CONSUMPTIVE SOLDIERS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 72, 25 March 1919, Page 4

CONSUMPTIVE SOLDIERS.

The question whether the Government is doing all it should do for consumptive soldiers has been raised again by remarks of the Mayor at a meeting of the Claims Board, and by some very strong comments by two doctors and other persons interested in patriotic work in Canterbury. The Mayor says that men suffering from tuberculosis are coming to the Patriotic Association for help, and he considers that such men should not be discharged. The Canterbury doctors take the same line; according to them, men arc being dischurged uncured, and the Government is not doing its duty in the care of the soldiers so afflicted. The question was raised last year by the report of an Auckland committee representing war associations which investigated the conditions at the Cambridge Consumption Sanatorium. This committee reported that the Government's preparations for the treatment of re- | turned men suffering from tuberculosis I were very inadequate, that men could be kept for only three months at Cambridge, and then had to be discharged, whether cured or not, and that even when the new Waipukurau Sanatorium was ready, the accommodation provided by the Government would not be sufficient. The committee naturally emphasised the danger to the public as well as to the men themselves of discharging soldiers uncured. On top of this report came a strong letter from an Auckland doctor who, in England, had had to deal with New Zealand soldiers suffering from tuberculosis. He said that after examining patients at Home, and listing them for sanatorium treatment in Xew Zealand, he had been astounded on reaching Xew Zealand to see some of [ these men walking about the streets, and to be told by them that they had been discharged. Sir James Allen made a ! lengthy reply to the committee's report, ! the gist of his statement being that the Government was doing a great deal for men so affected. It certainly has donu something. It has established a sanatorium farm at Waipukurau, which will be completed next month; though why such an institution should not have been established a year or two ago only the Government knows. It has provided accommodation for soldiers at the Cambridge and Christchurch sanatoria. But i» Hew of these fresh complaints the

public will feel uneasy. The Government's general record in the treatment

of returned men does not inspire confidence, and leads one to fear fiat when doctors talk like these Canterbury doctors, and a hospital board describes the steps taken by the (Jovernment to treat consumptive soldiers as a "miserable fiasco," there is something to justify such criticism. The Government's duty in this respect is plain. A soldier suffering from consumption should be given the best of treatment until he is cured, and if he cannot be cured he should be given a comfortable home for the rest of his days. New Zealand abounds in suitable places for of consumption, and it is comparatively easy to enlarge the accommodation at existing sanatoria. The organisation is there; all that is wanted is some more shelters, and perhaps some small additions to the staff. If the Government is neglecting its duty in this direction it has no excuse for doing so.