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attempt has been made on the part of the Government to answer that question, and it is not unfair to assume that no attempt has heen made because no attempt can reasonably be made to show why they did not take the prompt steps which they ought to have done to fill both these vacancies as soon as they knew that they were likely to occur. I should very inuch like to know, Sir-we are told that the second vacancy will be filled by a sister who is expected at the end of June- when it was known that the second sister was going to be married, and what steps were taken to fill up the vacancy; whether steps were taken by letter or telegram to fill her place. There is an attempt made, Sir, in answering my fourth question to suggest that it is put under considerable misapprehension. I listened very care- fully at the time of the answer to that question, and I fail to realise on what strength that statement is made. It seems to me that a good deal of the answer to that question is wholly and entirely outside the scope of that fourth question. As regards the number of probationers in the Government Civil Hospital, appar- ently it is very short. Apparently there are two probationers in the Government Civil Hospital out of a total of seven contemplated in the Estimates for 1914 on the 23rd of October last. I am wrong. There were four on the 23rd of October last and there were two on the 23rd of April, 1914. In other words, Sir, apparently during the last six months, instead of having seven probationers, our number of probationers has dwindled down from four to two. With reference to the answer to my seventh question, I should have thought it would have been possible to answer it in some reasonably intelligent fashion and not in the way in which it is answered. If the maximum number of particulars could not have been given, I should have thought at all events that some approximate figure could have been given. I am inundated with a whole number of figures in connection with the military women and children, but I must confess, Sir, that notwithstanding the fact of my being swamped with these figures at a moment's notice, and being a mere ordinary man, that I fail to see how an extra 280 women and children could fail to give some extra work to the nursing staff. The answer given to-day is practically to the effect that such a trifling matter as that cannot possibly make any difference at all. I can only say that I fail to appreciate the force of that argument. There is another point, Sir, which I think ought to be mentioned in connection with the work of the Government Civil Hospital, and that is the fact that of late years plague cases which used to be dealt with at the Kennedy Town Hospital are being treated at the Government Civil Hospital. And these cases, Sir, with the liability of the unfortunate patients who suffer from plague to become delirious, are calculated obviously to cause a special anxiety, and to impose a special strain upon the nursing sisters. There is also the fact, Sir, suggested in the speech made by my hon. friend representing the Chamber of Commerce on the 23rd of October last, that sisters were engaged in maternity cases at the same time as they were engaged on other cases. That is surely a matter which urgently calls for remedy, especially as the maternity hospital is situate at some considerable distance from the Government Civil Hospital itself. Sir, I very much deprecate the way in which my questions have been answered in this matter. I think it is very much to be regretted that in this as in many other cases the Government of this Colony has treated the unofficial members in an adverse and hostile spirit instead of taking the unofficial members into their counsel and co-operation. Sir, in making this motion and in pressing it, the unofficial members are pursuing what they consider to be the cause of justice and right. The overworking of our employees is at all times to be deprecated, and more especially is it so when applied to women who are conscientiously engaged in a trying climate in combatting disease and in nursing the sick. To these women the public of the Colony owes a deep debt of gratitude, and it is in the hope of dis- charging part of that debt, by the lightening of their labours, and by improving the conditions under which they serve, that this present motion is now being made.
Hon. Mr. Hewett-Your Excellency, I have very much pleasure in second- ing the motion brought forward by my hon. and learned friend opposite. The motion, as we are all aware, is practically following up a request made by me at the request of my unofficial colleagues six months ago or more, in reply to the budget speech last autumn. Perhaps it would be as well to emphasise the point, because I doubt if it is really thoroughly understood that in bringing forward this motion, in speaking as the unofficial members have spoken on the question of the nurses of this Colony, we are not only speaking on behalf of ourselves, but we have a
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