THE COOK ISLANDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2997, 23 August 1911, Page 9

THE COOK ISLANDS.

INADEQUATE MEDICAL CONTROL. THE SPREAD OF DISEASE. DISCUSSION IN PARLIAMENT. (From Otjb Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, August 15. A general indication of *he inadequate protection of the public heath i the Oook Islands was addressed to the C*> vernment this afternoon by Mr J-m« Allen, who asserted that New Zeaund was neglecting the responsibility whi.h It accepted by taking over the control of th The r °Native Affairs Committee recommended that the Government should maUe inquiry regarding the matters discussed petition bySesidents of Rfotonga, who £«ked that the present ™f °f n . cer should be removed and Dr Dawson reappointed. The petition was Panted last session, and in the course of the oebate it was explained that the officer to whom objection was made had neon replaced by Dr Percival. Mr Allen said that apparently the asponsibility of the Cook Islands weighed lightly on the shoulders of New Zealand, which wae certainly neglecting its duty in regard to the health of the island community. He regretted that the Native Minister had not visited the islands during the recess, for he was convinced trom his own experience that the insanitary conditions under which the natives were living and the evils of civilisation which, thev had contracted were resulting in degeneration. He understood that some deference had arisen among the Government officer and the other medical men resident in Rarotonga, with the result that the natives were not receiving the benefits from the hospital which it afforded. Disease was rampant in the island*. The conditions were bad in RarDtonga, but ten thousand times worse in the outlying islands, where all kinds of sickness were Tampant, and diseases largely imported from Tahiti were spreading. The conditions on Manihiki were shocking, and throughout the group there was evidence of the injurious results of the conditions and semi-civilisation in which the natives were living. It was incumbent upon Parliament that it should adopt remedial measures, and he suggested that the benefits enjoved bv the Dominion from the establishment of the Public Health Department should be extended to the most remote of the Dominion's dependencies. Mr Allen urged that Parliament should take more notice of the people of the islands, who, as part of New Zealand, and as a weaker race, liable to degenerate, were entitled to share in the benefits of such an institution as the Department of Public Health. He added a suggestion that the evidence available to the committee should ' -" been presented to the House. The Hon. A. T. Ngata interjected that the committee had no evidence. Mr Allen : That is just the trouble. No one ever goes there, and there is no information. He added that the. Governor had never visited the islands, and no Minister ever went there. Parliament could not obtain information from the Government official at the group. Mr R. A. Wright said that the petitioners had not been able to visit Wellington, so that the comm'ttee had no evidence, before it. The whole trouble was due to the fact that the natives had become attached to Dr Dawson, the former medical officer, and now refused to take cases to any other doctor appointed by the Government. He believed that Dr Percival, the present medical officer, had been no more successful than his predecessors, though that was due to no fault of his own. So long as Dr Dawson was in private practice in Rarotonga there would be trouble, and the remedv was to restore him to the position from which he had resigned. Mr Wright added that a lagoon on the island was a hot-bed of disease that was spread by mosquitos. Mr J. F. Arnold remarked that' the lagoon could not be removed. He agreed that the administration of the islands was most unsatisfactory. It was absolutely necessary that either an official or a Ministerial head should make periodical visits to the islands in order that a more effective supervision might be exercised, and that any friction between the Government officials and the Natives might be remedied. The public health of the islands was of primary importance, and the evil

conditions which had been attacked in the Maori community existed in an aggravated degree in the Cook Island's. Dr Te Rangihiroa explained that the petition was presented to Parliament in the dying hours of last session. One ot the principal p&irits' was the complaint against the resident medical officer, but as he had been replaced by another officer the committee had very little to go upon. He declared that it was absurd to expect one medical officer to ■ superintend the whole of the group, and he urged that an assistant should be appointed for the' outlying islands, so that the chief health officer could confine his services to Rarotonga, as, in fact, he was compelled to do by the existing circumstances. If lung diseases were rampant in the Cook group information should, be obtained for Parliament. The most serious diseases among the natives were elephantiasis and dengue fever —the latter a disease new to the group, which now swept throughout the islands. Mr A. E." Glover, who explained that he had intimate business relations with the natives of the group, said that the friction in Rarotonga had arisen among the medical officer, Dr Dawson, and a discharged police constable named Reynolds.

The Acting Prime Minister (Sir Jas. Carroll) said that Dr Percival, the present medical officer, was giving every satisfaction, and was becoming, popular. Arrangements had been "made for another doctor to make a circuit of the other islands, and a third doctor had been appointed for service in Niue Island. To meet the requirements of the people it. would be necessary to provide, a doctor for every island in the group. The recommendation that inquiry should be made by the Government was adopted. •■■ The report of the Chief Justice on the administration of the Cook Islands, which has been repeatedly asked for in the House, will be presented either to-morrow or the next day. It may be expected to provoke a protracted debate, and some explanation of the Government's attitude with regard to the Dominion's dependency will probably be given. The Acting Prime Minister remarked this afternoon during a 'debate on .the sanitary conditions of the group that an opportunity for a consideration of the broad question of the general health the people would be afforded when the report was presented. He added that in addition to the report of the Chief Justice, the Commissioner of Police (Mr F. W. Waldegrave) had prepared a report embodying the results of an investigation which he had made on behalf of the Government regarding the present state of affairs in the islands.