VENEREAL DISEASE.

CLLJB FOR PREVENT"IoM.

APPEAL BY MISS ROUT

Missi Ettie A: Rout, hon. secreUui'" of the New Zealand Soldiers' Medical C,hlb, Hornchurch, Essex, England, writes to the "New Zealand Times'' as follows under date Noverhber ~(.,,.. . . , , . The purpube of ihs £\m is to provide members of the N.Z.E.F. with f the necessary articles for the medical prevention of venereal disease. It has been established with the approval of the New Zealand military authorities in England, and the beginning made at Hornchurch, by their special request Official efforts will be co-Operated With; arid 1 supplemented by the girjng of free medical advice atid. iW. M& bf rriedicarHents, etc., fbi* tiie preventidti 6i The prbphylactic outfits Rele'cted are Official ftpnroyal, .but they aWeOlti tb theliie'H jirivatefy .'aid confidentially. By means of prophylaxis and the medical control of women, venereal disease has been practically wiped out at Port Said and elsewhere among Anzac troops. Until these remedies were applied, venereal disease prevailed to an alarming extent, TIM condition things here is ttiuCb WatM (Han in Egypt, and not so easily eiiredj becatts- of the mistaken opposition to the medical control. Of who tbhintarily "cater'-for the troops. If it were possible for hte to run a properlyconducted licensed house for our troops here, I would do it, for the sake of protecting the New Zealand nation against further . invasion by venereal disease. It is not possible to do that at present, and therefore we have to rely merely oh prophylactics. We shall all do our very utmost to get the New Zealand soldiers to use.th«_e whenever they are exposed to infection: Personally I have considered the steps I anl taking how With the utmost care arid thOught, from ..the ethical, as well as .frorii the medical point of view, and I am very sure that it is right and necessary to let our soldiers Order their lives tor themselves' in these matters.; You cannot dictate to any.man what, shall be his morality or his b.wn religion. He must make his own choice. Your attempts to impose total sexual abstinence on him he regards as a meddlesome and impertinent interference with the expression of a natural instinct. For three years we have refused to accept our soldiers' views: that women are indispensable. The result has been utterly deplorable. I am exceedingly Sorry that I should have to take tip a position strongly antagonistic to many New Zealand men and woriten at home; but^—l -must be loyal to the soldiers for whom lam working. In the nature of things, We New Zealand warworkers can give only social values to our men abroad; the "other women" give more. I think it is clearly my duty to see that this latter "giving" is done under reasonably safe conditions. There will be neither more nor less of it because of the elements of safety. But the dreadful menace will be removed from many a New Zealand returned soldier's home, and his children and grandchildren escape the blighting mildew of venereal disease. It is not easy to conduct such a club as this, and I ask that the task should not be made needlessly difficult by official or unofficial opposition at home. It is not easy.to finance such a club as this, and for the most part I have had to do it on borrowed money! The total amount available as "capital"- is as follows: Jjorrowed from canteen profits made in Egypt . . 410 Borrowed from friends in London 150 Further sum being borrowed from Egyptian . profits ..... 100 £660 Of this amount there is— £ Amount, held in suspense account for equipment etc. . . Amount' expended on living expenses, office expenses, rent, N.Z.V.S. holidays, uniforms, May to October, in London . . . J 68 Amount expended on purchase of furniture and .stock for Hornchurch' Chib: . A 153 Leaving us with £89 in the bank and £100 to' come shortly from Egypt, in addition to held in Suspense, most of which last amount will probably be required to settle debts for preliminary expenditure here. Now official moneys here cannot be used without the consent of Cabinet; patriotic moneys cannot be used without the consent of subscribers, for they were obviously not contributed for the purpose of supplying prophylactic outfits to, our soldiers. Therefore lam going to ask some of the gentlemen of New Zealand to forward us sufficient money for "working capital," so that different medical clubs can be established for the benefit of members of the N.Z;E.F.—one particularly in London as soon as possible. In all cases a properly qualified medical" practitioner will be in charge, and the service will be done by volunteer workers (men), in the same way as canteen service is done by volunteer women of education and refinement and private means.

Two New Zealand medical men have signified their willingness to help in this work and if we can establish one of them in London and one in France for the benefit of the Division, we shall soon be able to reduce infection by means of prophylactic outfits. In the. course of time these clubs can certainly be made profitable; but this is not the object; the object is the medical prevention of disease. And, at first, pi*ogress is retarded because of lack of initial capital. This is really necessary because the stocks in bulk involve the outlay of considerable sums of money, and must be paid for in advance in most cases; and because, owing to shortage of supplies, and Government control of raw materials, the ordinary difficulties of opening a "business" with a small amount of capital are greatly enhanced. When you are considering this appeal, let us urge that you should remember that every week in thr. United Kingdom alone from sixty to seventy New Zealand men are being infected with venereal disease; at least ten men every day. Those infections can be very largely reduced, but only by the joint efforts of the New Zealand military authorities, the New Zealand war workers abroad, and the New Zealand people at home. If we stand up and work with the weapons medical science has placed in our hands, we shall succeed. Rut the task will never be accomplished by sil.linj; down mm fortabl.y and tilling lie?, about kpj- or thanking cur stars, thah '■*+. •>_- ticf ov - jc-b tb ds-l. up th? .;'