RAVAGES OF DISEASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15655, 25 June 1914, Page 9

RAVAGES OF DISEASE.

COOK ISLAND PEOPLE,

"A PARLOUS CONDITION.'

wore: OF medical officers.

[mail OTO 6PEOIAI EBPOBTEB.] ' Rabotojtoa. June 11. " fad population of these islands is in a parlous condition," said Dr. Baldwin, chief medical officer in the Cook Islands, when inter/iowed. "The birth-rate here in Bwotonga is high-about 40. per 1000as compared with 28 or 29 per 1000 in Now, Zealand; but the death-rate is also very h'igh~well over 30 per 1000, whereas in New Zealand it. is only about 11 per 1000. '* There is excessive mortality among the young children, and I am inclined to attribute this to tropical influences and ignorance on the part of parents in regard to proper feeding. We-wish to reduce this death-rate, and we want to get to work by training the. people in matters of hygiene, bo that they may properly ventilate their houses, and not permit decaying matter to lie about. Tuberculosis Prevalent.

"There is at present a great deal of tuberculosis in the islands, and that carries off' many . peopie. These people now wear European clothing, and live in houses of concrete ahd timber, with iron roofs and altogether insufficient ventilation, and, of coutbo, diseases of the lungs get a great hold upon them. The old native houses of reeds and thatch, and the light clothing, were far more healthy, and if tuberculoma is to be combated successfully a leturu to & more natural condition of living is- required. , ' More natural conditions of life, closer observance of hygienic principles, training in the can* of children, and precautions against the 'pread of certain diseases to which these island people are peculiarly susceptible,.are the measures which must bo undertaken vigorously if we are going to keep this race from disappearing. Superstition and ignorance now place big difficulties In the way of the proper dissemination of the knowledge which will safeguard their health," concluded the doctor,-" but. we expect that the new education system will bo of great assistance to us in the future." Three or four venereal diseases have a terrible hold upon the people of these islands, and it i 6 extremely difficult for the Medical Department to cope with, this trouble. It is. not difficult to trace the sources of infection. "Much of the venereal disease is hereditary, and that which is introduced comes flatly from Tahiti, which is the veritable plague-spot of the Pacific It is said that the French authorities appear to J lake no attempt to limit the spread of the disease, and the majority of the worst cases in Rarotonga are directly traceable to this source. Future oi the Islanders.

There are many, basing their arguments | ° on great fundamental laws, who say that *. this race is doomed, and that it will be re- • placed by a hybrid population. Epidemics " of various kinds have over the islands again aijd again during the last century ; the attempts of the natives to , adopt European standards of life have been followed by the usual disastrous results, and now, on the various islands, there are J only remnants of the teeming populations J which Cook found in 1777, and among I which the missionaries came 50 years later, t The natives are a happy, honest, remark- t ably intelligent ra>" ; and are well worth 1 preserving. - They are very fond of children, and the happiest and proudest mother is she who gives to the community . the largest number of little .ones. Among the children, the- proportion of boya is some- ( what large— to be a sign of a de- ( generating race—and a number of women , are childless owing to the ravages of cer- ( tain diseases; but in spite of these things there is ground for believing that if th* , death-rate could be reduced, this race , would take another lease of life. Henw ( the argument is advanced that, necessary as are thoroughly efficient schools, a thoroughly efficient medical department is still more necessary, for it is no us« ( establishing 1 schools to educate a race unless there is a race to educate. Splendid work has already been.aono by the medical officers who have been ' and are stationed in these islands, but an enormous amount yet remains to be accomplished. Only two doctors ate at present maintained in ,the' Cook- Islands, and, while they are in constant touch with the natives in Raroionga, the difficulty of communication with the outlying islands places an enormous handicap upon their work there. An instance of the kind of thing they have to contend against comes from Atiu, where every family on the island suffers from disease. A. doctor, during a brief visit, gave .one very sick patient a bottle of medicine, which would cost about two shillings in New Zealand. The man took it away, studied it for a while, and then poured most of it among the roots of a little tree. The tree promptly died, and the native smashed 'the bottle; in his opinion, the doctor was trying to poison him, and the condition ' of the tree proved it. Need for More Doctors. ' So far as the northern islands—Penrhyn, ' Manihiki, Rakahanga, etc.-are concerned, they are practically without medical at- ' tention, Most of the lepers in the Cook 1 Islands are maintained at Penrhyn, wheje '• they exist as best they may, with the ' assistance of the more charitable natives and the Resident Agent. There are a * few lepers isolated at some of the other 1 islands, where they live under the most [. miserable conditions. An officer who 1 recently visited some two or three " lepers on a small islet at Aitutaki, reported that they were living under the most miserable and wretched conditions, and another responsible officer has not hesitated to say that two lepers who died not long ago, one on Manihiki and one on Rakahanga, literally starved to death. More doctors and better medical facilities are advocated. The Governor received a petition at the hands of the natives asking that more doctors be provided. "There are many 8 islands and only two doctors," said His I Excellency, "and the question of obv taining access to all parts of the group a :s a very difficult one. Your request has my sincere sympathv, and it shall be laid before my responsible advisers, who will 6 try to devise some means whereby the ! ' whole of the natives in these islands will e receive proper medical attention. As d vou no doubt are aware, it will cost a : large sum of money, and the New Zoa ir land Parliament will have to be wnir suited before anything can be done.