Page 8 Advertisements Column 3

Northern Advocate, 23 March 1925, Page 8

COMMUNITY HEALTH. TEACHING- OP HYGIENE. DR. PURDY'S VIEWS. SYDNEY, This Day. Dr J. S. Purdy, City Health Officer/ giving evidence before the Federal j Royal Commission on National Health, | Sflid that the public health laws of • New South Wales ware in a chaotic , condition. Ho considered the time had j arrived for the appointment of a Minter for Health attd Welfare, who would devote the whole of his time to the one department. These should be a Di- i rector of Health, and sub-direetors, in charge of schools and hygiene nursing, industrial hygiene, food and drugs, microbiology, and maternity ancl infarft ; welfare. The -sub-director of nursing ; should be a medically qualified woman, with experience of midwifery, nursing and dietetics, while tlie sub-direetor of industrial Tiygiene should work close ' association with the Department of Labour Industry. Dr Purdy added that, in liis mind, the most hopeful outlook for 'the ft>ture of public health, was the renaissance of medicine, or the recognition j that in civil life, as in th>3 army, the i primary concern of the medical practitioners of the flit lire shoiild be the economic prevention of disease, Ta:ther than its costly cure. He advocated tlie building up of a system of maternity wards attached 'to hospitals to improve the training of midwives. He also favoured the appo'irttment of State midwives in the city and country, to reduce maternity mortality. Children's clinics should "be attached to the hos- ; pitals. Hygiene should Tie tauglrt in the various elapses at primary ond. secondary schools, with continuation" classes for girls from 14 to 16 years, of age. The maximum working clay in factories for gifls of these ages-should be six hours. Referring to the city of Sydney, Dr. Purdy said that Ms. responsibility ex-' tended over an «irea of 692$ square miles, which incTufled the city and its' environs, with a population of l;IoD,000. He had a staff of 45, and formerly there were three medical men in . the department. He assumed that the desire for economy was the cause of that number being seduced. Witness : agreed that it was a . great responsi-; bility 'for one man i© look after such

a large area, but it -made ' for the smooth of adjsiS-n'istratum. Does tobacco-growing jun New "Zealand payf The answer to that question is: Look at the rapwlly-inereajs'kig number of smen on the jasswi who are now turning ttheir attention to t-o'bae&o culture in tifcis country. Tfie early attempts to put New Zealand-grown tobacco on the anarlcot (about SO years ago) were, it rasast be - confessed, disappointing. Thfe samples produced ! were; very crude. But modern raeth- 1 ods. t>f culture an<s; treatment of the leaf feave completely altered all that, j •>"d as an average e-rop of New Zealand tobacco is now'worth i£so per -(sometimes more} there can be question about tobacco culture the farmer. As to the "weed" : +s manufactured forra it is ex,n nt. Unlike m. p-t of the importit contains very little niconnd may b<> indulged in ad lib. '• nt harmfn l results, while the of the Vaf (quite a new develops fi 'vour and aroma sur"*'v. TTnd n "M.ndl ? this indusry, ■v flnnnslinm ; s destined to benational : i>inortance. Leading • to: 'R^ve , • , ' , ■"rl Gold, mild: Navy ~' i:,, rn; r/tlfl Cut Plug % wmprr" f„)i 2