4

593

registers of their own. That has been done in a great number of colonies, and the effect of it is that instead of only the persons registered in England having the advantage, if there is any advantage, of being able to sue for their fees and being legally recognised, any other person who would be registered at home if he submitted his qualifications to the Medical Board in England is entitled to be registered in the colony. If I remember rightly, when this matter was first mooted here the petition presented to this Council was signed by nearly all the medical men in the Colony, several of them being medical men who had not registered in England. The effect of this Ordinance is really to put them on the same footing as medical men who are registered in England have held prior to the passing of this Ordinance. The effect of section 20, to which the Attorney-General has referred, will be to give to practitioners who have been practising in this colony up to the present time advantages which they have not hitherto enjoyed, advantages similar in all respects to those of medical men who are registered in England with the exception of the provisions of sections 8 and 9. I understand the hon. member thinks as we have gone so far we might go further and put them exactly in the same position as medical men at home, but that would be not leaving them in the position they are in at present but putting them in a better position than they are in at present and placing them on an equality with English and other practitioners at home under the Medical Registration Act.

HIS EXCELLENCY--Does the hon. member desire to propose an amendment?

Hon. P. Ryce--No. I don't know whether I would get a seconder, but I object to the whole clause because I think it is of no use.

The question was then put that the clause stand part of the Bill and was carried without division.

The other clauses of the Bill having been considered and adopted, the Bill was finally passed.

Share This Page