THE MEASLES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXIX, Issue 182, 25 July 1893, Page 2

THE MEASLES.

+ The measles epidemic which has recently afflicted all parts of the Colony, and is pretty general m Blenheim just now, has caused some commotion m municipal quarters. The Post, which has been hunting up the law on the subject, says that householders and medical men aro required to report to the municipal authority, as the local Board of Health, all cases of infectious or contagious disease occurring on their premises or amongst their patients, as the case may be. A fee of 2s 6d is payable to a medical man for each report. Measles is undoubtedly one of the diseases ooming within the definition of the Act. In some municipalities notices were actually advertised by the Health Officer, directing attention to the requirements of th<* law m oonnaction with the epidemic. In other places the medical men duly made reports, and received their half-crowns, In Auckland the fees thus paid totalled up to over £300, and the City Council now wants the Government to remove measles from the list of diseases which require to be reported. The Government does not see its way to do this. The Wellington City Council tcok the matter into its own hands, without troubling the Government. When dootors there began to send m their reports and to claim their half-crowns, the municipal authorities told them they were not afraid of measles, did not want to know anything about the complaint, and would not pay for information as to its progress m the city. The matter requires looking into. If the Act is unnecessarily stringent, or the regulations under it too comprehensive, by all means let it be amended, but it should not be left to municipal discretion whether the law as it stands should be carried out or not. Of course, if the medical men persisted m reporting cases, the Council would bo compelled to pay the fees.