NEW HEALTH DIRECTOR

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1038, 31 July 1930, Page 1

NEW HEALTH DIRECTOR

DR. M. H. WATT MAY SUCCEED DR. VALINTINE CHANGE IN CONTROL Press Association WELLINGTON, Wednesday. No appointment has yet been made of a 'Successor to the Director-General of Health, Dr. T. H. A. Valintine, whose retirement from the Health Department has been announced, but It can almost be* taken for granted that he will be succeeded by the present Deputy-Director-General, Dr. M. H. Watt. "The anticipated appointment of Dr. Watt is believed to involve a change in the control of the department, and it is understood that no steps will be taken to fill the present post of Deputy-Director-General when he vacates it to become head of the service. Most of Dr. Watts’s medical career has been spent in the service of the Health Department. The son of a Presbyterian minister, he was born at Dunedin, arid graduated from the Otago Medical School in 1919. He has the honour of being the first New Zealand graduate to be appointed to the department. He was awarded a travelling scholarship, and went to England for post-graduate study. On his return Dr. Watt set up in private practice at ,Ngaruawahia. In 1917 he joined the department as a district medical officer of health, in the same year he was appointed by the New Zealand University as examiper in Physiology. Dr. Watt has also acted for the university as examiner in public health.