ABSTRACT
The Nurses’ Registration Act brought only a temporary peace to the warring factions which vied for supremacy during the debate. The Act received a mixed reception in the nursing press. Some anticipated a ‘golden future’ and ‘honourable status’ for nursing and welcomed the victory against apathy and antagonism.1 Others were sceptical of the prospect of radical reform and compared the passing of the Act to ‘applying sticking plaster to a gumboil’.2 As a step towards the establishment of an elected nursing council, a Caretaker Council was established. The Caretaker Council provided a fresh battleground for old and new contests to be fought. Differences which had divided registrationists before the passing of the Act re-emerged in the Council’s early work. Its composition by unreconciled parties provided a recipe for strife and disaster. The conflicts revolved around rival interpretations of what the powers of the Council should be and how it should be constituted.
