NATIVE RACES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 194, 18 August 1933, Page 7

NATIVE RACES.

DECLINE ARRESTED. GREAT HEALTH CAMPAIGN. IMPORTANCE IN FIJI. (From Our Own Correspondent) SUVA, August 5. The rapid decline in the native races in the Pacific has been a source of perturbation to many. The wiping out of over 150,000 splendid natives in the Marquesas group is a tragedy which should never be forgotten. Up till recently there was a steady decline in all the island groups. Then the Rockefeller Foundation took a hand, and the results must be recognised as one of the finest things that have happened in the Pacific. Their representative, Dr. Lambert, held conversations with the High Commissioner of the Western Pacific and Governor of Fiji, and with other officials administering other groups under British and American rule. The result was a complete understanding and a joint effort, which has resulted in a revolution in health conditions among the native populations.

Yaws, that dread disease, has been checked and mastered; dysentery, hookworm and typhoid have in turn been fought, and many tens of thousands of natives in the Fijis, Tonga, Samoa, Cooks, Solomons, and Gilbert and Ellice Islands have been treated by a travelling staff of European and native skilled workers. The results have been really wonderful. In all these groups the decline of population has been stayed, and in some, as in Fiji, the native statistics show that the people are growing in numbers. T.B. in the Solomons. Recently Dr. Lambert took advantage of an offer of a passage in Mr. Temple-ton-Crocker's schooner-yacht Zaca, which carried the owner and a scientific party touring the islands. Dr. Lambert visited many islands in the Solomons, especially Bellona and Rennell. After an absence of 83 days he has returned, and reports that he found that the decline in population in these, the last of the western island groups to receive special medical attention, has stopped. But he found a great problem in the spread of tuberculosis. "Whjle I have not yet drawn up my tables to ascertain the extent of tuberculosis in the Solomons," he said, "it is very widely distributed throughout the group, and is one of the most important medical problems . there." The disease is not a danger in other western groups, and every step is being taken to keep it under control, and in the Solomons steps will be taken to have an intense campaign against its inroads. ■

Child Welfare Work. While the general health campaign is being carried on all over these islands, the child welfare activities must not be forgotten. They have already greatly lowered the infant mortality, and promise to have a far-reaching effect economically and racially. In Fiji the Indians were quickly overhauling the native Fijians, but to-day the rates of increase have been greatly altered, and it will take many years before the Indians will overhaul the Fijians.. This is mostly due to the child welfare work.