THE RED SCOURGE.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 July 1922, Page 5

THE RED SCOURGE.

A COMMISSION INVESTIGATING. MINISTER STATES THE POSITION. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, July 26. The special commission of the Board of Health, appointed by the Minister of Health (the Hon. J. Parr) to inquire into the question of venereal disease in New Zealand, commenced its sittings to-day, the Hon. W. H. Triggs in the chair. In opening the proceedings Mr. Parr said the committee was entrusted W’ith a very important task. He had two reasons for setting the committee to work, firstly, it was necessary that the Minister of Health and the Government should have evidence of the feelings of various sections of the community with regard to venereal disease, its prevalence, cause and cure. He suggests that the proceedings should be open to the Press when evidence was being taken, so that the publie would be educated as to the true bearings of the disease and the facts in connection with it. It might be possible to confine the sittings to Wellington, but he left it entirely to the discretion of the committee. Wellington, Last Night. Continuing his address, the Hon. C. J. Parr said there were two Acts dealing with the matter, but there were many who claimed they did not go far enough. There were no means of getting hold of the persons who disregarded the law, and unless sufferers voluntarily subjected themselves to treatment it was a dead letter. “I fear, in many cases, it is,” he said. The committee would enquire if further legislation was necessary. He instanced what was being done in Australia, and then referred to the fact that we had clinics attached to hospitals in which treatment could be obtained in the strictest confidence. Mr. Parr added that a medical man had asserted there were 2000 cases a year. Such an assertion must, in the nature of things, be guesswork, but the Minister * thought it would be possible to obtain from the records at hospitals and in other ways a fair idea of the extent of the disease in New Zealand. He had been told a large proportion of the disease was brought into the country by sailors, and this was possibly quite correct. The investigation of the committee as to the prevalence, cause and appropriate remedies for the mischief of venereal disease would be watched with considerable interest by the Government, and the report would be of great value, not only to himself and to his colleagues, but to the community at large.