The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, MARCH 31, l908. SOUTH CANTERBURY CONSUMPTIVES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13558, 31 March 1908, Page 4

The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 1908. SOUTH CANTERBURY CONSUMPTIVES.

opinion in. the' district will, we think, approve of the decisions arrived at. yesterday by the South Canterbury Hospital Board in regard tb provision foi the treatment of consumptives. At the outset io 'is gratifying to find that the extent of the' disease in this end of the province is not go serious as to make its treatment Mich a big problem as we had feared that) it would prove to be. The Health Department estimates that for the whole of Canterbury, iheie aie fiom 2 to 2.5 cases of consumption ptr 1000 of the population, and it appeals that, the complaint is moie common in the North Canterbury Board's district than jsouth oflthe Rangitata. In lecmnmending the erection of a sanatorium for .South Canterbury, the members of tlie local branch of the Medical Association advised the Hoard to make provision tor 25 patients, with accommodation for another 10 patients in an annexe to b* usrd for observation purposes in conjunction with the Timaiu Hospital. We gather from the discussion, and from the resolutions adopted yesterday, that the Board will first actupon tht* latter portion nf the medical men's recommendation, ami that the matter of building a sanatorium will be attended to later on if it should prove advisableto undertake the expense which >euch a course would involve. In the light of all the facts that- are known about the sanatorium tieatment of consumption, this decision of the Board is undoubtedly wise. A heavy outlay upon a special consumptive hospital somewhere in the country would be justified only if medical experience had established it beyond doubt that tliis method of treatment could be relied upon to furnish adequate.beneficial wsults, not only to the individual sufferer, but to the community the protection of whose general health is one of the main objects to be aimed nt in any attempt to reduce tne prevalence of consumption. The extracts quoted yesterday by Mr Craigie from, the report furnished by Dr Bulstrode to the English Local Government Board afford no ground for the assumption that sanatorium treatment is an assured success, and if the South Canterbury Board -were to" proceed with the erection of sanatorium buildings in this district, as recommended by the local doctors, the ratepayers would be committed to a considerable financial burden which at the most could promise only problematical results to those whom it was desired to benefit. Nor was the advice of the medical men consistent, for ns Mr Craigie pointed out, it is peculiar that they should recommend the Board to make arrangements for sending curative patients to Cashmere—a site of no great

altitude; and subject to fog—if they thought it necessary to condemn, in South Canterbury every site "which was not tt a considerable altitude. and .it a considerable distance tiom (he sea " Cashmere meets neitliei of Iht«e condition!!, which, if, essential, can ocaitely be coin ■vpensated for by the expeils who are li> have charge of it As a matter of fact the Government niisfltutiou .if Cnmbndgo seems to haM- fo manage for lengthy stretches without j medical expert, anil as tar as the nuising staff is concerned, we; daresay lint ilit South Canterbury Board will tale cue Hut m .my arrangement which miy lie nude tin the benelit of consumptives the nursing will be as efficient as .a ill be Ihe ( .is - at Cashmeie or elsewhere. If ;eems to us, Iheiefoie, that, the advice nf the Medical Association should convince any who may have entertained doubts about the wisdom of the Board's refusal to join in the Ca«hmeie experiment, that the lefusil was an act of wisdom, and that ihe Boaul Mill be fi'ee, if finances peimit, to make more satisfactory piovision foi consumptive's than can possibly be made at Cashmere. We imagine, however, that fmther evid ence of \he value of sanatonum treatment will be required before the public will (sanction the erection of a separate institution complying with the conditions as to altitude and lemoteness fiom the coast Both these conditions obtain at Cambridge, and theie can be only fwo explanations of the Government's refusal to extend to the South I«lanfl what has been done in the North—either Cambridge has proved prohibitively expensive, or its lesiilts nave fallen fa.r shoit of what was hoped for Either explanation is a sufficient warning thjit a single Hospital Boaid should make sifVi of ifs ground before it takes up what a State department lefnses to pro ceed further with The annex proposal is not open to objection, because even if ir- is a failuie it will be comparatively inexpensive, and it will at least relieve the general hospital o: a number of ca«ca which appear to be out of place tnere. For the present, however, we ■should ba satisfied to see the Board put its first resolution into operation, and as to me recond learn from of others.