Document 1QZ3va6qxEdrL3K8n1Dw7rb2X

i takes place'< In 1920, In giving evidence before a Parliament* ary Commission that dealt with this subject, I expressed very strongly the view that they barked up the wrong tree and that they passed legislation which, in Itself, was r.ot reasonable and that they e xpected medical men to possess occult or supernatural powers in making a diagnosis of some? i thing which didn't exist. Then, in 1925, an act was passed in which the ante-primary stage was defined, the earliest detectable specific signs - physical signs, of silicosis, and there i after, the whole of the compensation question became be devilled by this word 'specific', because the interpretation was made that specific meant radiological, radiological and'. nothing else. i Well, this went cn for some considerable time until it became clear, as was said a while ago by several ! i speakers, that the radiological signs do not necessarily or,; for- that matters, frequently even, bear any relation to disability, and so It came about last year, that the Miners i Union memorialized the Government and said that unless a radical change is made in the function of the Government Bureau of Medical Examiners, they would boycott the Bureau. The effect of that would have been a general strike, of course, because it is a crime to employ any person in a SEVENTH SARANAC -0090