"CLEANING UP."

North Otago Times, Volume CIV, Issue 13656, 26 August 1916, Page 1

"CLEANING UP."

SAVING THE SOLDIEES, THE NET BPBKAD VERY WIDE, , WELLINGTON. August 22. The new War Regulations do not deal specifically with venereal disease, but the.v contain all' that is required to enable the authorities to apply the measure already indicated by the Minister of Internal Affairs. The existing law makes:provision for' the treatment of venereal disease in prisons and for the detention of persons found to lie .suffering from, this trouble. Power exists, also, to arrange for the treatment of the disease in the ordinary hospitals. The additional authority now given the' police in dcal.iiig with prostitution will supplement the present law, ■ The regulation dealing wilii the expulsion of offenders from particular districts is highly important in its bearing up'oli the Defence Department's share of the social problem. The Commissioner of .Police will have power to prohibit a convicted prostitute from residing within fifty miles of any place unijicd in- the order. ' This clause will make it possible, for the police to clean up., most effectually the neighbourhood of the military 'ramps, which have attracted undesirable- characters from various parts of the'country, The Government intends to make active use of the powers it. now possesses with the object of checking the social evil, and the police will be instructed to begin proceedings as soon as the re- J gulations come into operation, The} net, has been spread very wide, and I though some people -limy manage to slip through it, the Ministers are convinced that an improvement is going to bo effected. The position in Wellington in the past has been anomalous. The 'military,authorities have thought it necessary to warn recruits against certain specified' liouses known lo be centres of danger; but the* police have not had JHiiver to clqso 'the premiaea mentioned, ■ JJ: : ' >" .. ' ■■ ■ !^?