgeon in charge at the Lorne Hospital. Two petitions putting opposite sides of the case were received. One was from the Makarewa-Lorneville Citizens’ Association strongly protesting against the doctor’s appointment. The other was from patients of Lorne Hospital warmly praising the doctor and requesting his retention. After a keen discussion the board decided to write to the Citizens’ Association pointing out the reasons for which the doctor was appointed. In the course of the discussion the secretary (Mr A. M. Williams) said the board had advertised the position at the Lorne Hospital asking for applications from men with medical experience, but there had been no replies. Then the Health Department had advised that the provisional registration of Dr Weiser was being arranged and the board was advised to engage him. NO ONE ELSE AVAILABLE “We have got to have a doctor. We did not want a refugee, but there is no one else available,” declared the chairman (Mr T. Golden). “The Health Department recommended him. Surely to goodness he is better than no one at all.”

There was a good deal of sentiment behind the opposition to the appointment, said Mr J. McNeill. The chairman: If we are going to be swayed by sentiment we are going to be worse off. If these people who signed the petition knew the facts they would change their winds. He understood that Dr Weiser had been expelled from Germany, said Mr A. T. Newman. The board was up against it for doctors and had acted in good faith. Mr McNeill: Was he expelled from Germany or did he just go? I have heard it said that he had no sympathy with the Germans and just decided to get out. PLIGHT OF JEWS IN GERMANY Mr T. Pryde: Is it not a fact that he is on the same footing as thousands ol other Jewish people who have been driven out of Germany? He is not a German, though he may have been born in that country. I suppose his people are just as much against the Germans as we are.

Mr W. Excell: He is relieving one of our doctors who is at the front. I do not think we can do anything better than retain him. There was no doubt about Dr Weiser’s qualifications, said Dr J. A. Pottinger. They had been vouched for by the Health Department. The man had been driven from Germany by the action of the government the democracies were now fighting. The New Zealand Government had gone into the matter.

'‘That is what the whole war is about,” he continued. ‘‘We are fighting to get these people a fair deal.” To persecute them again in this country was not fair. It was a case of confusing a Jew and a German. The sins of the Germans were being visited on the Jews. Those people who had been tortured and driven out of their country deserved at least fair treatment. He had been informed that one of Dr Weiser’s brothers had been killed by the Nazis in Germany. VIEWS OF RATEPAYERS ‘‘Pay no attention to it,” declared Dr Pottinger when another board member referred again to the Citizens’ Association’s petition. Mr W. Clark said the board owed a duty to the ratepayers of Makarewa and Lorneville. It had to take notice of their views. The chairman: Yes, if they can get us another doctor. We also have a duty to our patients. Dr Weiser had been qualified for many years before he came to New Zealand, said Dr Pottinger, but that was not taken into account. He had only been given a provisional qualification in the same way as final year students had because of the war. A motion moved by Mr Newman, that the board write to the Citizens’ Association giving a full explanation of the reasons for the appointment of Dr Weiser, was carried. TWO PETITIONS The Citizens’ Association’s letter stated that the following resolution, which conveyed the feelings of the parents of 33 soldiers now overseas, had been passed: “This association views with the greatest disfavour the unpatriotic action of the Southland Hospital Board in its recent appointment of a German superintendent to the Lome Hospital. The appointment is deplored all the more in view of the fact that the hospital Is shortly to be used for the treatment of wounded returned soldiers. The association enters an emphatic protest against the appointment and desires that he be re-

moved immediately from the position of responsibility.” The Lome patients’ petition to which 45 signatures were attached, stated: “We wish to state to all who have signed any petition to have Dr Weiser removed from the position he now holds that as far as medical skill, care and attention are concerned, Dr Weiser, without, we understand, the co-opera-tion of other medical men employed by the Hospital Board, has achieved remarkable results ... as far as we can see the petition we are against has been organized by somebody who does not appreciate the wealth of knowledge which has been brought into this district. We feel sure that with the cooperation of the other medical men that knowledge and experience could be shared by them all and the people would benefit . . .” The petition went on to say the patients placed the greatest confidence in Dr Weiser and earnestly desired his retention. PATIENTS’ PRESENTATION

Dr Weiser, who is leaving shortly for Dunedin, was the guest at two functions held in his honour. Last evening Mr Bruce Hannah, on behalf of the patients at the Lome Hospital, made a presentation of a writing outfit to Dr Weiser in appreciation for his attention to the patients. Dr Weiser also received a presentation from the nurses of the hospital on Wednesday evening, when Nurse Olive Robertson made a presentation of a wallet on behalf of the staff.