WOMEN AND PUBLIC HEALTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11986, 7 June 1902, Page 1 (Supplement)

WOMEN AND PUBLIC HEALTH.

! • j [uy MARTHA W. S. MYKRS.'i j / No. 11. Untbtivctory to the pith of the matter set ,>rth in the previous article, relating to aat department of municipal management tomotmg town cleanliness, the Governor's s'ictures on the Costley Home furnish a case in point. . . . One might call it* journalistic coincidence; a portentous stjw in the wind of circumstance. Far removed from my inclination or int«tion would be a criticism of the governrmtal management of Charitable Aid Birds: for'to so recklessly throw myself, pen |jntedly. into the breach—walled-ill politicly as it iswould prove a peril more robatic than diplomatic. ... • "I like not, my lords." . It is only in the scope it affords for woLn's work that 1 find the Governor's censure apropos and so widely suggestive of good Irk. It falls, directly in line—in fact, in b very van of my suggestion for the intellent co-operation* of both sexes in all mat's pertaining to public sanitation, public ■alth, and public institutions. I am duly jve to the fact that-there are female injectors of gaols, factories, hospitals, and c like, but these are employed by the hvernment, paid servants whose honora : dm plays a more important part than the hical or altruistic aspect of their employ - ent. And in this they are hut human, an does "live by bread alone" when Ave „ t right down to the bedrock of things. It is not the salaried employeesmale or male—who lire (needed in the " new order" things, in the work of regeneration from . e old thumb-rule, red-tape soulless system l the new, the practical-in-the ideal broader ■ urn an ism. ', And could this reform work be placed in id accomplished by more capable, hands I lan the mothers of a municipality? fardly: unless you invent or conjure up a ' sird —an ultra-ideal sex—that shall be the 1 botheosis of womankind. Failing this commodity to hand just at present the human ! ice need not despair, nor the inmates of He Costley Home continue to be environed , y dust and soiled linen, especially since the I titer material is now being so industriously , jundried in public. Why should the State be so impurely pajrnal"? . . . Why, indeed, when the 1 milythe nation's heart and soul— so > jrely maternal? It is not a far cry from J ie care of the helpless young children of ' e family to the care of the helpless old 8 ildren of the State. ... As in the ? >.nagement of the family institution so 5 fc it be in. the management of the State titution. Let the man provide, finance, '" jislate, arbitrate; let the woman guard, s ace, soothe, elevate. -. . .. Organised d operation, linking the male prerogative '■> j legislative authority to the female pres jative of maternal capability, will accoma ph. that same practical and ideal blend of a ippy success in town and Statebousekeepd g as it has in the individual homes that n j to make up the sum of a city's prosperity. ' e ie greater must perforce, from moral and S fie standpoints include the less. Ie Let Auckland's City Mothers joins hands d bnicipally with Auckland's City Fathers, d begin the reform work— in the Costly 7 Home. It is not an Augean stable. It ;r as a mere handful of dust to be swept and irpt awayaye! there's the rub Remem:hr that homely saying that " one keepcc.'itn is worth a.dozen make-cleans!" —compered with the mountains of mud heaped t- our city roads.' That labour of cleansing t. Herculean indeed. But we are advancing. ready the face of Queen-street is being lgraped and washed clean and smooth. nuw long will it remain so if the many ikoroughfares tributary to. it continue to be vet in an unvirginal chaotic condition of rait and disorder? geHardly have I the temerity to suggest the, Hsganising of yet another association in Auektyld, since this city seems to be deluged geth an overflow of " societies" for everynoing " in the heavens above, and on the verth beneath, and in the waters under the .tilth" — city sanitation is of greater tower consequence than all the Prevention, m.iotection, and Benevolent Associations roll;nitogethei\ . . . Were these same charit-bely-inclined women to band themselves toil flier in one united, business-like Executive ss, lead the thought of the community in •ntlising the public dangers to health and lively, and to arouse public interest in deInjnding and securing sanitary reforms, ore would be less need of their small charieiis, less ill-health, less poverty; lor we .ik] know what fresh additions of human rr.escry are occurring day by day under the is peral prevalence of sanitary neglect.. . . icljlt has been distinctly shown that chil•ig.ni brought up in bad sanitary surroundhats "re inferior in physical health, and are th*s susceptible to moral influences. . . . th(e removal of noxious physical eircumstanbel" and the promotion of civic, household, iujjl personal cleanliness are as necessary to in? improvement of the moral condition of net) community as they are to the physical. •ntiVe have here, as elsewhere, 4 capable, enietic women who, by mutual consultation un'l understanding—resulting iu practical coeneration —with our municipal authorities o'refully avoiding any note, of pay or polien« in the work) would in due time work irnders in substantial sanitary reforms; ticking this city by the lovely Wnitematathhygienically clean and pure as it is natur«my pretty and salubrious. . . . Only a anjre of earnest, experienced Home-makers, 'ernightful mothers of grown-up families, eV I needed to suggest, co-operate, and conlvciimate the task of our well-intentioned t jjmberous City Fathers. mk'he Mayor's sensible suggestion re the litigations to be made in the managelaSnt of the Cos tie* Home— "That a tlmmittee of gentlemen, unprejudiced and ; ablic-spirited, entirely outside the memberrkap of the Charitable Aid Board or any neder local body, be appointed"is an exenflent idea, requiring only the assistance f<a few able women to make it a perfectre.irking whole, and the beginning of a patonally and maternally united public moveBojnt towards municipal betterment, j) From this nucleus should grow greater, Reader reforms, embracing (I merely _ sugjit), sensible systematic street-cleaning tan the farcical, idle brushing of road rub)u'|h into little heaps to be almost immedioooly scattered by wind and traffic into icii>ple's faces and gardensbut, instead, let re sweepings be put into bags which, when iva;ed, can be hauled off at once by Department carts, as in the rehabilitated city of »w York. thThen the removal of garbage, of housenitild waste, is a matter lying near—too slar! —every good housewife's door. . . . iere is a crying need for an ordinance syfiioh shall provide for the removal of bbish at least twice a week, especially in wimmer; the refuse to be kept in closelythvered metal boxes, provided for the purhe»se. The present method (!) —save the keftrk—is primitive, slovenly, and insaniIThat there is an expeditious scientific proiJThat there is an expeditious scientific pro'bfcs has been proven. Incinerating plants • 'e considered most satisfactory. By. the

Arnold system of reduction all city garbage can be burned, and by great heat and various processes reduced to two inodorous substances; one a fertiliser (said to be in much demand), the other a grease used in Germany (of course!) in making soap! > At the time of the World's Fair, in | Chicago, some of the city's wise and fearless women carried the matter of rubbish remove] with a high hand, themselves procuring a good destructor which, mounted on wheels, went from one dump to another . an object lesson to careless townkeepers. - . .'" A modern and beneficial adaptation of the legend how the cackling of'geese saved Rome! To-day no less a personage than Miss Jane Addams, millionairess and .philanthropist, of the celebrated " Hull House," is the voluntary inspector of garbage for that great city. Good drainage, dairy, bread, and meat inspection, and sanitation in schools are factors so close to the health of home and children that no good city mother can afford to be .apathetic. . . '. With the dread plague at our shores, from whose deadly contact we have tints far been spared, more by a beneficent Providence than by a cautious municipal management, the city's cleanliness and health rise like mutely potent protests that will not be put down. . . The plague is a great educator. Now, while Auckland is small, young, and easily cleansed, now is the time for successful sanitary reforms. Later, when the population doubles, and breathing spaces; become fewer, the task will prove a repetition of the almost hopeless labours en-, countered in Sydney. ... Now, while our city has yet the bloom of youth, is it. possible to keep her perenially fresh and wholesome? As an appropriate incentive, it is interesting to know that " Lutetia," the name Paris was first known byclean, beautiful Paris of to-day—this ancient name, Lutetia, was derived from " lutum," meaning mud ; and though the. etymology is said to be inexact the old chroniclers thought otherwise, and the mud was always there to bear them out,! Let Auckland, then, take heart of grace, for her mud. too, may model itself into the Haussmann boulevards of a second Paris!