Manawatu Evening Standard. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1917. THU SOCIAL HYGIENE BILL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 10108, 16 October 1917, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1917. THU SOCIAL HYGIENE BILL.

Wk can neither understand nor syml>atlii.se with some of the objections which have been urged by certain women’s societies against the Social Hygiene Hill, which really covers a courageous and laudable attempt to deal, on humanitarian principles, with one—if not the greatest—of the scourges that afflict mankind in the way of contagions diseases. It is no use disguising the fact that a certain evil, resulting from the illicit relationships ot the sexes, has, since the war, assumed very grave dimensions, and that the disease known as the Red Plague in Europe, is seriously menacing the health of the community; so much so, that it is imperatively necessary to deal with the matter by means of legislation. The Government might, of course, have elected to revive the old Contagious Diseases Act, which is still on the Statute Book, although it remains inoperative until it is applied hy Governor’s Proclamation to any district or districts in which it may be deemed necessary to invoke its powers. But that Act duals exclusively with women, and would, therefore, he one-sided in its operation, the arrest, detention and reformatory treatment it prescribes being in regard to the one sex only. Air Bussell s Bill makes no such distinction between the sexes, for although it primarily deals with prostitutes, reputed prostitutes, or persons habitually consorting with prostitutes, ■suffering from a certain disease, it is dear that sufferers of both sexes may be compulsorily dealt with under the provisions of the Bill, and that, when it becomes hits’, there will he sufheieut authority for action to he taken against such sufferers, independent of their sex or social standing. The Bill lias become necessary in the interests of the nation at large, because the disease it deals with is communicable to persons wholly innocent of immoral relationships, those infected with it being a source of danger to others with whom they may casually come into contact. The subject being such a delicate one', it is didicnlt to be more explicit in defining tho dangers which may and do arise from the sufferers afflicted with the disease being allowed to remain at large. Under our public health laws the authorities have the power to segregate individuals suffering from certain diseases, with their households, until such time as the danger of infection is passed. That is done, for instance, in cases of scarlet lever and smallpox, and the tendency is to more , rigorously enforce segregation in the ease of consumptives, to prevent the further ravages of tho White Plague. Notification of these and other in foe- ( (ions diseases is made compulsory, and (he local authorities have lull powers of dealing with such cases, to prevent 1 the spread of these contagious diseases ’

But the Red Plague has remained untouched and unprovided against, except through tho medium ol the Contagious Diseases Act, 1908, which no Government has shown any disposition to enforce. The Social Hygiene Bill, providing as it does tho necessary safeguards against the abuse of authority, which is intended to replace the inoperative Contagious Diseases Act, is neither so drastic in its provisions noi so one-sided in its operations, and may, as wo have already remarked, be accepted as a courageous attempt to deal, on honest and sane lines, with a much vexed problem, intimately affecting the life and morals of the community.

THE INTENT OF THE MEASURE. The claim advanced by certain of the women objectors to the Bill that it unfairly penalises a certain class of women is so extraordinary, and involves such delicate questions, that we prefci to leave it undiseussed. Lady Stout and her friends must be given credit for the sincerity of their motives and for their honesty of purpose. But they were pretty plainly told by the Minister of Public Health on Saturday that tho representations they made on tho subject did not represent the opinions of the women of New Zealand. And we believe Mr Russell is right in the. view lie thus takes of the matter. Tho dcpiitationists apparently saw no objection to tho segregation of soldiers afflicted with the Red Plague, , and their compulsory detention; their objections to the Bill were based more upon its interference with the liberty of tho other sex, and their fears that tho measure might become an instrument of tyranny in tho hands of those administering the law. But, with the amendments the Minister proposes to make—and these we understand were made in accordance with suggestions received from women who did not endorse tho opposition to the Bill —the Bill is relieved of certain features to which objection was taken. The Bill, Mr Bussell explains, is not intended as a police measure, but as a health Bill. He proposes, therefore, to substitute tho term detention hospitals for the prison hospitals spoken of in the Bill as originally introduced, and to modify those of its provisions which would permit of a Magistrate arriving at a decision by admitting as evidence statements which would not, under other circumstances, he legally admissahlo. Tho provisions referred to are evidently those contained in section 2 of clause 8 and section 4 of clause 10. both of which run on very similar lines, tho former reading that “the Magistrate shall, if satisfied, whether by admission of tho person affected or by any other evidence, whether legally adinissahlc in a Court of law or not

. . . that such person . . . . is a source of danger to the public health, make an order for the detention of that person in a prison hospital for such period, not exceeding six months, as he thinks fit.” The Board of Social Hygiene, which will be charged with the administration of the Act, is to consist of the Chief Health Officer, the Deputy Chief Health Officer, two medical practitioners (one of each sex) registered under the Medical Practitioners Act, 1!U1, and two other persons (one of each sex) not being medical practitioners. They are to he assisted by Local Advisory Boards consisting of tho District Health Officer (who shall ho tho chairman of the Board) and of three other persons of eaeli sex not being medical practitioners. These Boards will be charged with the duty of investigating tho cases of sufferers from tho disease tho measure specially deals with, and to advise the Minister of the facts, whereupon, if it is shown that such person is a sufferer from the disease, and a source of danger to the public health, the Minister may apply to a Magistrate for an order that such person be committed to a prison hospital established under the Act. No order, however, for tho detention of such a person can lie made unless it is supported by the certificate of at least two medical practitioners, who would have to certify that ho is suffering from the disease the Bill refers to, “and that his freedom from restraint would constitute a danger to the public health.” In tho case of women sufferers, the medical examination is to bo made by a medical practitioner of tho same sex, “unless tho woman or girl to bo examined expressly requests that the examination shall be otherwise conducted.” Generally speaking, the intent of the measure is to relieve suffering and to protect the community. It is in no sense a punitive measure, and should be rather welcomed than otherwise, in the promise it gives of relief from one of the greatest evils that afflict the community.