HEALTH AUTHORITIES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 1188, 10 December 1924, Page 6

HEALTH AUTHORITIES.

NEW ZEALAND. METHODS PRAISED. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Dec. 8. . Tho methods followed by- Public Health authorities in tlie great centres of Great Britain and the United States were closely investigated by Dr. J. Cumpston, chief health officer for the Commonwealth of Australia, who arrived by the Niagara. Dr. Cumpston 'also visited Paris, where lie attended an international conference of Government health officers, tho chief business of which was to revise tho quarantine systems of the countries represented. Dr. Cumpston said that lie had not seen anywhere any system as good as that of tho dental control of school children in forco in Now Zealand. He was of opinion that the Plunket system operating in the Dominion was better organised and controlled, and more widely distributed, than anything ho had soon in the United States. Tho Americans did fine work -in this direction. but, taken as a piece of national work, the Now Zealand system was far ahead of anything that had come under his observation. While thoro were some things in the public health administration in the United States which could with benefit be adopted in these southern countries, and there were certain phases of the administration of tho health of the people which suggested modifications in the system in operation in Australia, the average of prosperity, education and happiness of the people of New Zealand and Australia made many of the drastic methods in forco in American communities quite unnecessary here. Dr Compston, who is accompanied by Mrs Cumpston, will spend some weeks in New Zealand before going on to Australia, and will take the opportunity of conferring with the Director-General of Health, Dr T. 11. A. Valintine, and his staff, in order to bring himself up-to-date on methods employed in New Zealand.