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REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS OP Til;: c 'ONKERENOK.

case specially in my mind with regard to a big shipping organisation in New Zealand. I have a letter here from 'in' of the best authorities upon eye testing, a medical gentleman in New Zealand, who mentions that 2,700 cases have come before him. and they have induced him to make representations with a view to an alteration. I should say that those eases an- not all eases of men at sea. One of the difficulties which has presented itself to the officers on some of the ships in our waters is that their sight vas not tested when I hey originally won! to sea. or at any tune after joining until they became officers. Sou may lind a young man who goes on board ship with the intention of m.iking the sea his profession, ami who. after spending a number of years is confronted by the fact that under the eyesight tests carried out in our country hi' cannot be passed, and he has to go ashore and commence life again. What ought to be done, in my opinion, is this. 'There should be uniformity of .system extending to all parts where an eyesight test is imposed, and the Board of Trade- should investigate the present conditions of the eyesight test, and should submit it to the- respective authorities of the different countries, and eneleavour to have uniformity of system, so that an officer who might he passed in one part of the Empire under certain eon. ditions required by the Board of 'Trade or other com intent authority might not find himself excluded in some ether portion of the Empire cm account of some other different conditions. What I mean by* the resolution is that there should be no possibility under the regulations of the Hoard of Trad-' I'm any man with indifferent eyesight, in colour-blind, to be allowed to take charge of a ship or be the officer of a ship where the care of the lie.-. of others are neeessaiily under his control. Mr. Mills knows a great deal about this matter because il has Dome under his personal administration, ami I should be very glad lo near what he has to say about it. I certainly think we ought to have uniformity of system, anil that it should extend to all parts of the Kmpire. .Mr. MILLS : I should like t.i say .1 few word* in support ot (he resolution. It is a subject in which 1 have taken an interest as a shipowner for a good many years. It is recognised in many quarters that the Board of Trade test is not adequate for the conditions of the mercantile marine at present, and it has been under consideration by medical nun in the colonics. I will read you the resolii lion arrived at by the Intercolonial Medical Congress of Australasia in 1896- that is II years ago. 'Th,- (',,. urges. "(1) 'That th.- Governments of the different "colonies should take steps to insure the proper testing "of the vision of all men who arc- -mployed either at " sea or in railway set vices whose duties are such that the " lives of others depend on th. acuteaess of their sight "either for form or colour. (2) That all examinations "of vision should be made by ,i properly qualified "ophthalmic surgeon. (3) That a'high standard of vision "and perfect colour sense should be insisted on for all 'men who arc- engaged as deck hands at sea. and who " have to undertake duty on the look-out or in steering. "Also that such a standard be fixed for those engaged "iii the engine-room as will suffice for their own safetv "and that of the- ship. (4) That a high standard be " fixed for vision and perfect colour sense- required in "all deck officers of ships, that they In- re-examined "on each promotion, and after reaching the- rank of " mastei at intervals of five yean. (6) That the attention " cif the different Government* he- called lo the Report ot the Committee on Colour Vision presented to the Houses ..f Parliament in .June-. 1898, and to the Report "of the Council of the British Medical Association on "the efficient control of railway servants' eyesight, published in the same year, and that the standards recom "mended in these- reports be taken as the basis on which "the requirements of vision should be framed, (ii) 'That "the attention of the different Governments In- special]} "directed to tin- law passed in the state of Alabama "in IKB7, dealing with railway servants' eyesight, en "titled 'An Act for the Protection of the Travelling "Public against Accidents caused by Colour Blindness "'and Defective Vision.' as a model' on which suitable "legislation might he based. In order to put in a defi- " nifc form the standard that should be aimed at. the " Congress suggests that no candidate be allowed to enter " the dangerous services unless he is free from any chronic "inflammation < if the conjunctiva or lids: he must be free " from strabismus, and possess perfect equilibrium of "the external ocular muscles: his distant vision must not "be less than ;: in one eye and 9 in the other without "glasses, the tests to be made with Snellen's types; he "must have a perfect colour sense, tested both with

"Holmgren's wools ami with distant colour tests under -ing conditions j and be must also have a normal "field of vision Eoi both form and colour. Hyp "tropis of more than one diopter should I" , a bar t<. "entering the scrvi<<■..." I daresay tl fficiala represent ing the Board of Trade will say that their system ii present is quite adequate, and probably shipowners may We have done very well during the last fifty years, "ami why not let well alone?" But I maintain .wner that the present condition of affairs is not satisfactory. As ■ matter of fact, a young fellow <<n passing his examination is submitted to an eye test more oi less complete, and that is the last that is heard of it. Wβ are assured by ophthalmic surgeons that the Board of Trade test is sn h that a man can pass it who is blind of one eye and has half the normal vision with the other. You will understand that that is because he is required to pass the examination with both eyes together; therefore, it hi' can see with one eye only he can pass the Board of Trade examination. I will read you a few suggestions by an ophthalmic Burgeon of some distinction in the ('<.lonics who has gone into this matter very closely, anil who perhaps puts them in fewer words than I could <l<>. Hi- says : " I would urge that the eyes of all boys should "be examined by an expert before tli<\ go t<. sea at all, am! that unless their standard of vision is ami "their eyes are free from inherent defects which are " likely to reduce the vision later they should be stopped "at the threshold of their career instead of being allowed "to serve their apprenticeship. Our State railways test ■ the vision of all cadets on entering the service, ami "keep up a periodical series of tests of a practical nature "all through tin' period of service of those employees who an' engaged in connection with trains and signals Iheie is n<. hardship involved in refusing a boy en "trance i<. the service, but there would be hardship if "a cadet were accepted ami. after five years' service, " rejected for visual defects which might have I n "found out by a competent examination in the first "instance. The same reasoning applies to the sea. There "is no hardship in saying to a boy, you cannot !><■ ''taken as an apprentice because you have not enough ''vision i<. be safe as an officer,' but there is hardship "in refusing an officer's certificate to a boy who has ked five years t<. get it. but who ought never t<. "have been allowed i<. start a sea life at all." Then with regard to the test itself, medical men to whom the test has been submitted in the colonies pronounce the Board of Trade test to be dangerously low. One says that it is criminally dangerous: another that it is <lis 111 : another that it is absurdly low. and another that it is ridiculously inadequate. The surgeon, from whose letter I quote, continues: "The Board of Trade "asks that a candidate should, with both eves open, read "at six metres three letters out of five of a line of "letters, the whole five of which tlu ordinary person with "average \ ision can read with either eye at a distance ol "12 luetics.'' .lusi above he says: "1 have met with " instances in which stonemaa ins, ami even labourers n excavating work, after injuries to the eves. "have declared that they honestly felt unfitted to earn "on their usual work, though their vision was quite sum "cient t<. meet the Board of Trad quirements for a " masters certificate." Then he continues: "It is <|iiite "impossible t<. say what amount of vision is necessary for ■safe navigation. I have come across cases in which i<ts whose vision was far below the Board of Trade "standard as the result of the indulgence in alcohol, or iloin the presence of cataract <>i other disease have come "< lit in charge of ships which have arrived safely, but if "any emergency had arisen in which prompt action was »ary, it cannot be doubted that the master's ha/.\ ion would have been a greatly increased risk t<. the ship. It is hardly necessary l<. point out to you thai ■tin- increased --peed of modem ships renders dai "more imminent, ami prompt and decisive action more I' imperative. Personally, I do not think it would b<. to,, "mud] i<. insisi that every boy going to sea shonld have rage normal vision in each eye, and that n<, eertifi"cate should be given unless the holder bad normal i "in one eye, and at least < ; in the other. 1 h<. defect, if "any. being <lu<> t<. some non-progressivi The I 1 " 1 " 1 i», we think, that there should be some legislation by which boys taking to sea life should be examined at an early stage; there should be a provision thai the examination for the Board of Trade certificate should b<. conducted by experts, and there also should be regulations that officers should be examined ai certain stated periods >n in their career. Tn this respect I think that responsibility rests upon owners, ami the question affects