SOCIAL HYGIENE

Otago Witness, Issue 3522, 13 September 1921, Page 5

SOCIAL HYGIENE

GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS DISCUSSED. QUESTION OF COMPULSORY NOTIFICATION. Practically the whole of the afternoon session of the provincial convention of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union on the 7th was devoted to a keen discussion on the Government's Social Hygiene Bill for the control of venereal disease, especially with reference to its provisions for compulsory . notification and examination. The meeting was held in the Hanover Street Baptist Hall. Mrs W. R. Don, president of the convention, presided, and there was a large attendance, including not only delegates and their friends, but a number of visitors and representatives of societies interested in what is euphemistically called “the social evil.” Mrs Don introduced Mrs M'Hugh. lecturer for the Public Health Department. Mrs M'Hugli said it gave her great pleasure to be present, but she was sorry she was confined to half an hour, as she 'could ha\ q spoken to them for three hours on ine subject. Referring to the union’s loss m tl* death of Mrs A. R. Atkinson, she said she had never known a more magnifieent won;an titan Mrs Atkinson. Speaking of the Social Hygiene Bill, she said that the cmy clause really in dispute was that enacting compulsory notification. At the present time tfe were faced with a terrible menace, and something must be done apart front waiting for the slow process of the uplifting of the moral standards of the community. She quoted figures from the voluntary venereal disease clinic at Auckland conducted by Dr Brown, who was in charge of Coclford Hospital. During the first seven months of this year 183 cases of syphilis and 57 ot gonorrhoea, making a, total of 240. had been treated. About” 50 per cent, of these patients had ceased to attend for treatment before any cure had been ‘ffocJed, and had gone book into the community as great a menace as ever This was all the result that could be obtained under a voluntary system. She went on to moiuale fche frightful consequences of syphilis, and also of gonorrhena. The latter caused, at a low estimate, 20 per cent, of <i.l tiio blindness in the world. Some years ago it was estimated that there were three million people in the United Kingdom U" 1 yt'iior.vul disease, including 4ou,uQo in London alone. Medical men were of opinion that, the numbers were now larger. Mrs M‘llugh quoted further from a report of the Society for Combating Venereal Disease, urging the importance of pure moral instruction being given to young people. There were, however, a considerable proportion of people who would not respond to any appeal of that kind. In some Continental countries and in Cape Colony systems of compulsory notification were in force _ '] he most obvious objection was that patients always desired concealment, but this difficulty might be got over by patients being treated at the general instead of a special hospital. Mrs MTlugh dealt also with the lark of protection at present accorded to women who suffered disease from infected men. She quoted a case that came under her notice in Auckland of a man whose wife left him because he had infected her. She conveyed the disease to another man, to whom she bore an infected child. The husband took up

with two other girls in turn, both of whom he infected, and further diseased children were born. This awful cycle of disease and crime and suffering went on spreading, yet there was no law at present under which this man could be apprehended or exp'osed, and his career checked. Attaching a moral stigma to the sufferers from this disease was a_ cruel wrong to thousands of innocent victims. This oftas drove them to secrecy or into the clutches of dangerous quacks who often extracted blackmail. The tinge of Puritanism in our race probably prevented us from dealing with this evil as frankly and boldly as it required. There was a strong British prejudice against knowing anything about sex. What was required at the present time was the oollectidn of information from every possible Source _ and its discussion and consideration. The time had come when these matters must bo dragged out tfffo the light, of day. It would he a. great thing if all the -.vend could look to Now Zealand as the cloanost spot on earth, and it, was this that the new legislation was seeking to bring about. At the close of Mrs M'Llugh’s address (here was a brief interval for afternoon tea, Miss Henderson, national secretary of the W.C.T.U., then put before the convention the views of the union. She said that "in talking of this matter they were apt to forget that there was legislation already in existence. If the Social Hygiene Act they already hod was or could be enforced it would meet the case that Mrs MTlugh had quoted from Auckland. She explained some of the provisions of the new Bill, and said the doctors objected to having tha onus of giving information about patients placed upon them. They would not do it. As Dr Fenwick, in Christchurch, had said, they objected to being made policemen. Site wished to explain their opposition to compulsory notification. They were quite aware of the extent of these diseases and of their horrible ravages. They were all agreed upon that. V hat they differed on was the question of method. They were not swayed by sentimental motives as had been suggested. Tic, v held that the primary aim of the legislation should he to secure the proper treatment of the greatest possible number of persons at'the earliest, possible moment. It was agreed that the disease was most infectious and most curable in the early stages. There was no use comparing this -disease to any other. It was only the most shameless person born who would willingly admit suffering from it. The ascertained effort, of compulsion was to prevent sufferers coming for treatment in the early stages of their trouble. Those who came to them for advice in Christchurch had the greatest dread of anyone else getting to know even in the remote future. Both methods —the compulsory and the voluntary—had of course been tried in various countries. Dr Flexner bore testimony that voluntary methods were much more effective and more satisfactory than police regulation. The test of legislation was in its administration. Where could they find in any country sexual laws that were applied to men ? Their own Social Hygiene Act of 1917 referred to the health of “ young people,” but even yet after four years no man patrol had been appointed to look after the health and morals of our young men. And the women patrols were not allowed even to speak to men. Quite recently a girl 164 years of age stood her trial in Christchurch for the murder of her illegitimate child, but where was the man? There was a case in Wellington where a number of women were charged with keeping a disorderly house, though it was afterwards proved not to be so. The police made a raid and arrested seven women, and if it had not been that the men were manly enough to insist on going with them they would never have been heard of in the case. Thoce were instances of the kind of thing that happened where sex was concerned not only in our laws but in the laws of all nations. The “New York Woman'Citizen” recently referred to the manner in which prostitutes are dealt with in the States. The man as well as the woman may be arrested, but the woman had only to say she took money and the man went scot free, while e.he was held for punishment and treatment. To her mind, and theirs too, the offences were equal. There were two in it, but the law recognised only the offence of the woman. As long as Women allowed laws of that kind on the Statute Book, so long would we have the double moral standard that caused all the trouble they bad been discussing. For that reason they opposed any regulation or law that made any discrimination between the man and the woman. Let them stress the fact that purity was demanded of boys as well as of girls, and that the only safeguard was personal chastity. They held also that clinics should be extended beyond the four centres. The disease was not confined to the four centres, and no obstacle should be put in the way of anyone willing to undergo treatment. So the union had again and again urged the extension of clinics. Every commission that had ever sat on the subject, agreed that one of the most, potent causes leading up to this trouble was the use of alcohol. Would it not be only commonsense on the part of the department to emphasise that, but they never heard one word from the Public Health Department, about the effects of alcohol in that connection. They held that every effort, should be made to discourage the use of alcohol, and it was the business of the Health Department to make tins very plain and to warn patients against alcohol, as tha department in New South Wales did. She quoted from a report of the Medical Women’s Federation pointing out that in the case of venereal disease the difficulties were great, and that any regulation that, would tend to concealment would lead to very grave results. If patients waited till they were driven by suffering to such treatment, the disease would have in most cases become incurable. The medical women, while ad initting that the transmission of the disease was a most grave offence, held that the difficulties of inflicting punishment were insurmountable. It wfis sometimes impossible to determine who was really the offender. Though in Australia there had been 10.000 notifications of the disease there had not been one angle prosecution. Mr J. M. Gall away said he had the responsibility at, the present moment of being acting president of the Society for the Protection of Women and Children, and that was why ho was specially interested in the matter. If he thought that any of the proposed legislation had any object but the protection of women and children it would have no sympathy or support from him. He was not altogether in accord with Miss Henderson in her contention that the new Bill was to lie a law for one sex only. That depended largely upon themselves. He firmly believed that no Government in New

1 Zealand, since the war, would dare to make distinction between one sex and the other. The reason why women were mostly selected for compulsory examination was that it was the women who made a trade of it, and were most easily apprehended. During the war was it women who were punished and segregated and guarded and sent home in disgrace? The women wore not punished at all. It did not look as though they had made up their minds to punish one sex only. It seemed to him there was a great of misunderstanding about what notification meant. One would think it im plied.publication in a gazette or newspaper. Nothing was further from the ideas of the Government. As a matter of fact, if any person, either innocently or in a guilty way had the misfortune to incur the disease", they went to their own confidential medical man, and he was the only person who would know, unless the patient ceased to carry out his instructions and became a menace to society. He was given a I',l'inber, which was sent, on to the Health Department, and all communications were conducted through the doctor by number only. If that was so, what was the danger? They had been told that the Public Health Department ought to instruct our young men and women in morality. He could not believe that it was necessary for any of the ladies present to leave it to the Pyblic Health Department to teach their children morality. How many of them had told their children the truth? Not one of us had done so. We were too modest. Wo created a mystery for the child, and the child grew up with an entirely false idea of the body and the mystery of’parenthood. This education must start at a very early age, and in the home. Love, after all, was the foundation of the teaching of the sex mystery. r I here should be no feeling of shame and no thought of mystery in opening up these beauties and children should be brought up to know that the highest human ideal to which we can attain is to be the father or mother of a healthy child. There should be no such thing as sex antagonism m a matter of this sort. They were all at one in desiring the highest ideal though they might differ as to method. Airs Blair said that Air Gallaway was under a misapprehension if he thought this matter had been prominent only since the war. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union had been devoting its attention to it for at least 40 years past. Mrs Josephine Butler, in her great campaign for purity, had had to deal with it. &>_he quite agreed with Aliss Henderson’s views. Canon Nevill suggested that quite a number of red herrings had been drawn across the scent. What, they wanted to discuss was compulsory notification. Ho deprecated any introduction of sex antagonism. When they were simply allowing the question to rest on voluntary methods they were doing an injury to themselves and to their children that "they did not comprehend. It seemed to him it was quite futile to talk of “man made laws.” With the voting power they had in this country they could do what they liked. If they were so keen on prohibition of alcoholic liquor, why not apply prohibition to venereal disease? There was a large party in favour of notification and a large party against. Notification did not mean publication, and in 599 cases out of 1000 it would not mean prosecution. Moses was in favour of notification and of segregation, and the Jews which kept his laws were the healthiest race in the world. Christ Himself told the healed leper to show himself to the priests. He believed that compulsory notification, instead of being an evil, would bo a great good. They must know that voluntary notification would never be a cure. Airs M'Hugh, who was given 10 minutes to reply, said that Canon Nevil and Mr Gallaway had made the point she wished to make —that during the war thousands of men were segregated and compulsorily treated, but the women were not dealt with. She explained that it was proposed that the patient should be known by a number, so that there was no necessity for his identity to be disclosed to more than one person. This system was at work in Chicago, the confidential doctor passing on particulars regarding his numbered patient and receiving in turn communications for the patient. If the patient failed to obey instructions his identity was disclosed and the necessary steps taken. Our Government proposed an Act on similar lines, and asked the women of New Zealand to give this campaign their hearty co-operaiion. Miss Henderson, replying, said she considered the clause that would be enforced against the women was the compulsory examination clause. Biio contended that o:ir present voluntary system was successful. People could be compelled to notify this disease, which was most- easily concealed. The evidence of the hospital clinics was that people were coming forward freely for treatment. The very hint that there was to be any sort of notification was quite sufficient to stop many people from coming. The President pointed out, at the meeting on the Bth inst. that, as the of the Social Hygiene Bill had included the representatives of a number of other organisations it had not been considered advisable to bring forward a resolution. She therefore asked Miss Henderson to read the following motion which had been drafted on the subject:—“ That whereas there is as far as we know no evidence that any compulsory measures have ever been found effective in the treatment and stay of venereal disease, and whereas the principle of arrest upon suspicion and compulsory examination contained in the proposed Social Hygiene Bill embodies the worst features of the old C.D. Acts, this convention is opposed to the introduction of compulsory measures in connection with the treatment of venereal diseases, but urges the Minister of Public Health to extend as quickly as possible facilities for the free treatment of patients voluntarily presenting themselves and to promote a vigorous campaign of education in sex hygiene in every suitable way.” The motion was carried unanimously without discussion.