THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1919. THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17094, 25 February 1919, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1919. THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

In giving evidence before the Epidemic Commission yesterday of the duality of the control of publio health, the Mayor touched what is the central problem of administration in all organised efforts to prevent and combat disease. The proposal now put forward by the British Government to establish a Ministry of Health is largely due to the overlapping of several departments, eight of which are directly concerned with matters affecting the publio health in Britain- The creation of a separate department in 1900 has happily anticipated the same division of authority in New Zealand, but much remains to be done to coordinate the efforts of the Department and local bodies before reasonable efficiency can be claimed. The most casual consideration of the problem suggests the necessity for the participation of both State and municipality. There must be a central power to preserve uniformity in local policies, while it is impossible to separate . the ordinary work of local government from sanitation and the prevention of unhealthy" conditions. It is universally recognised that the personal interest of local authorities in the well-being of their own communities is a factor of great value to those who are responsible generally for the preservation of public health. The best division of control would appear .to be that which affords the municipality the greatest freedom of action and reserves to the Department the right to intervene if the local body fails in or exceeds its duty. Unfortunately the present law gives the municipality considerable responsibility but little authority. In the memorandum which he recently sub-, mitted to the council on housing conditions the city solicitor referred to the preponderating power now possessed by the Public' Health Department as against that of a local authority." The Public Health Amendment Act passed last session purported to confer new powers on the municipalities, but it hardly touches the fringe of the question, and its provisions are so indefinite that the city solicitor has hesitated to venture upon a definite opinion on many of its requirements. Such a piece of legislation is worse than useless. It only confuses an! already clouded situation, and is of no value except as evidence of the slackness of the Legislature. The Parliament which permitted such a vitally important measure to be put through all its stages in a few hours is equally blameworthy with the Government which held it back till the close of the session.

The slovenliness of recent legislation is only one of many evidences that the influenza epidemic has not cured Parliament of its indifference to the public health. Mr. Gunson placed hi finger upon another symptom when ho spoke of the status of the port health officers. The highest salary given to any of the doctors so employed is £250 a year, less than is paid to some of the Department's sanitary inspectors. Yet the inspection of shipping is the first, and only, line of defence against the introduction of infection from abroad. It calls for constant vigilance, and should command the services of the most experienced and capable members of the medical profession. Particularly at the present time the duties of port health officer are of the first importance. They, should be discharged by doc-

tors who have served with the army abroad and are familiar with the symptoms of diseases peculiar to the war zone, of which the civilian practitioner necessarily knows little or nothing. Parliament values the whole system of inspection at New Zealand ports, the efficiency of which is a pre-requisite to the exclusion of disease, at £915, divided among 11 officers. Small wonder it treats a Public Health Bill as a technical measure which may safely bo passed in the dying hours of a session without criticism and without consideration.

It will be a national misfortune if a new Parliament is elected without members being catechised on public health matters. The electors owe this to themselves, and they can only influence tho Legislature by making it. plain that the public health is a practical issue which interests them and decides votes. The Department is notoriously handicapped by lack of funds, by the smallness of its staff, and by tho size of the district oath officer has to cover. A larger vote will bo the first step towards better service. Loss of life by preventable disease is a blot upon civilisation, but it is a blot which wo may soon hope to see shrink to the vanishing point. The war has given a tremondous impetus to hygiene. Not only has it emphasised the national interest in the physical wellbeing of every member of the community, but it has introduced new methods of treatment and the cxperi-. enco of the army has shown how rigorously disease may be controlled where proficient medical men arc given a free hand. Preventive measures will be used more liberally than ever Before, and the causes of disease will be fought wherever they are found. The high percentage of rejections for military service in New Zealand shows that the public health of the Dominion is in the broadest sense unsatisfactory. It cannot be permitted to remain so, and Parliament cannot be allowed to starve a Department it neither appreciates nor understands, and in which its interest is slight and casual.