DANGERS OF DISEASE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 74, 9 March 1933, Page 4

DANGERS OF DISEASE

AEROPLANES AS CARRIERS. AUSTRALIAN PRECAUTIONS. • Sydney, Mar. 2. . The danger of introducing into Australia some of the dread diseases of the East will be increased many times with the establishment this year of the contemplated air mail service between Darwin and Singapore. Even now the possibility is causing health authorities great concern, and the need for very ■strict regulations has been emphasised more than once without anything having been done. The problem is not as easy of solution as would appear on the surface, and has an international aspect which makes it difficult to handle. That may be the reason for the delav so far.

While the air traffic is so slight little harm is possible. If a regular service is established, running all the year round, the position will be different. This is realised, and this week the DirectorGeneral of Health, Dr. Cumpston, will leave for Singapore to attend a conference under tho auspices of the League of Nations. He is charged with a mission of extreme importance to Australia and New Zealand.

It will be the duty of Dr. Cumpston to discuss and approve of regulations designed for the protection of Australia from Asiatic diseases, which might be introduced by aeroplanes, and to make certain that the air mail project will not expose the Commonwealth to greater risks than those which exist today. It is pointed out that the air mail planes will travel up and down the Malay Peninsula, calling at many places that are infested with serious maladies. Scientific opinion is that it would not be safe to run the service unless some understanding was arrived at and Australia given a full measure of control. '

The danger of the spread of disease by aeroplanes is now recognised the world over, and special interest in the subject is being displayed by the League of Nations, which will hold a conference in Paris later in the year. It is expected that a convention will be drafted, and that it will secure the endorsement of all nations who are members of the League. In tho meantime Dr. Cumpston does not anticipate any difficulty in reaching an agreement which will protect Australia from the East.