This Act shall come into operation on the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy.

The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Medical Practitioners’ Registration Act 1869.”

“The Medical Practitioners Act 1867” is hereby repealed except as regards acts done offences committed or penalties incurred before the passing of this Act.

In the construction of this Act the words and phrases following shall have the signification hereby attached to them unless there is something in the context repugnant to or inconsistent with such construction—

The Registrar-General shall keep in his office a book in which shall be inserted the names qualifications and residences of all persons now registered under the repealed Act and in which shall from time to time be inserted the name qualification and residence of every person in the Colony who shall be registered and the date of such registration and each Registrar in the towns of Auckland New Plymouth Napier Nelson Hokitika Picton Christchurch Dunedin and Invercargill shall keep a similar book for the registration of persons who may find it more convenient to apply to such Registrars And each such Registrar shall immediately on the registration of any person in his book forward a copy of the entry thereof to the Registrar-General and shall also from time to time acquaint the Registrar-General with any erasure in or alteration of his Registry.

On application made to him at any time for that purpose by any medical practitioner the Registrar-General or Registrar as the case may he shall issue to such applicant a certificate of registration.

All such books as aforesaid shall be open to inspection by the public.

The Registrar-General or Registrar may examine any person applying to be registered as hereinafter provided and any opponent and any witness who may be produced by either party and may require any statement to be made on oath and for that purpose may administer oaths and if satisfied that such applicant is qualified to be registered under this Act shall enter his name and other particulars in the Registry as herein provided Provided that the Registrar may if he see fit in any case abstain from entering the name of such applicant and the particulars of his qualifications until after he shall have transmitted which he is hereby required to do without delay a copy of the same and the evidence if any taken by him thereon to the Registrar-General and received his direction thereon.

The Registrar-General and Registrar respectively from time to time shall erase the names of all registered persons who shall have died and shall from time to time make the necessary alterations in the addresses or qualifications of the persons registered under this Act.

Every person registered who may after such registration have obtained any higher degree or any qualification other than the qualification in respect of which he may have been registered shall be entitled to have such higher degree or additional qualification inserted in the Register in substitution for or in addition to the qualification previously registered.

A true copy of the Register aforesaid certified by the Registrar-General to be a true copy shall in the month of December in each year be sent to the Colonial Secretary and shall by him he published in the New Zealand Gazette of the Colony and any copy of the Register so published shall be evidence in all Courts of law and before all Resident Magistrates and Justices of the Peace and others that the persons therein specified are registered according to the provisions of this Act Provided that in the case of any person whose name does not appear in such copy a certified copy under the hand of the Registrar-General or Registrar of the entry of the name of such person on the Register shall be evidence that such person is registered.

Every person now or hereafter possessed of any one or more of the qualifications hereafter described shall be entitled to be registered that is to say—

Any person desiring to be registered shall give notice of his intention to apply for that purpose to the Registrar-General or Registrar as aforesaid and shall state in such notice his residence his qualification and the date of his intended application and that his diploma or other evidence of qualification is deposited for public inspection in the office of the Registrar-General or Registrar as the case may be and shall affix to such notice his name in full.

The diploma or other evidence of qualification shall be produced to the Registrar and a copy thereof certified by a Justice of the Peace shall be deposited as stated in the notice and such notice shall be published in a newspaper circulating near the place of the applicant’s residence at least one month before the date of his application and in the New Zealand Gazette.

If any such applicant as aforesaid or any person objecting and appearing before the Registrar-General or Registrar as aforesaid shall be dissatisfied with the decision of the Registrar-General or Registrar it shall be lawful for him respectively by motion in the Supreme Court to apply to such Court for an order to the Registrar-General or Registrar and the Court may order that the person applying shall be registered or that he shall be registered conditionally or upon terms or may decline to make such or any order and with or without costs and the Supreme Court may in such case and in any other motion for the rectification of the Register make such order with or without costs as it shall think fit.

The Registrar-General or Registrar shall take and receive the under-mentioned fees—

Provided always that any person registered under “The Medical Practitioners Act 1867” shall be registered under this Act without payment of a fee.

All fees accruing under this Act shall form part of the Consolidated Fund of the Colony.

Every registered person shall be entitled to sue in any Court of law in New Zealand to the extent of the jurisdiction of such Court for the recovery of his fees or other remuneration for his professional services whether medical or surgical.

No person shall be entitled to recover any charge in any Court of law in the Colony for any medical or surgical advice or attendance or for the performance of any operation or for any medicine which he shall have both prescribed and supplied unless he shall prove on the trial that he is registered.

No person unless registered shall hold any appointment as a physician surgeon or other medical officer in any hospital infirmary dispensary or lying-in hospital or in any lunatic asylum gaol penitentiary house of correction house of industry or other institution supported wholly or in part by public funds for affording medical relief in sickness infirmity or old age or as a medical officer of health and no certificate required by any Act now or hereafter to be in force to be signed by any physician surgeon licentiate in medicine or surgery or other medical practitioner shall be valid unless the person signing the same shall he registered Provided that nothing in this Act contained shall render invalid any such certificate from a duly appointed medical officer of any of Her Majesty’s Land or Sea Forces in full pay although such officer may not be registered under this Act.

If any person shall have procured himself to be registered by making or producing or causing to be made or produced any false or fraudulent representation or declaration either verbally or by writing or if any person not entitled to be registered shall have been registered or if any registered person shall be or shall have been convicted of any felony or misdemeanour in Great Britain or Ireland or in any of the British Dominions the Registrar-General and Registrar respectively shall erase the name of any such person from the Register and such erasure shall be notified by the Registrar-General in the New Zealand Gazette.

Nothing in this Act contained shall extend or be construed to extend to prejudice or in any way to affect the lawful occupation trade or business of chemists druggists and dentists.

Any person who shall wilfully and falsely pretend to be or take or use the name or title of a physician doctor of medicine licentiate in medicine and surgery bachelor of medicine surgeon general practitioner or apothecary or any name title addition or description implying that he is registered under this Act or that he is recognized by law as a physician or surgeon or licentiate in medicine and surgery or a practitioner in medicine or an apothecary shall for every such offence pay a sum not exceeding fifty pounds to be recovered in a summary way.

If any person fraudulently or by false representations shall procure himself to be registered as a Medical Practitioner or shall forge alter or counterfeit any such certificate or shall utter or use any such forged altered or counterfeited certificate knowing the same to have been forged altered or counterfeited or shall falsely advertise or publish himself as having been registered as a Medical Practitioner he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour and being convicted thereof shall be liable to imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding three years.