THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1581, 26 October 1912, Page 4

THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

Convened primarily by the Public Health Department for the purpose of discussing matters of detail in connection with the inauguration oi a systematic campaign against consumption, the conference which • was formally opened this week by the Hon It. H. Uhodes, Minister in charge of Hospitals and Charitable Aid Department, should nevertheless perform a valuable scrvico in the interests of the general physical we 1being of the community. The application of the principle that, in our warfare against tins insidious pestilence, "prevention is better than euro," is to say that our powers of resistance must be so fortified, and our habits of living so regulated, that physically speaking, we shall bo impregnable against the attacks of the deadly bacillus. The modem methods of treating the disease ol consumption consist, broadly speaking, in creating certain invigorating .conditions of living that arc inimical to the vitality of the bacillus, and at the same time most favourable to the general health of the paticnt-an open-air life and careful attention to such sanitary precautions as may be necessary to safeguard other people from infection. It is an odd commentary upon our twentieth century habits-so far have wo travelled in our civilisation from the natural conditions of living for whicn onr.bodics nro best adapted-tint the recipe rot tho prevention of the disease ib prc-

cisclv that which has answered so admirably the purpose of a prescription for its treatment. But it is abundantly clear, as the medical profession recognises, and an increasing number of the general public is recognising, that no preventive measures of a general character can successfully be adopted unless the concerted authority of all the civic bodies is behind the movement. Given the plan of attack, it is eminently a battle which the general public itself must fight whole-heartedly if victory is to be achieved. The movement is essentially eugenistic, inasmuch as the ideal to be obtained is the creation of such a general condition of living that the weaklings of society may gradually be reduced in numbers by a general upward development in the physical health of the people. This country, by reason of its climate,.has long been a dumping ground for patients in an advanced stage of consumption, and the statement made at the conference that occasional cases slip past the port health officers will cause no surprise to those acquainted with the system of passenger inspection at present earned out at New Zealand ports. There is no time for a detailed examination, and the most that can be said of the inspection is that it is simply a flying survey of faces and build. Such an inspection, carried out upon passengers who have spent some five weeks on shipboard, breathing the ozone of the ocean, and living in idleness, assures nobody. It is, therefore, gratifying to note that some cliange is contemplated whereby an adequate check may bo applied at the port of embarkation. On these two points —the prevention of the disease within our country and the better regulation of the immigration traffic to our shores—we hope to receive some valuable guidance from the conference. Good work, it is admitted, has been accomplished in the twelve years of the Public Health Department's regime, and' the fact that there has been an appreciable declino in the death-rate of this country may reasonably be taken as an indication that the corrective influence of the Department has not been exerted in vain. But the campaign itself, as De. Vaunting himself admits, has been more or less spasmodic—a costly and unsatisfactory method of proceeding. It is time that it took more pronounced and systematic shape, and the present movement will no doubt assist towards that end.