NEW PLYMOUTH DENTAL CLINIC.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 April 1932, Page 8

NEW PLYMOUTH DENTAL CLINIC.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —In your report of the New Ply-i mouth Dental Clinic- Committee the following paragraph appears: —“The secretary was instructed to inform tha West End committee that through that -committee’s action in refusing to accept further liability for treatment a fit er March 31 all children from the school would be struck off the clinic rolls and. therefore debarred from dental clinic treatment.” This is' in answer 'to the following resolution moved by the West End school committee on March 11, 1932:—“That in view of the very un-. satisfactory position that has arisen in connection with the payment of the dues to the dental clinic, receipts from the. parents not reaching the amounts required by our quota, this committee has decided that it cannot in future commit its funds for this purpose and re-? grets accordingly to have to notify the dental clinic committee that after March 31 it cannot accept any further financial responsibility for payment of dental treatment.”

It is unfortunate that oilr representa-: tive was not present to make the position clear with regard to the attitude taken by the committee, their difficulty being that the difference between the total amount of half-crowns collected from the parents and the amount allotted by the clinic as the quota for the school, has been made a responsibility for payment by the school committee. This being the position it has meant that this year the school committee has had to find approximately £l3 to make up the difference between the amount collected and the quota required by the clinic. The school committee has not any funds to draw this amount from, and we therefore consider that the responsibility should in future be with the individual parents using the clinic and not with the school committee. Over and above the capitation grant the funds of the committee have to be augmented by special efforts, in order that they may provide for the necessities of the school and to draw on these funds in the future as we are having to do this year is what we wish to avoid. Each half-crown collected from the child using the clinic is being , paid to the clinic but still a balance remains payable, which becomes the committee’s liability under the quota. The dental clinic committee in taking the responsibility of refusing treatment to- every West End child who is willing to pay 2s 6d per year for treatment is attempting to fasten that responsibility on to the shoulders of the school committee. We have provided our quota for the cost of the building and will make full payment of the quota asked from us up to March 31j but for the reasons already explained, we. feel that the school committee should not be responsible for any amount other than the half-crowns actually paid by each child usin" the clinic. We hoped that our resolution would have called for a conference, and we still hope that such a, way out of the misunderstanding will be taken. —I am, etc.,

W. H. JONES. Chairman, West End School Committea. April 13, 1932.