TO PAY FOR LICENSE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 708, 8 March 1933, Page 5

TO PAY FOR LICENSE.

Medical Men, Nurses and Plumbers. COST OF REGISTRATION. (“ Star ” Parliamentary Reporter.)WELLINGTON, March 7. . Medical practitioners, masseurs, • nurses, maternity nurses and midwives, opticians and plumbers are in future ! to pay annual license fees, according to i legislation proposed in the Finance Bill I introduced to-night. These fees are to i meet the costs of the registration j boards now in existence, making these I boards self-supporting instead of being j a charge on the Consolidated Fund. In each case the fees are to be pre- | scribed by Order-in-Council, but in a I statement in the House, Mr Coates inj dicated that the fee for plumbers would ‘be five shillings. All existing fees are • repealed, and there is a penalty for j practising without certificate of £5 a | day. Mr Coates said the cost of adminis- ; tering the Medical Practitioners Act last year exceeded the registration fees by £65, and the expenses of the Masseurs Registration Board had never been met by the receipts. Asked for It. Replying to Mr Stallworthy, the Hon J. A. Young said it was proposed to charge medical practitioners a fee of one guinea. j Mr Fraser (Wellington Central) described the tax on doctors as a class tax, and applied a similar term to the masseurs’ tax. Mr Young: The masseurs asked for it. Mr Fraser: They’ll get it all right; they’ll get it in the neck. Did the doctors ask for it? Mr Young: Yes. The doctors were asked if they would pay a fee of five shillings, and they said they would sooner pay £l. Mr Fraser: Did you ask the 8.M.A.? Mr Young: No. I asked the Medical Council.