WOMEN SANITARY INSPECTORS

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 128, 2 June 1919, Page 9

WOMEN SANITARY INSPECTORS

A representative deputation of women waited upon the Mayor at the Town Hall on Saturday, to urge upon the council the necessity of appointing women sanitary inspectors. The societies represented were : —Women's National Council, W.C.T.U., Society for .the Protection of Women and Children, District ! Nursing Guild of St. John, Wellington South Nursing Division, St. John Am- j balance Brigade, Women Teachers' Association, Women's National Reserve, Mothers' Help Division, the Kindergarten Association, and Women's International League. There was also a representative of the. Women's National Council of Wanganui. Apologies were received from Mrs. Arthur Myers and Mrs. Chapman, who were, unable to attend. Miss- Coad, president of the Women's National Council, introduced the deputation, and said that the great majority of women citizens were convinced of the necessity of women sanitary inspectors in the interests, of the health of tho community. Women who had varied opinions in other matters agreed- upon this point; the lesson of the epidemic had opened their eyes to the great need of other inspection. Auckland had already one woman inspector; there are several in America and also in England. Women regretted to find that the Wellington City Council so far had not seen fit to appoint a woman for this work, and she hoped that the fact of such. a. representative deputation,-:, would convince the council; of the necessity to do so. Nurse Everitt mentioned that women were more -calculated-to sec things about a house than men, aud wero urgently needed to visit hotels, restaurants, etc., and to report upon the state of drains, taps, and conditions generally. Nurso Everitt also touched upon the necessity for an official from the Health Department being attached to the council and report promptly upon cases of sickness, etc., thus avoiding waste of time in in-. fectious diseases. Mrs. W H. S. MoorhoMe spoke of waht the district nurses found upon their rounds, and urged that only a woman inspector could report- upon these conditions. It would he a great help to these nurses if there was a woman official to whom they could report. Shs hoped that someone would be appointed as soon as possible. . Mrs. Aitkcn mentioned the fact that in Wellington there were houses where there was no bath, copper or tubs, and that there were many matters which women would only speak to another woman about. Miss England described the good work done- by such inspectors in other countries. Mr Luke, in reply, expressed himself as being entirely in favour of-the proposal. He explained that the conditions here were quite different- to the Old Country. " There, matters of health, education, as well as sanitation, street cleaning, etc., were entirely under the control of the local authority In New Zealand it was otherwise He hoped some day the council would become by amalgamation the whole municipal authority, but that was not yet. He bad already urged the council* to appoint at least one. woman sanitary inspector. Tie hoped that perhaps next meeting, when they had to consider the whole buildingup of the city, the council would do so. The appointment of women would have his entire support. During the epidemic he had not hesitated to appoint women emergency inspectors; and the experiment had been entirely successful.