DIRTY DARWIN

Evening Star, Issue 17316, 1 April 1920, Page 1

DIRTY DARWIN

Giving evidence on the 12th inst. before the Northern Territory Commission, Dr M. J. Holmes, cx-heaith and quarantine officer in the. Territory between 1911 a „d 1916, described the condition of the Darwin Hospital when he took charge. The interior n f i !ho b mJ din ?:, - h8 said ’ , was unspeakably filthy. The Chinese patients, hnvinv no cn.eniences, simply ignored all decinoy. the place was noisome in the extreme, A s the result, the Chinese kitchen bov"* contracted typhoid—in the hospital. The surgical operations were conducted in an old dispensary, or out-patients’ room, which it was impossible to keep clean. The hospital roofs leaked. y Mr Justice Ewing: It was a good place to keep out of if you didn’t want to die. Witness said he immediately undertook sanitary improvements. The whole structure was scraped out. Mr Morley: ‘"Scraped” out! Witness explained that the “scraping” was preliminary to the replasterino- of tSro walls and repainting. New lavatory and drainage accommodation was provided, and an operating theatre and a laundry were erected; also a morgue. Mr Justice Ewing, referring to the atmosphere of dirt at Darwin, remarked that when he took possession of 'the Judge’s room there he was appalled by the environment of cobwebs, hornets’ nests, and General filth that seemed to be the accumulation of years. ‘"I don’t know how the Judge stood it. I have never seen anything ]ik e it in my life.'.’ He had tho room made as sanitary as possible before taking possession, Mr Justice Ewing concluded. Dr Holmes pointed out that a hornet could build a nest in two days. Mr Morley: Apparently the Judge’s room was not the only place in Darwin, your Honor, where there were hornets’ nests. Mr Justice Ewing: ‘‘l think I can safely say that there was at least a year’s accumulation of filth in the Judge’s room when 1 saw it.” It was not denied that improvements had been made to the hospital, but one of the complaints made was that money voted by Parliament for the erection of a maternity ward had been used for the build- j naa: of nurses’ cmartev*.