TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 144, 15 December 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Much mischief may be worked in the name of "liberty of Control of the subject." Some the Degenerate, members of the Legislative Council appear to believe that it is iniquitous on the part «f the State, in its capacity as parent, to seek power to further detain in reformatories those mental and physical deficients, decadents or degenerates, who, at the age of twenty-one years, show signs, unmistakable to the discerning eye, that they are not fit to be at large. The Attorney-General deserves praise for asking Parliament to permit the Government to adopt ways and means to protect the we<ak ones against themselves, and to safeguard the community, socially and economically, against perverted types. It surely involves a reduction to an absurdity to keep a watchful eye on the defective children till they reach the age of twenty-one, and then turn them loose on the world, whether their minds and morals are sound or not. Degenerates have been responsible for several murders in New Zealand during the past three years. One girl was shot in Wellington and another in Christchurch by weak-minded young men of such a degenerate type that the death sentence passed on them was commuted to imprisonment for life. The "liberty of the subject" demands the safe keeping ol individuals who, in the opinion of expert observers, are likely to prove a menace to society if allowed to wander about at will.- When the Bill reaches the Lower House the members should be quick to see the logic of Dr. Findlay s reasoning. The Government is not trying to pose as a pitiless gaoler in this matter, but is acting for the general good of humanity. Dr. Frengley (District Health Officer) and the Hon. C. M. T3- 7? m c Luke (chairman of the Right Track. Wellington Hospital Trustees) have surely convinced tne Mayor that his tactics against the projected fever hospital were due to lack of knowledge. For this lack Dr. Newman has only himself to blame, as The Post indicated on Saturday ; but now that the facts have again been clearly repeated for his informa turn, it is his obvious duty to assist the hospital authorities to push on with the long-delayed work. "A number of nurses," said Mr. Luke yesterday, "had been stricken with fever when carrying out their duties under conditions which were revolting and a discredit to the city. ... It would be positively dangerous to delay further in providing a fever hospital/ This doctrine exactly bears out the contention often expressed in these columns. The ancient, disreputable wooden building used as a fever hospital was not designed originally for that purpose. Its front fence abuts a road used by the public, and the front door is barely a chain from the road. In the hot summer the place is a sad one for the healthy passer-by to contemplate, and is a misery to those imprisoned within the infected walls. This hospital has been known occasionally to be a propagator rather than a curer of fever. Long ago the diseaseridden timber cried out for the match. The trustees, who have now accepted a tender for a new building, should not suffer any obstructionists to further hinder a very necessary work. Wellington people have been severely punished for the haggling and wrangling between the Government, the trustees, and local bodies in the past, and they should ptoperly resent any further attempts at procrastination. It is small comfort to a maimed man when two good SamariA Lack tans are available for of Harmony, his assistance buteach thinks that the other should have the honour of giving a helping hand. A report in this issue mentions the cape of a consumptive anan, who was found at the brink of the grave by a representative of the St. John Ambulance Association. This visitor believed that it was tho function of the Benevolent Institution to supply medical aid, hut the secretary of that body declined to send a doctor. His ftrgumeni w.W tuftt tixa vmk fflW not

destitute, because the earnings of the family (a wife and seven children) were two guineas a week, and the man had received £3 (for work done) some days prior to the visit of the St. John nurse. It is not easy to calculate how much, money could be spared by the unfortunate family for the expense of a doc-, tor in the sad. crisis. Impetuous critics might be eager to misjudge either tbe Benevolent Institution or its secretary, or both; but a little reflection shows that the blame must be put upon the system rather than on individuals. It is pleasing to see that the Benevolent Trustees nave recognised the need of a clear understanding with the St. John Ambulance Association as to the responsibility in cases of the kind described A conference between representatives of the two philanthropic bodies should result in the adoption of a policy to ensure prompt relief for the sick poor, with no loss of precious time in dissertations about the allocation of the cost.