PUBLIC HEALTH

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 58, 3 December 1918, Page 6

PUBLIC HEALTH

SCARES AND LETHARGY (To the Editor.)

Sir,—"When the Devil was sick the Devil a saint would be." New Zealand is sick at present and thoroughly scared, and we are all. keen on reform and mrc very active. Politicians and would-be politicians are throwing mud at each other. Labour ieaders are demonstrating how it is all the fault of th« wicked capitalist, and local authorities and Government Departments arc hunting up all the anomalies in the local governing Acts to show that it was .not their fault, but that despite their strenuous efforts they wero debarred from effecting those sanitary reforms for which they have always striven. It is always the other fellow-who has neglected his duty. Everyone is saying, "1 told you to,"* and explaining why it was that they failed to make this prescience public. It is really most gratifying to discover what a number of sanitary enthusiasts have hitherto "blushed .unseen" in our midst. The trouble has been that from motives of modesty they have hitherto kept then N lights hidden under a bushel, hoping anxiously the while that the municipal and Government Departments charged with the care of tho public health would so conduct! affaire that they could remain safely hidden and asleep.* t , When frightened and anxious, it great relief to find a scapegoat, for then it is unnecessary to trouble about repentance on allow, our consciences to whisper reproaches for indifference and neglect. Take, for example, the 'beneficent action, of the Northclilfo Press at the beginning of the war. when by a judicious campaign it was possible to direct the attention of dazed and indignant England, just aroused, rudely from her slumbers, :to one or two hapless .statesmen who chanced to be in the way. Tile blame- for two generations of national neglect and incompetence was gladly transferred to the shoulders of these unfortunates, nnd England felt (relieved, and is by now doubtless looking forward to resuming her slumbers. It is a very easy way out of the trouble, for, as in the example quoted, it does not matter if the selected victims happen to be the men who have attempted, and in a small way successfully, to ward oft" the threatened danger. So now we may look for the scapegoat among those overworked public servants, civic or governmental, whose efforts have not succeeded in'warding off fhis disturbing epidemic. They may have tried faithfully .to carry on despite'every sort of discouragement and indifference, fantly laws, insufficient sta.fi, opposition from Vested interests with influence. Their voices may have been crying' in ,the wilderness, for many years unnecded. No matter. They are convenient us bearers of the burden of guilt. Crucify them. Then we shall doubtless add one or two clauses to our existing entanglement of public health legislation, and we shall gather u,p a few tincans here and there and pull down one or two rickeity structures 'owned by folk without too much influence'at election time, <.nd then— "AYhen the Devil was well, the Devil a saint was he."

Wo need net worry. We have been through it all before and nothing very vital happened. We can sink ba.ck to slumber, as we did after, tho plague scare of 1900, and the smallpox scare of ii)l3. The latter really only affected our Maori brethren. We could harry the poor native, restrict his movements, tell him how dirty he was, and insist .on his being vaccinntwl. For Europeans, of course,'. vaccination can be neglected (except when we are frightened), and our own overcrowded kiangas and illventilated whares may be left as they As to plague, why we know quite well now that it was only a scare invented far political purposes and to make comfortable billets for a few favoured folk. And in like manner the pneumonic influenza epidemic of 1918 will become in due time a bogey, brought out only by some of those sanitary cranks to try and scare us from our 'egitimate pursuit of pleasure and profit, or a 'much blunted weapon used for-political purposes by our Labour leaders if it happens to fit in with their plan of campaign. It is only the. youthful optimist who sees in this national disaster a prospect of complete reform in our/ measures for Hie protection of public .-health, lie changes necessary are too sweeping to be accomplished" in the manner depicted in the .hopeful dreams of the newly enlisted sanitary enthusiast. He seeks little of the public indifference that will gradually reassert itself and quench the present blaze of hygienic zeal. He does not see the long-drawn battle that must take place before the care of the national ■health can be removed from its present status as a.political pawn to be moved forward into prominence when it otters a chance of glory, or can be used as a flail upon the opponents of the mover, but at other times must stand neglected and forlorn, regarded by our legislators as a troublesome thing that brings in no revenue, and by its rctivities only alienates votes. For that is how public health stands both with our general au« local governing bodies. . It is a fur cry yet to a Local Government Board such as exists in Britain— a strong body not directly under .Parliamentary control, and vested with compulsory poweTS over local authorities. With such a controlling body, continuity of policy is assured, and its work goes forward indifferent to political upheavals while its powers are e'uen that little Peddlington has to raise money for a. drainage scheme or a water eiipplv despite the secret antagonism of its •M.P. and his colleagues on the borough council who own much property and will have to pay high rules. Do we want ench an independent body liere? I trow not.'- Public opinion line not developed so far jet, and politics is one of our essential industries, bo we shall go on with our half-starved public health departments f'nd our patchwork sanitary legislation till we find that health'has a commercial value. There is a lot of educating to be done before that (lav arrives.—l i.m, etc., JUDEX.