“CLOTHES, THE INERADICABLE EVIL”

Evening Star, Issue 19949, 20 August 1928, Page 3

“CLOTHES, THE INERADICABLE EVIL”

SOAP TARIFF OFF IN SOUTH SEAS Officials of this generation in South Sea colonics are directing their distracted attention from clothes as such to the cleanliness thereof, according to the ' Samoa Guardian ’ ol May 31, which, under the heading ‘Clothes and Christianity,’ tells of the problem of native hygiene in part as follows: — “ ‘ Clothes arc now so closely associated in tho popular mind with Christianity that an open crusade against them would bo regarded by the native as a deliberate assault upon religion ; they musty now he regarded as an ineradicable evil, and the only hope is to promote a habit of cleanliness and good sense in their use.’ “ Mr Arthur Grimble, Resident Commissioner of tho Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, makes this statement in his annual eport, issued recently, when dealing with tho problem of native hygiene. “ * European clothes,’ he says, ‘ have been used in the colony for a quarter of a century. Tho dirtiness of the garments worn by women and infants in arms is often horrible and indescribable. While such conditions persist, tho race will continue to carry the chief focus of filth and contagion nest to its skin.’ “In the hope of bringing about some improvement the import duty on soap has been removed, while, with a view to eradicating tuberculosis, the passing of pipes from mouth to mouth has been prohibited.”