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PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE

NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS

Reassembly after WhitsuntideBOTH the House of Lords and the House of

Commons reassembled on Monday, June 17th, afterthe Whitsuntide recess.

University of Durham BillIn the House of Lords on June 17th Viscount

HALIFAX, Secretary of State for War, moved thesecond reading of the University of Durham Bill.He explained that its purpose was to make newstatutes for the University of Durham in generalaccordance with the recommendations of the RoyalCommission presided over by Loid Moyne whichreported recently. The noble lord recalled thehistory of the foundation of the university in 1832,and its subsequent development in association withits other constituent bodies, the College of Medicineand Armstrong College, both at Newcastle. Hesaid that the Durham University Act of 1908, whichwas the foundation of the present constitution, wasa compromise between conflicting interests. Nodoubt it was the best at the time which could beachieved, but it was not calculated to serve theuniversity for any long period. It suffered fromthe inherent weakness that although it broughtthree very diverse units together it did very littleto give coherence or dignity to the university assuch. In various ways the constitution had shownitself to be unsatisfactory and out of date. andsome inquiry in the nature of a Royal Commissionwould in any case have been desirable. Internal

t dissensions in the university, with which the senate

found itself powerless to deal, precipitated thet appointment of a Royal Commission. That bodyF in a unanimous report recommended that the univer-

sity as such should be governed by a small courtand senate so constituted as to enable them to for-mulate and execute a considered university policy.Secondly, that the two colleges in Newcastle shouldbe amalgamated to form a single university college ;and, thirdly, that there should be a permanent headof the Durham division of the university, and variousother constitutional changes in the government ofthat division. So far as he knew these recommenda-tions, although far-reaching, appeared to have beenvery generally welcomed as likely to afford a remedyfor the existing defects. They had been underconsideration by the Government which had adoptedthe recommendations that statutory commissionersshould be set up to make statutes in general accord-ance with the recommendations of the Royal Com-mission. That was the purpose of the Bill, whichfollowed closely both the University of London Act,1926, and the similar Act that dealt with the univer-sities of Oxford and Cambridge in 1923. Clause 1of the Bill gave the names of the proposed statutorycommissioners about whom he need not say any-thing in particular except that the Governmentconceived themselves particularly fortunate in havingsecured the services of Dr. Homes Dudden, masterof Pembroke College, Oxford, as chairman. Dr.Homes Dudden was a member of the Royal Commis-sion and would bring to his further task ripe experi-ence and much knowledge gleaned from a mostsuccessful term of office as vice-chancellor in hisown university. The Bill did not attempt to givelegislative force to any of the recommendations ofthe Royal Commission. The gist of it was that thecommissioners should make statutes in generalaccordance with those recommendations, subject toany modifications which might appear to them tobe expedient. Ample opportunity would be affordedfor bearing representatives from interested parties,and the commissioners would be bound to providefacilities for the making of such representationsbefore they passed any statutes. The commissioners,

when they had made their statutes, had to submitthem to the privy council and they would, in duecourse, be laid before both Houses of Parliament.At all those stages there would be opportunity forinterested parties to make representations.

Lord STRABOLGI said that the Opposition did notwish to oppose the Bill.The Bill was read a second time.The St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Bill and the

Superannuation Bill were read a second time.

The Quetta Earthquake : Public Health MeasuresIn the House of Commons on June 17th Mr.

BUTLER, Under Secretary for India, in reply toMr. PALING, who asked if he had any further informa-tion to give the House regarding the earthquakedisaster at Quetta, said : The range of the earth-quake is now estimated as having been 130 mileslong and 20 miles broad. Besides Quetta and thetowns of Kalat and Mastung at least 100 villageshave been totally destroyed. It is feared that thetotal death roll, including the countryside, is pro-bably more than 40,000. European casualties amountto about 190 killed and 240 injured. In Quettaitself out of a population of 45,000 between 20,000and 30,000 have been killed. The number of destituterefugees is estimated at not less than 15,000, of whommany thousands are injured. The Public HealthCommissioner, Lieut.-Colonel Russell, I.M.S., is

proceeding to Quetta to investigate the healthsituation in consultation with the local medical andpublic health authorities, and Mr. B. M. Staig,I.C.S., Financial Adviser, Military Finance, has beenappointed Earthquake Commissioner to coordinatemeasures of relief and to advise the Government onthe many miscellaneous problems that will arise.Supplies of all kinds have fortunately been adequate.Some 30,000 Indians and 6000 Europeans, includingtroops, have been fed in the refugee camps. Evacua-tion is steadily proceeding. Arrangements havebeen made for the evacuation of between 700 and800 members of European families who will beaccommodated at Karachi pending provision ofpassage. Salvage operations were commenced on

June 4th but had to be suspended for hygienicreasons, and in the interests of public health thecity remains closed under guard. Such operationsas are consistent with safety and public health arebeing carried on. A grant of 10 lakhs of rupees tosupplement the fund opened by the viceroy hasbeen made by the Government of India in order toensure that adequate funds are available for imme-diate relief. In addition the House will be askedto vote the sum of 50,000 for the same purpose.The Lord Mayor has opened a fund for the reliefof the victims. My noble friend would like to takethis opportunity of expressing his admiration forthe splendid work done by all those on the spotin dealing with the effects of this appalling calamity.(Hear, hear.)School Medical Services : New Physical Training

SchemeIn the House of Commons on June 17th, when the

estimates for the Board of Education were beingconsidered, Mr. RAMSBOTHAM, Parliamentary Secretaryto the Board, referred to the question of physicaltraining. It was, he said, important to secure that thephysical training of the school-children was as thoroughas possible and the Board were giving very closeattention to that matter. In the elementary schoolsevery child was supposed to have regular periods ofphysical training. A great deal of the success of thesystem depended upon a teacher and in the teachers’training colleges as distinct from the universitytraining departments every student had a personalas well as a professional training in this subject.But if our system of physical training was to beefficient local education authorities should have theirown organiser of physical training. Without the help

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of those organisers the recent marked progress madein the senior schools, particularly in those schoolswhere there was indoor accommodation for gym-nastics, could not have been made. In the areas swhere a competent organiser had secured the

cooperation and confidence of the teacher there hadbeen an obvious and marked improvement in thehealth, discipline, and alertness of the children.In the secondary schools, especially boys secondaryschools, by no means enough time was devoted tophysical training.

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Viscountess ACTOR : How many local education authori-ties have organisers ? I had an idea that only aboutone-third have them.Mr. RAMSBOTHAM : That is correct. The figure is,

roughly speaking, 100 out of 316.Mr. CovE : Physical education goes on without them.

ITS PLACE IN THE CURRICULUM

One reason, said Mr. Ramsbotham, why enoughtime was not devoted to physical training in secondaryschools for boys was the demand made by othersubjects in the curriculum. A second reason was thattoo many of the teachers in boys secondary schoolswere inexpert and unqualified to give the training.He very much hoped that they would find it possibleto reinforce their ranks from the Carnegie PhysicalTraining College at Leeds and he also hoped that theuniversity training departments would give attentionto this very important matter and supply thesecondary schools with more teachers qualified to giveinstruction in this subject. Then there was the vastsection of young people who had left school. Therewas great scope for the organising of physical trainingfor those young people.The Prince of Wales Appeal on behalf of the King’s

Jubilee Trust Fund had aroused great national interestin this matter and the British Medical Association hadset up a strong committee to consider it. The presswas drawing attention to it, but full success or anythinglike full success was impossible without the requisiteteachers and leaders. There were several excellent physicaltraining colleges for women, but for men they neededmore Carnegie colleges and more qualified teachers andmore organisers. He hoped that those local educationauthorities who had not yet appointed organisers wouldconsider the advisability of doing so. He was certainthat, broadly speaking, the cost would not be great; he

thought it would be inconsiderable compared with themedical and remedial expenditure which would be saved.The Board had arranged with the local education authori-ties of some of the largest county boroughs to have physicaltraining displays by young people from all the schoolsin their areas this year in the open air. This wouldstimulate public interest and help the local authoritiesthemselves and the general public to appreciate howmuch more could be done to extend the opportunities forphysical training for those who had left school.

A CENTRAL COUNCIL FOR PHYSICAL TRAINING

An important body had now been formed under thepatronage of the King and Queen, to act as a CentralCouncil for Physical Training. It was entirely non-omcial and comprised representatives of nearly everyimportant youth organisation in the country. Hefelt sure that great help and advice would be givenby this central body.

It was not much good training the mind or thebody if the body was ill-nourished. That, of course,was recognised in the Education Act, but neverthelessthere was a small, a very small percentage of mal-nourished children in the country, and probably alarger percentage of children who were under-nourished. This year the Board had estimated for ahigher expenditure on school meals and the schoolmedical service than ever before.

In 1931 the expenditure worked out at 17s. 2d. perpupil, and it was estimated that this year it would amountto 19s. lld. During the whole of their period of officethe Government had encouraged local education authori-ties to make greater use of their powers for the provision

of free meals and free milk. Even during the wholeeconomy period proposals for more expenditure underthis head were approved by the Board of Education. In

November, 1931, when the Government took office, 138out of 316 local education authorities were exercisingtheir power to provide meals. Last December that figurehad increased to 205. Broadly speaking, the exceptionsto-day consisted of prosperous seaside resorts, small countrytowns, and certain rural areas. Where in the judgmentof the Board steps of that kind were needed in urbanareas they had not failed to take up the question withthe local authorities. Between November, 1931, andMarch, 1935, the number of children receiving free mealsof all kinds had doubled, and the number receiving freemilk was nearly five times as great as in November, 1931.

MEASURES AGAINST UNDER-NOURISI3MENT

While encouraging the provision of meals and milkwhere needed they were continuing the policy whichhe explained last year of urging local educationauthorities to limit this provision to children whowere found on medical examination to be under-nourished and therefore unable to profit by theireducation. This was emphatically not a policy ofeconomy, as in many areas the selection of childrenby means of nutrition surveys would result in the freefeeding of a larger number. But the Governmentcould not accept the argument that all poor childrenshould be fed free because they must of necessity beunder-nourished. Under-nourishment was by nomeans invariably associated with poverty. Manychildren of poor parents were well-nourished. Inany event, the relief of poverty was a duty of bodiesother than local education authorities whose function sshould be limited tos eeing that no child throughlack of food is unable to take advantage of theeducation provided for it. But the Board had laiddown that the slightest symptom of subnormalnutrition justified the placing of children on thefeeding list, and where the head teacher consideredthat there was evidence of subnormal nutrition achild should receive free meals or free milk pro-visionally pending review by a medical officer. Heknew that the policy had been misrepresented incertain quarters. He was convinced that it was asound policy to associate the treatment of subnormalnutrition as closely as they could with the schoolmedical service. He was also convinced that educa-tional funds should be used for educational purposes,and not to supplement assistance which parentsmight or might not be entitled to receive from othersources.

Apart from the supply of free meals and free milkby local education authorities there was the voluntaryscheme administered by the Milk Marketing Boardwith the assistance of a grant from the Government,whereby milk was provided at d. for one-third of apint to school-children. Prior to October, 1934,they estimated that 900,000 children were receivingmilk under voluntary schemes sponsored by theNational Milk Publicity Council. In March last,as a result of the Government’s assistance and thehelp of the Milk Marketing Board, the number ofchildren receiving milk had grown to 2,750,000.The teachers had cooperated splendidly in securingthis result and without their cooperation the schemewould have been unworkable. The Committeemust recognise that the scheme was a voluntary oneand the Government had no power to make it com-pulsory. At the same time they had taken stepsin the Board’s circular 1437 to express to localeducation authorities their hope that they wouldencourage as much as they could these voluntaryschemes in their schools.

In certain rural areas there were excellent arrange-ments for providing children with hot meals onpayment at school canteens and thereby childrenwere able to get nourishing food at a low cost and itwas also possible to teach them some elementaryfacts about dietetics and the right use and selectionof food. Some urban authorities might do well toconsider whether they should not spend more freely on

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these school canteens and make it possible for cheapand nourishing meals to be provided, at any rate forchildren whose parents wished them to have a mid-day dinner in that way. Of course this suggestionwas quite distinct from the feeding of under-nourishedchildren. At the same time the canteen system mightprofitably be developed to a greater extent.

A TRIBUTE TO SIR GEORGE NEWMAN

The Board’s policy, said Mr. Ramsbotham, was toassociate the nutrition of the school-children closelyand definitely with the school medical service and inthat connexion he would like to pay a very warmtribute to Sir George Newman, who had been theBoard’s chief medical officer for 28 years and whohas just retiied. Sir George Newman was the architectof the school medical service and his loss would begreatly felt. They all depended upon him for adviceand guidance. No man had greater drive or energyor a better gift of expressing himself in lively, compre-hensible and unofficial language. Certainly, he

possessed the confidence of the Board of Educationand (he thought) of a great many of the generalpublic. The man in the street as far as he ever didread official publications must have read with greatinterest Sir George Newman’s series of reports onthe health of the school-children. No one wouldgrudge him his well-earned rest, but all those whoworked with him would miss his inspiration.

One development which was very largely due toSir George Newman was the nursery school. In thedebate last year he (Mr. Ramsbotham) had saidthat where nursery schools were found to be necessarythe Board were not likely to be adamant. Sincehe had made that statement the Board had recognisedsix more nursery schools for grant and during thesame period had approved proposals for another six.There were a number of other proposals under con-sideration and no doubt most of them would besanctioned. In the same period sanction had beenrefused to not more than two or three proposals.The Board, Mr. Ramsbotham concluded, had nodesire to discourage the provision of nursery schoolsin those areas where the social conditions renderedthem desirable and justifiable.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

MONDAY, JUNE 17TH

Fowl Plague and Newcastle Disease

Mr. TURTON asked the Minister of Agriculture in whatcountries, dominions, or colonies the diseases of fowl

plague and Newcastle disease had been known to exist, ,

during the last two years.-Sir G. BOWYER, Lord of theTreasury, replied : My right hon. friend regrets that theinformation at his disposal does not enable him to give f

the details asked for. He understands, however, thatNewcastle disease is widespread in the Near East. One I

or other of these diseases occurs also in other parts of Ithe continent of Europe. Neither disease has beendiagnosed in this country since August, 1933.

Water-supplies Mr. PALING asked the Minister of Health the present

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position of the water-supply of the country.—Sir KINGSLEYWOOD replied : Water-supplies on the whole have been ,

well replenished by the rainfall during the winter and sub- ‘

sequent months, and urban undertakings generally arein a good position. In rural areas, where the primary

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need is for permanent supplies, good progress continuesto be made under the Act of last year, and the total ,

capital cost of schemes for which State grants have been !.provisionally allocated is now E3,641,000 for schemes in 1267 parishes.

Burning Pit Heap and Public Health at Ince I

Mr. GORDON MACDONALD asked the Secretary for Mineswhether he had considered the communication relatingto a burning pit heap at the Rose Bridge Colliery, Ince, .

near Wigan, which was a serious nuisance and menaceto the health of the inhabitants in the vicinity ; and

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what action the Mines Department was taking to removeor mitigate the existing nuisance.-Sir KrnGSLEY WooD,Minister of Health, replied : I have been in communica- -

tion with the Ince-in-Makerfield Urban District Council in this matter and have promised that a visit shall be ,

paid by one of my inspectors as soon as opportunity ’.,occurs. ,

MEDICAL NEWS

University of CambridgeOn June 14th the degrees of M.B. and B.Chir. were

conferred on C. A. de Candole.

Royal College of Surgeons of EnglandA meeting of the council was held on June 13th, with

Sir Holburt Waring, the, president, in the chair. Hepresented to the College the golden key with which heperformed the opening ceremony of the Royal AustralasianCollege of Surgeons at Melbourne.

Mr. Garnett Wright, of Manchester University, waselected to the court of examiners. Mr. Herbert CecilMalleson and Mr. Harry Stobie were elected to the boardof examiners in dental surgery (dental section).The president was elected as the representative of the

College on the governing body of the British PostgraduateMedical School, and Dr. John Beattie, conservator of themuseum, was appointed to represent the College at thecelebration of the third centenary of the Museum Nationaled’Histoire Naturelle to be held in Paris from June 24thto 29th. The council accepted a bust of Sir BuckstonBrowne, presented by Dr. A. Hope Gosse. It was announcedthat Dr. William Bradley Coley, of New York, wouldattend the meeting of the council on Oct. 10th to be madean honorary fellow, and that he would also deliver a lectureat 5.30 p.m. on that day.Diplomas of fellowship were granted to the following

candidates :-R. V. Powell, L.R.C.P., King’s Coll. ; J. A. Cholmeley,

M.B. Lond., St. Bart.’s and Guy’s ; G. H. Morley, L.R.C.P.,Middlesex ; W. R. Winterton, M.B. Camb., Middlesex andUniv. Coll. ; D. A. Beattie, M.B. Lond., St. Bart.’s ; J. D.Rose, M.B. Dunelm, Durh. and Lond. ; J. C. Leedham-Green,B.M. Oxon., Middlesex and St. Thomas’s ; H. S. Morton,M.B. Lond., Dalhousie ; M. A. Robertson, M.B., Camb. and

Lond. ; R. W. C. Murray, M.B. Camb., Birm. and St. Bart.’s;Herbert Agar, M.B. Lond., Leeds and St. Bart.’s ; W. C. Barber,M.B. Camb., Manch. and Guy’s ; J. D. H. Bird, -Al.13. Lond.,King’s Coll. ; H. R. I. Wolfe, M.B. Lond., St. Thomas’s ;J. E. M. Ayoub, M.B. Oxon., St. Thomas’s and Lond. : P. H. R.Ghey, M.B. Camb., St. Bart.’s ; E. J. Smith, M.B. Lond., King’sColl. ; W. F. Nicholson. L.R.C.P., Manch. and Guy’s ; 1. G.Robin, M.B. Camb., Guy’s ; K. L. Buxton, L.R.C.P., Camb.and St. Thomas’s ; S. H. Wass, M.B. Lond., Guy’s; T. S.Heslop, M.B., Manch. ; D. L. Griffiths, M.B., Manch. ; N. R.Wyndham, M.B. Sydney, St. Bart.’s ; J. C. Balzer, M.B. Sydney,Guy’s ; F. D. Burke, M.D. Melb., Guy’s ; B. W. Buttsworth,M.B. Melb., Middlesex and St. Bart.’s ; J. C. R. Hindenach,M.D. N.Z., St. Bart.’s ; R. N. Howard, M.D. Melb.. St. Bart.’s ;C. R. Lambert, M.B. N.Z., Guy’s ; Andrew McDowalI.M.B.Edin.,Lond. ; A. C. McEachern, M.B. Adelaide, St. Bart.’s ; J. N.Madan, M.B. Punjab, Lond. ; F. D. Murphy. M.B. Irel.,St. Bart.’s ; D. V. Nadkarni, M.B. Bombay, Univ. Coll. ;R. P. Osborne, M.B. Manch. ; M. M. Pandya, 11T.B. Bombay,Univ. Coll. and St. Thomas’s ; R. M. Rawle, AT.B. Sydney ;St. Bart.’s ; J. L. Scholes, M.D. Melb., St. Bart.’s ; A. K.Sen, lBI.B. Calcutta, St. Thomas’s and St. Bart.’s ; S. L. Spencer,M.B.Sydney, St. Bart.’s ; Robert Strang, M.B. Edin.. Guy’s;T. G. Swinburne. M.B. Melb., St. Bart.’s ; H. A. Watson,M.B. Melb., St. Bart.’s ; and David Wilkie, M.D. Edin.

Diplomas of Membership were granted to John MorganCribb (Oxford and Cardiff) and Annys Mary Cusack

(Univ. Coll.).Diplomas in anxsthetics were granted, jointly with the

Royal College of Physicians, under the special conditionsof the regulations for the diploma to the following :-Ashley S. Daly, H. W. Featherstone, C. Langton Hewer,

J. B. H. Holroyd, A. D. Marston, Z. Mennell. A. J.O’Leary, Harold Sington, G. F. Rawdon Smith, and W. StanleySykes.The following examiners were elected for the Ensuing

year :-Dental Surgery.-Surgical section : Mr. Russell Howard,

Mr. C. E. Shattock, Mr. C. P. G. Wakeley, Mr. P. H. Mitchiner,Mr. E. G. Slesinger, and Mr. Reginald Vick.