REASON FOR PUBLISHING 1955 HEALTH MINISTRY REPORT IN 1957 AND ISSUE DATE OF 1956 REPORT

Mr John Ede asked the Minister for Health why the report of his Ministry for 1955 was published only in May 1957; and when it is proposed to publish the report for 1956.

Mr A. J. Braga: Mr Speaker, Sir, owing to the increased expansion of the medical services and the necessity for carefully checking the volume of statistical material included in the Report, it was not possible to bring it out earlier. The Statistics Department had been put on other urgent commitments, one of which was the work relating to elections which entailed a tremendous amount of work. It was therefore not possible for the Department to work on detailed data exclusively and to submit to my Ministry the essential statistical details in time. Without such material, even textual matters could not be elaborated on adequately.

It is not possible for me to say when the 1956 Annual Report will be published.

Mr John Ede: Mr Speaker, Sir, is the Minister aware that these Reports inevitably become of very much less value if published a year later?

Mr Speaker: That is a matter of opinion.