The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1910. GRAPPLING WITH A PUBLIC MENACE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12598, 1 September 1910, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1910. GRAPPLING WITH A PUBLIC MENACE.

The Hon. Dr Fimllay, though not one of the elect of the people, is evidently possessed of an earnest desire to benefit

the public;. Unlike too many poliiicians, the Minister of Justice seeks to' grapple with primary causes, and to achieve reform by removing the root of the evil. He finds that men and women who have offended the majesty of the law are frequently disinclined to return to a life of respectability f.fter their liberation. Their imprisonment has not achieved its whole pur-

pose. It has avenged society, and it may have acted as a deterrent to other criminally disposed people. But it has signally failed to exercise any reformative influence on the prisoners. Therefore the Minister argues there must be something wrong with the prison system, and he proceeds to formulate a carefully-thought-out scheme of prison reform, such as must commend itself to popular approval. Again, the learned doctor is struck by the importance of the moral issiies involved in the heated controversy occasioned by the production of a certain comedy in Wellington, and he does not hesitate to take an early opportunity of publicly discussing the uses and abuses of the stage. Many patrons of the playhouse may dispute Dr Findlay's contention as to the decadence of the stage during the pas-t hundred years; but no man who i ? honestly alive to the facts of presentday theatrical management will question the wisdom of his plea for more adequate legal means of controlling public performances and preventing the public presentation of anything of a pernicious character. "We know that at times the Minister of Justice is f.pt to theorise academically, and to indulge in idealistic fancies which soar beyond the comprehension of the lay mind. But here, in his scheme,of prison, reform, and in his sensible recognition of the need for some effective form of censorship as applied to tlio stage, Dr Findlay is on ground whero all who work for the uplifting of public morality may stand with him. And now, in his latest utterance, he has come into even closer touch With the

everyday life of the people. The statement made by I)r Findlay on Tuescay night, and published in our yesterday's issue, shows clearly that the Minister is not afraid to prescribe a drastic remedy for a serious ill. Of the gravity of the particular social evil to which Dr Finlay refers there ran be no question, although in all probability the full extent of its prevalence and the measure of its growth is known only to the medical fraternity. Dr Findlay does not claim that his pronosed amendment of the Public Health

Act will remove the evil, but he does hope that the provisions which he purposes to include in the Act will have the effect of reducing tlie amount of evil at present existing, and of checking its growth in,the future. His ten-

dency to strike at the root cause is apparent in these proposals, and is strikingly evidenced in the clause providing for compulsory notification. This clause is intended to make it imperative upon every medical practitioner, chemist, or other person consulted by anyone having one or other of these contagious diseases to give notice thereof to the district health'officer, s-.vd failing compliance with this obligation a fine is to be imposed, and, in tddition, "if the convicting Court thinks fit, the doctor, chemist, or other person consulted is to be suspended for a period not exceeding six months, such notice to be strictly confidential, and to be destroyed as soon as it hac. served its purpose." AYe regard the enactment of this provision in its entirety as essential, for, as the Minister rightly assumes, the deterrent influence wielded by the knowledge that the contracting of these diseases will of necessity entail the notification of y public official of the shameful fact is bound to be considerable. There is, .unfortunately, scope for a great moral.crusade, and the first word in the campaign must be compulsory notification of the disease, like that of any other virulently contagious one. In a r-natte.' of such vital importance to the nation as this, there must be no .hesitancy begotten of professional scruples, and we are glad to know that the Minister's proposals ha\re received the endorsamont of the AVellington branch of the British Medical Association-. Dr Findlay h.is sf-t his hand to- a noble task, that of safeguarding the physical and moril well-being of the community, and his praiseworthy effort to cope with a pernicious vice and its.lamentable physical consequences entitles him to the hearty approval and sympathetic co-operation of every decent man and woman.