EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Amendment to A.C.T. Optometrists’ Ordinance 1956

No. 4 of 1957

1.	The definition of optometry in Section 4(1) of the Optometrists’ Ordinance 1956 has been found to be defective and an amendment has been prepared to vary the definition.

2.	The present definition reads:-

“(a)	the employment of methods other than methods which involve the use of drugs for the measurement of the powers of vision; or

 (b)	the adaption of lenses or prisms for the aid of the powers of vision, and includes the dispensing of prescriptions for spectacles made or given by a medical practitioner, but does not include the craft of lens-grinding and spectacles making.”

The amended definition will read:-

“(a)	the employment of methods other than methods which involve the use of drugs, for the measurement of the powers of vision; or

 (b)	the adaption of lenses or prisms for the aid of the powers of vision, but does not include the dispensing of prescriptions for spectacles made or given by a medical practitioner or the craft of lens-grinding and spectacle making.”

3.	The opportunity has been taken to make further machinery amendment to the Ordinance.  The Medical Practitioners Ordinance had to be amended recently to ensure that the prescribed fees would be payable on registration.  Prior to that amendment the fee had been payable “for the issue of a certificate” and it had been possible to secure registration without paying the fee.  The Optometrists’ Ordinance as originally drafted was similarly deficient and the proposed amendment will make it necessary for the fee £1 to be paid in order to be registered.