HIDDEN PLAGUE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 113, 9 November 1910, Page 3

HIDDEN PLAGUE.

CONTAGIOUS DISEASES REPEAL. DEBATE IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. The debate on the Bill providing for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases ! Act was continued in the Legislative Council after The Post went to press yesterday. Continuing his speech, the main portion of which was reported yesterday, the Attorney-General (^ho Hon. Dr. Findlay) said he did not claim for his proposals any novelty whatever. They were advocated by the leading doctors of the world. He was convinced thai no decrease in the disease would take place until compulsory notification was decided upon. The opposition to the proposals was based upon a question of etiquette. He had a profound respect for medical etiquette, but in some respects it was unfair. He had been told that doctors would defy the law. The speaker quoted a case where an innocent woman had not been protected from her polluted husband. Domesticity which required this kind of protection should end. (Hear, hear.) The etiquette he had referred to should not be allowed to stand in "the way of common fairness and justice. He wished to say that he had received from the leaders of the profession the greatest assistance. The opposition to the Government's proposals came, curiously enough, from the class it was desired to protect — the women. The law as it stood to-day was a disgrace to civilisation. Old prejudices would^ disappear before more light. He quoted the opinions of Dr.i. Agnes Bennett and Platts-Mills as a sample of the widened outlook of talented women. He intended to persist to the very end. If he failed he would fail in a cause which was worth striving for. (Applause.) GENERAL APPROVAL. The Hon. W. Beehan sa-id he was pleased end delighted to hear the speech of the Attorney-General. He warmly approved the Government's proposals. The Hon. C. M. Luke said he had had a large experience in hospital management, and it was deplorable to think that 35 per cent. •of the outpatients were afflicted with this foul disease. His only regret was that something could not be done that session to grapple with the evil. He believed a good deal could bo' done if lectures were given in i>he public schools to boys by medical men. (Hear, hear.) Mostly lads first suffered through ignorance. The lady practitioners could also instruct the girls. He hoped what the Government intended doing would go a long way in the direction of building up a stronger and healthier community. A MEDICAL OPINION. The Hon. Dr- Collins supported the repeal of the Act, and endorsad the necessity for doing something to cope with the evil. The great trouule was to get hold of the persons who wandered about and spread the disease. He believed Dr. Findlay would get the support of the medical profession when it thoroughly realised what the scheme meant. It would be inadvisable to interfere with medical etiquette. In the notification of the disease by doctors there would require to be ru understanding of absolute secrecy. THE TERRITORIAL FORCE. This ■ would procect the etiquette o! the profession, and would .Jinove objection to the proposals. In the examination of the young mea *oi the territorial forces he believed they would be able to get a fairly accurate estimate of the extent of the disease. He would give his heartiest sugport to anything that would tenc 1 to stamp out the disease. A CONTRARY OPINION. The Hon. Sir George M'Lean said that there was a danger of losing the substance m chasing the shadow, ifears ago they had set up a Purity Committee in Parliament, and had all the facts an«* figures now quoted. No good resulted. Mr. Jones sarcastically) : You got the CD. 4-ct. Sir Georg© went on to say that he had hoped they would one day have a Government with sufficient backbone to put the CD. Act in operation throughout the Dominion, and make it apply to both sexes. In smallpox cases the patiem, was isolated." Why not so in the case of the disease under notice? When thfc CD. Act was in force in Christchurch and Auckland harlots were cleared off the streets at 9 o'clock. He sympathised with what Dr. Findlay was trying to do, but he was striving to do so much. He regretted that the evidence taken before the committee to which he had referred many years ago had not been printed. • The speech of the Attorney-General would have been a splendid speech if he had been moving the application of the CD. Act to the whole country and not its repeal. THE MORAL ASPECT. The Hon. Geo. Jones said he had listened to the last speech with considerable pain. As a matter of fact the C.D. Act had failed in its purpose, and it was responsible for the idea being •spread that immorality could be committed with impunity. In France and India, with their C.D. Acts, the position was deplorable. The Act the Government intended passing next session would not license immorality. All the facts of science and the sentiments of society were against the contentions of Sir George M'Lean. The Hon T. Kelly agreed that to-daj no Government would put the CD. Act in force. He hoped the Act it was inteiided to pass next session would be productive of great good. The Hon. R. A. Loughnan also stated that the C.li. Act had been a failure where it was in force, and that was one of the' chief reasons why public opinion had formed against it. ATTORNEY-GENERAL IN REPLY. In reply the Attorney-General said that hb waß pleased he had a majority of the members of the Council with him. Whatever little good there was in the Bill they had m the present regulation. The C.D. Act was entirely unfair inasmuch as it applied to one sex only. If it was such a good thing as the Hon. Sir George M'Lean thought, why did the sturdy Scots in Dunedin not put it into operation, and why did the hon. gentleman not assist them? Sir George : So I would if I could. Dr. Findlay said the reason was that the people of "New Zealand were opposed to the Act. ! The second reading of tho Bill was carried.