SOCIAL DISEASE

Evening Star, Issue 16547, 5 October 1917, Page 2

SOCIAL DISEASE

A MENAOIpTO OUR .SOLDIERS. ‘ DISASTROUS RESULTS HERE AND AT HOME. v THE NEED FOR DRASTIC ACTION. WOMEN MUST HELP> , [By Our Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, October 6, The, Social Hygiene Bill, which provides lor the prevention and cure of social disr ease, came on for its second reading in the Bouse yesterday, the Minister of Pub lie Health (Hon, G. W. Russell) giving some disquieting information about tho ‘■‘red plague.” , . / The Minister, moving the second reading of the Bill, said it dealt with a subject that, affected the community very intimately indeed. The disease was a menace not only to the men and women of to-day, but to unborn millions. Tho matter had been discussed last year in the House, and the discussion had done a good deal to. lift the veil of secrecy and ignorance from the. red plague. —The Cause of Unfitness.—- - There would be no doubt of the necessity for immediate action. The number of men called up in the first nine ballots under the Military Service Act had been 49,588, and; of this number 25,484 (nearly 50 per cent.): had been declared medically unfit ■Thel unfits included men who had previously been rejected under the voluntary system, so that the figures did not accurately show the real position. But the figures _ demanded attention, and he had - no. hesitation in saying that the diseases dealt with by the. Bill were responsible for

ft large proportion of that unfitness. Hon. A. L. Herdman: What proportion of those unfits, were due to the disorders ini question? Hon G. W. Russell : I have not got the figures. —A Grim Record.■The deaths, directly traceable to social disease during the last four years bad been _ 417„ and im the same period 'there had been 2,512: stillbirths. A large proportion of these stillbirths, had to be attributed to disease-. It was known that the same diseases-, were responsible- for many of the deaths of young children. He was glad to’be able to say that the action of the Government last year- in the suppression t of one-woman brothels Had decreased the amount- of disease among- the men in the military camps. —Cases at Gimps.— The number of cases reported at Trentham camp during the first eight months of the present year had been 119, as against IS2 in the corresponding- period of last year, fbe total-number of cases in all the camps during eight months of 1917 had been 2a3>. as against 303 in 1916. —A Plague Spot.—

Th o '. Minister next referred to a certain foreign port of call for New Zealand troopShips. This port was a disastrous centre of infection-. On one- occasion, even though great precautions had been taken, there were 20- cases after the troopship left that particular port. —Appeal to- Home Government. The- situation in the_ United Kingdom was voy far from satisfactory; indeed, so disastrous had been the result of the contact of New Zealand soldiers with the streets of London that the Dominion Government had felt compelled to urge the Government of the Mother Country to take . th(> Flection of our men. The Bill before the House had been based on the legislation of other countries. If it were to be effective it would have to have the support of the" women of the country, tie thought there was nothing in the Bill to which exception could be taken. •t -°f Safeguarded * ? Thereriwas nothing the Bill to warrant • «T suggestion thati it resuscitated the offensive Contagious Diseases Act, which had been wiped off our Statute Book some J«irs ago. The' rights of women were “*j.y safeguarded and respected in this “T * He pointed out that the personnel of the proposed Board of Social Hygiene and of the local advisory boards included an adequate representation of women. He certain that the women of the country would give- great assistance in combating the eocial evil. The rights'of tho private citizen were in no way endangered bv the provisions of the Bill, * Dr Newman; How can you say that, in view of clause 32. ’ The Minister went on to explain the provisions of the Bill, and pointed out the careful manner in which the examination of sufferers and-their detention in a prison hospital ■were to bo earned out He emphasised the fact that the women offenders were to be examined by women "hat the magisterial investigation was to bo,conducted in chambers, and that an order on detention had to be supported by the certificate of two registered medical practitioners. —-Two Prison Hospitals.— As regards the establishment of prison hospitals, he thought that there should be orte m each island for the reception and treatment, under the best possible conditions, of victims. Although clause 20 provided that persons suffering from disease must undergo medical treatment, there was no provision for tho compulsory notification of these diseases. He was opposed to compulsory notification, because he was of opinion that many sufferers were innocents Victims. He drew special attention to the provisions respecting tho duties of doctors, and explained that ho was not to go tho length of suggesting the prohibition of marriage without the production of a certificate of cleanliness, although the time might come when such a provision would have to be made. Mean" while, he thought .that a great deal of good would be .done by doctors warning their patients against contracting marriage unless or until they received certificates of cure. Hb considered it extremely necessary*o have provision respecting the duties of parents and gfiafdians of children suffering from this disease having the children medically treated. It would be folly to preteiid_ that this provision was not required ili this counter- There were, unfortunately, cases of' this description in the Dominion, arid it was surely the duty of responsible guardians of jrivenile victims to see that the latter, obtained proper treatment. —The Quack and . the Blackmailer.— . It was intended to stamp out the quack who professed to heal victims. In many caseo yoilng people were subjected to a kind of blackmail by these persons, and after spending a lot of money their victims had eventually to seek the aid of registered medical practitioners. Sometimes they remained in the hands of the quacks until it was too late. —Women Patrols.The Minister went on to refer to the proposal to appoint women patrols. Although his coll&lgue the Minister in charge of the police had not deemed it necessary to appoint women police, ho (Mr Riissell) frit certain that, for the purposes of this Bill, tvornen palfold would do valuable work in visiting parks and places of amusement, and advising girls against danger. Hd urns certain that worthy women could fee foUnd to do this work with tact and with .good .effect. (Sear, hear.) They trould be Officers of the Public Health Dep&finieflt, although they would be given the powers of constables, in order to enable them to places wheref certain improper .practices might be going on. The Bill .did not in any way increase .the f'Owcre of the police. Hospital boards had hdir responsibilities increased Under the Bill> but the, gteUter part of the additional expenditure l wodld fee-borne; by the Government. : Every patient on entering a hospital would be assured of receiving adequate treatment free of cost. It was the - intention 6f the Government to administer the Att fery thoroughly. :

MEMBERS SUPPORT THE BILL. ■Mr -Poole said. that many of the cases among pur soldiers were'the result of traps set for the unwary, young men from the country not being aware of the dangers of city-life. Women patrols would be'able to do work that no police constable could do or dared to do. y : ' . Mr Harris approved of. the Bill in general, but considered that all sufferers should receive, free treatment, and -that there should bo compulsory notification of the disease. Mr Hornsby blamed employers for- the spread of the disease, since; they expected young girls to remain decent and virtuous on the miserable wage of-15s per week. Parents were, greatly to blame for allowing children to grow up in ignorance about the risks they ran. When the young people learned the lesson in the school of tfie world they had to learn it in the worst form. . Tho cure for the spread, of these diseases was largely early marriages, which would only be possible by improved social conditions. Dr Newman contended that there was a great deal of_ exaggeration in connection with, social diseases, and that the provisions of tho Bill wore unnecessarily drastic. These diseases had-been controlled in the Indian, army, and'similar steps could be taken here. He approved of women patrols, but considered that no male patrol should have the right to approach any women on this subject. Only women should deal with women. 4 Mr Glover at this stage drew attention to the fact that there were strangers in the galleries, but Mr Speaker ruled that there was no need to clear the galleries, as there was nothing in the Bill to offend the canons of good taste. The member for Auckland Central then proceeded to discuss the Bill, which he warmly' supported, saying it.swould bring down on the head of the Minister the blessing of every mother in tho Dominion. Mr approved of the Bill because it gave to the subject the publicity which had so long been withheld from it. Mr Isitt combated Dr Newman’s contention that this Bill was only the old C.D. Act under a "new ’ guise, and said that such a statement was most unfair. All the worst features of the C.D. Act had been carefully avoided by the Minister, who had collaborated with some of New Zealand’s finest women for that very purpose. He strongly urged'that all persons contemplating marriage should be compelled to produce a clean bill of health If snch a provision were not put into this Bill he hoped the Minister would, during the present session, introduce it in some other measure.

Mr M'Combs was of opinion that tho Bill perpetuated some of the worst features of the C.D. Act. Ho protested against the compulsory clauses contending that the safest way of dealing with the disease was . affording the fullest opportunity of obtaining free treatment. Ho objected to the haste with which the Bill was being rushed through. Messrs Payne. Webb, and Field ;(Nelson) supported the Bill, but asked that the country should have ample time to consider its provisions before it was passed. The Minister, in reply, characterised as unfair the statement by Dr Newman that the Bill contained the worst features of the C.D. Act. The Bill dealt fairly between the sexes. The compulsory clauses only referred to two classes—women of the abandoned class and those who associated withthem—and who would say that such harpies seeking to prey upon our soldiers should not be controlled and segregated in much the same wav as a smallpox patient was segregated? He quoted freely from the report of the Royal Commission on the subject in Britain to show that these diseases did descend to the third and fourth generation, and asked the House to consider what loss in national efficiency arose form that cause.

The Bill was read a second time on the voices.