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Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 963, 13 March 1917, Page 6

We feel sure that our readers will he both shocked and pained jvhen they read the particulars set out in another column regarding the attitude of a F.yttelton doctor to a resident who sent an urgent call for his services. It may be that I)r Newell was acting strictly within his legal rights in demanding a promissory note for an exorbitant fee from a sick man before doing anything to

alleviate his sufferings, but his action was daily at variance with all the traditions of the honourable profession [o which he belongs, and it will certainly have the effect of reviving the demand for a State medical service. What is even more disquieting is the fact that Dr Xewell should be supported in his attitude by the only other doctor resident in the Port, so that if a resident falls ill, and cannot come to terms with Dr Newell, he must send to Christchurch for medical aid or go without. Medical etiquette is one of those things the layman always finds ditlieult to understand, and we imagine that had Mr Seanlon's illness proved fatal before Dr Nedwill arrived, the Lj'ttelton doctors would have found it very difficult to explain their action satisfactorily to a coroner's jury. As it is, we commend the early consideration of the position to the Hon. Mr Russell, Minister of Internal Affairs, who has interested himself in a State medical service, and suggest that he is now furnished with an argument which should carry a good deal of weight with his colleagues.