PUBLIC HEALTH

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 10138, 28 November 1918, Page 4

PUBLIC HEALTH

CJVSC CONTROL WANTED MAYOR ON SANITARY AND HOUSING PROBLEMS. The Mayor (Mr J. P. Luke) was seen yesterday by a “Times” representative, and asked to state the position as he viewed it in regard to the sanitation and housing problems. Mr Luke said that when the epidemic broke out in Auckland, and indications pointed to the plague assuming considerable proportions and endangering life, he invited the chairman of the Hospital Board (Mr Baldwin) and the medical superintendent (Dr Barclay) to accompany him to interview the health officer, Dr Watt, for the purpose of fortifying Wellington against the inroads of the disease if it should spread here. After some discussion, the District Health Officer informed "the Mayor that as far as Wellington City Council was concerned it was not a responsible body to deal with the epidemic if it did break out. The matter' was'under the control of the Hospital Board. The functions of the council were the general ones of looking after the sanitary state of the city in ordinary circumstances. The epidemic, being of an infectious character, the Hospital Board was the controlling power. Mr Luke accepted this statement, no other course being open. ’ When the epidemic assumed serious proportions, and the Minister invited the Mayors of cities and boroughs to call public meetings to organise to fight the epidemic, he immediately called a public meeting, at which the chairman of the Hospital Board was present. A plan of campaign was evolved, and eighteen groups formed in different parts of the city, the headquarters being the Town Hall. The groups were self-contained in the matter of control, and were not hampered in any way by the central authority. The captain of each group exercised the same power in relation to his area as if it were a corporate body of its own. He was pleased to say that throughout the whole campaign everything had been carried out with the greatest efficiency and with no difficulties in the way of overlapping. The most cordial .relations existed between the various groups. All were doing good work. Everything possible was being done to stem the tide of infection and save the lives of the people. Air. Baldwin,, chairman of the Hospital Board, visited the Town Hall daily to-confer with the Mayor. Mr Luke said he had no regrets so far as the city was concerned. A question he had put to the Minister for Public Health the'previous day had for its object to” do away with overlapping and to place the responsibility upon the City Council. The principal cities, were, important enough not only to look after streets and the exteriors of homes, but also to deal with the inside of houses. It was a moot point whether the council had the right of entry into private homes for the purpose of inspecting them as to their cleanliness;" He l was ■ informed by the coundilVTegal’ adviser that the existing powers were not sufficient. The Minister took up a different attitude, and declared that the City Council had the power. The matter must be determined, „&a that, there would be no doubt as to which was the responsible body. No difference of opinion should be allowed to stand in the way of a settlement ’ when the issue was one of life and death. THE HOUSING ; IpROBLEM. Regarding the condemnation of unsuitable houses, the council had no power to condemn these, but could report and advise the Health Department only. His desire was to see the City Council selUcontained in this respect. He had asked questions in the House that day on the subject. If powers were granted the council the people would be able to fix the responsibility for sanitation on that body. The matter of overcrowding and the difficulties associated with it were to he deplored, and no one deplored the present position more than he did. But what chance 'was there of doing anything during the war period. His honest desire was that the City Council should raise. a considerable sum of money, and build a large number of houses such as the people had a right to expect. As to the suggestion of the Minister .that vested interests stood in the way, it was absolutely unthinkable. Legislation enabling the council to take up the housing scheme was on the statute book, but the difficulty was finance. The council must have powers granted by Parliament to raise money without recourse to the ratepayers. Ho did hot wish to say the ratepayers would turn down such a proposal, but there was the possibility of it. He would rather see legislation on the lines of the British Act under which a council could submit a scheme to a national board, and if it were endorsed it was put into operation. Ho believed that if the council wore given full powers to build homes and finance them, and also to have ns Chief Health Officer a man of attainments, so that the whole responsibility of the housing problem and sanitation would rest upon it, the council would find men sufficiently capable and whole-souled to carry out the work.