OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 215, 30 October 1888, Page 3

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

(from oub own correspondent.') Sydney, Oct. 17. THE PREMIER’S TROUBLES : A BELLICOSE MEDICO. Other peculiarities of the Premier’s adminstratinn are bpginning to cause trouble. Neglected correspondence—an omission which may be entirely unintentional, but which to the aggrieved person always seems studied and premeditated,—is producing complaints from the public men of other colonies. And, in addition, some of our own magnates conceive themselves to have grevious ground of complaint. Borne time ago Dr Creed, a bellicose little medico, concluded that he had a mission to expose the shortcomings of the Government in relation to their management, or as he would say their mismanagement, of military matters. With this view he sought permission to institute a critical inspection of arsenals, torpedo stores, forti> fioafions, and such like. The Government naturally demurred. If every member of the Legislature were to constitute himself a selfappointed critic in these matters, with full power to poke his nose into the inmost recesses of our military secrets, the enemy, if we have any, would soon be as well posted in our defects as we are ourselves. So far there is not much ground for complaint. But when Dr Creed got himself appointed chairman of a select committee of the Legislative Council for the express purpose of inquiring into these matters, the affair assumed a different phase. He required some information from the Agent*General with regard to the purchase of stores in England. He asked the Government for it, but did not get it, and then he wrote to the Agent- , General himself. That officer sent the information deaired but sent it under cover to the Colonial Secretary, who has persistently refused to forward it to the doctor. The ostensible excuse is of course that it is irregular for any one, however high his standing, to obtain such information from the Agent-General except through the Government. This, moreover, implies the possession by the Go ernment of a certain discretionary power in withholding information, which, it ia to be presumed, they are now experiencing. Descending from tht* infinitely great to the infinitely little, the Premier avers, moreover, that the letter in dispute was not directed to Dr Creed, but to himself as Colonial Secretary. However, there is certain to be a pretty hubbub about it when Parliament meets, and Sir Henry will probably see cause to regret, that he was not as careful to maintain the suaviter in modo as the fortiter in re. The Herald, which is easily moved by the woes of men of position, says : —“ These proceedings can hardly fail to become a subject of Parliamentary inquiry ; we are not sure that they ought not to be investigated in a court of justice.”

MYSTERIOUS “ PROFESSIONALS.” We have a medical board in Sydney. Like all such bodies it is a kind of glorified trades union, possessing, however, more countenance from the Government than such bodies usually succeed in obtaining. I need not say that it demands absolute jurisdiction over all medical practitioners. It declares that no one ought to sell medical advice or give (the corollary to that advice) a certificate of death, unless he has the mark of the beast—l mean to say, of the board. A case, however, has just occurred which shows that it is quite possible for a man to be duly certified by the board as all that is proper and reliable when yet he may be the very reverse. The town has been set talking by the disappearance from a fashionable suburb of a Dr Drummond, a “ duly-qualified ” medical man in good practice, who had recently married into a wealthy family. With the “doctor,” it is said, has disappeared the sum of £6OOO, his wife’s dowry, entrusted to him for investment. The detectives have been put on his track, and, as it is said his destination is known and he has taken passage by a sailing ship, it is possible he may find someone waiting to greet him on his landing. But now for the medical part of the matter. It is affirmed that the “doctor’s” diplomas want looking into. An English Dr Drummond, a wealthy and fashionable specialist, some years ago had the whole of his diplomas and qualifications stolen. The thief was never discovered, and, as the doctor’s reputation was so well established as to need no help from parchments, he did not trouble himself about the matter. It is now surmised that these very diplomas were palmed off on our own infallible board-by the gentleman who has just left us in such a modest and unostentatious manner. However that may be the doctor had been served with notice to appear b fore the Medical Bioard to undergo examination, an# it was after receiving th it notice that he suddenly discovered that change of air would be good for his health. Of course no man must be held guilty till he is proved so, but as far as “ Dr Drummond ” is concerned the facts require a great deal of explanation. One would have thought that results should be allowed great weight in determining such a question. But. I question whether the result of this ductor’s practice would be found, to be vpry much more deadly than those of his professional brethren who are suspicion. The medical board is in a curious dilemma. To set itself right with the public it has to show that it is not as,apt to admit-the charlatan and pretender as the deserving practitioner, and it has further to show how it is that reduced to the crucial test of practice it does not seem to matter much who |t adrqits, and therefore that its very raison d'etre is open to question.

OPENING OF PARLIAMENT. Parliament meets next week. Only a short financial session is expected, and it is hoped that the Opposition and the Government will unite their efforts to arrange -for the expenditure of 1889 before ths money is actually disbursed* THE COALMINERS’ STRIKE. The Newcastle strike still continues. The mediatory committee have withdrawn, owing to the refusal of the masters to meet them. A conference between miners and employers is however to take place on Saturday, when it is hoped they may be able to a-range their differences without the intervention of third parties. At Stockton there has been another little strike owing to the employment of non-union coaltrimmers. The masters, however, have given way and work was resumed yesterday. There has been some disturbance at Wallsend but fortunately nothing serious.