THE EPIDEMIC COMMISSION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 83, 2 January 1919, Page 6

THE EPIDEMIC COMMISSION

Sir,—lt is (liilicult lo form any eon. ception of what the task of this" Commission is to be. If it is simply to inquire into tho question ot the. "port," or source, of origin and the courso of tho "spread" or itinerary of the mnlady, tliis can he determined without any commission. Tho humblest of your renders can probably determine these matters for themselves if the Minister of Health allows the mortality statistics. in the larger towns of tho Dominion for each day (or each weok oven) during the months of October, November, and December to be published. Why has he forbidden their publication? He explains that he issued to the public statistics which are of, a grossly misleading character purporting, to be official, simply because he used tho figures that were given him! This is disingenuous. He could have got the correct figures if ho asked for them. But he used what he must .hove' known to be misleading statistics. Why? . The only method of arriving at the truth in connection with the epidemic is by comparing the rate of mortality during the period ot the epidemic witli the normal mortality for an equal period of time (and more particularly the same time of the year for a few years back). That is easy enough. l It requires no commission to help us in that connection? Tf the Epidemic Commission is to inquire into the real nature of the malady and to advise us as to what should be dons should we be unfortunate enough to .experience such another visitation, it is surely passing strange that no medical expert has been appointed to the- Commission. Should not the Commission, to be of ahy real value from' any point of view, consist exclusively of medical ex> perts?—l am, etc., • ' INQUIRER..