bewail the want of a proper natural increase unless we do something substantial in the way of saving the infant life that is born into the colony. I may be told that these things should be left entirely to the benevolent and philanthropic. Such objection may be applicable to older countries in certain cases; but we must deal with things as we find them. We have no leisured classes, and we have not many people of ample means. Therefore, the responsibility of saving these valuable lives falls on the State. The necessity for action is admitted by all; and in these circumstances, at the risk of jibes and sneers from those who ever resist and oppose the expansion of State functions, humanity, in my opinion, demands that we should do something in the direction I have indicated, thus preserving life, increasing our population, and proving our claims to a higher civilization. This scheme, will, of course, meet with opposition, and some may be unkind enough to say that, if wanted before, it is a sure sign of impaired health now. Let them say what they like; my heart prompts me in my present proposal.”
The scheme he devised at the prompting of his heart is embodied in the Midwives Act, passed in 1904. Any woman is entitled to be registered under the Act on paying a fee and satisfying the registrar that she has been practising as a midwife for at least three years before the Act came into operation, and that she has a good character. At State-owned maternity homes, pupil-nurses may, on paying a fee, be carefully intructed in the duties required for attending to the welfare of mother and child. Instructions are given to the pupils by means of lectures outside of the hospital, and by midwifery work. There are regulations for the examination of the pupil-nurses; and every nurse who successfully passes the examination is given a certificate. The District Health Officer appointed under the Public Health Act is a supervising authority over the midwives in his district, and may investigate charges of negligence. A heavy fine may be imposed on anyone who practises as a midwife without having been registered.
The Act is the first of its kind the colony has put into operation, but Mr. Seddon intended that it should be but the
