473
1910, §. 6.
5. Section 6 of the Midwives Ordinance, 1910, is Amendment amended by the repeal of the words "The secretary of Ordinance shall have the custody of the roll and by the substitu- No. 22 of tion therefor of the words "The Principal Civil Medical Officer, or such person as he shall appoint, shall have the custody of the roll”.
6. Section 11 of the Midwives Ordinance, 1910, is Repeal of repealed.
Ordinance No 22 of 1910, s. 11.
7. Section 12 of the Midwives Ordinance, 1910, is Amendment amended by the repeal of the words "respecting mid- of Ordinance wives" in the first line thereof.
No. 22 of 1910, s. 12.
8. Section 13 of the Midwives Ordinance, 1910, is Amendment amended by the addition of the following proviso at the end thereof :-
Provided that the name, title, addition or des- cription of wan p'o () in the Chinese language shall not be deemed to be a name, title, addition or description with the implica- tions indicated in this section.
of Ordinance
No. 22 of 1910, s. 13.
C
Objects and Reasons.
1. The principal object of this bill is to prevent the use of titles, etc., by uncertified Chinese midwives, which are calculated to deceive the public and convey the impression that the midwife is properly qualified. It has been thought advisable that the use of such titles should be restricted, and the bill therefore, in clauses 2 (4) and 8, amends sections 2 and 13 of the Midwives Ordinance, 1910, so as to provide that the title of wan p'o() shall be the only title which can be recognised as usable by an uncertified Chinese midwife.
2. The opportunity has also been taken to amend the Ordinance in several other respects where it appears to be necessary. Clause 2 (1) and (2) alter the penalties for the wrongful use of titles implying certification, and for uncertificated practice, to $250 in each case, in order to conform with the usual fine for summary offences. Clause 2 (3) repeals the proviso to section 2 (2) of the Ordinance, which seems to be of little value. The terms of the section imply clearly that it was not intended to apply to emergency assistance, and s. 12 of the Ordinance provides that the Ordinance shall not apply to medical practitioners. Section 12 is amended by clause 7 of the bill, so as to make this entirely unambiguous.
3. Clause 3 (1) substitutes
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woman for "person in s. 3; the use of the word "she" in the section shows
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that " woman was intended. Clause 3 (2) requires
a woman applying for certification to hold certain certi- ficates, and not merely to produce them. Clause 3 (3) provides that the holding of a certificate under the Midwives Act, 1902, shall be a qualification for being certified in the Colony.
4. Section 4 of the present Ordinance provides that the Board shall consist of the Principal Civil Medical Officer, the Superintendent of the Alice Memorial Mater- nity Hospital, the lady doctor attached to the same, and four other persons to be nominated by the Governor. The trouble about sections in this form is that they sometimes become inconvenient when circumstances change. For example, the particular hospital mentioned might close, or might be amalgamated with another hospital, or it might happen that the superintendent of that hospital might be only a subordinate to the super-
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