The Hastings Standard Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1900. THE GOSSIP'S DIARY.

Hastings Standard, Volume V, Issue 1299, 17 August 1900, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1900. THE GOSSIP'S DIARY.

The appearance of the bubonic plague in an all too near neighbourhood has impelled the authorities of the colony to make drastic reforms in mutters pertaining to the health of its people. The much-quoted Italian proverb, " out of a great evil there springs a gieat good," seems to fit most aptly the outcome of the recent plague scare. We had considered that diseases of such a nature had been specially invented for the purpose of weeding out the prolific dark-skinned races of Asia, and punishing them for their uncleanly modes of living ; it never entered our minds that heaven-endowed countries like Australia and New Zealand were iu any danger of being visited by either the bubonic plague or any similar scourge, Buoyed up by this mistaken idea of security we took all manner of liberties : our commercial men heaped up the most noxious and unsavoury articles in their storehouses ; the local authorities winked at the creation of slums ; and we viewed with complacency the presence of insanitary and aromatic accumulations in any but our own, or our neighbour's, back yards. But the day of reckoning came for Sydney, and New Zealand began to feel the uncomfortable proximity of the plague, and proceeded to make those necessary reforms which before the appearance of danger were considered superfluous.

A Bill was introduced into Farliament by the Colonial Secretary for the principles contained in which we have undoubtedly to thank the plague scare. The measure provides for the establishment of a Department of Public Health, to be under the control of a Minister of the Crown, and various drastic reforms are suggested of a salutary nature. Power is given the Governor -in - Council to make regulations for registering inns and lodging-houses, and fixing the number of lodgers that may bo kept therein. The powers of the district health officers to check dangerous infectious diseases are extensive, and they may declare any person or thing insanitary and order its destruction, forbid tho discharge of sewage or insanitary matter into any lake or watercourse, and exert many other prerogatives tho proper attention to which will make the position much more than a sinecure. It is intended that compensation shall be paid owners of property destroyed to the full market value, except in instances where neglect of the ordinary rules of sanitary carefulness or cleanliness has been proved. If the buildings have been neglected by the occupier ho is to pay the compensation, if by the local authority, then the latter is liable. Time was when there waa no such thing as sanitary precaution, and when systematic drainage was an unknown quantity. We had tuu«b of a njore ur

3oriou3 nature, and were ignorant of the source. The majority of ills may be traced to a common origin defective dtmitation—and any measure which makes for purer conditions of living should be welcomed by a people who realise in this age of great discoveries that health is the handmaiden of cleanlinoss.