THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT.

Evening Star, Issue 4317, 28 December 1876, Page 1

THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT.

In addition to the subjects mentioned in a former article, the Public Health Act, 1876, treats of vaccination and quarantine. For vaccination purposes the Colony is to be divided by the Governor into convenient districts, in each of which Public Vaccinators and Inspectors will be appointed, the functions of the latter officers being to enforce the provisions of the Act generally ST nlr v ?f cin ? tioll will not be done by the Public Vaccinator alone, but may be performed, at the option of the patient or ms parents, by any medical practitioner, T he Act even goes further, and enables a certificate to be issued to anybody, whether trained to surgery or not, who in the opinion of the certifying officer is “a competent and proper person ” to be appointed a Public Vaccinator. The term “person” of course includes females, and a woman, we believe, has actually been appointed a Public Vacc£ nator m one of the North Island districts under the provisions of this section. Every child bora in the Colony must be vaccinated within six months of its birth; the duty of getting the vaccination done being devolved upon the parent or person in charge of the child ; but in the latter Case the six niontl m will count from the time when -the guardian assumes custody of the child. As the duty on tb ®. of . the parent or guardian continues until the age of fourteen years, persons having charge of other’s children should attend to this matter; otherwise they will render themselves liable to unpleasant proceedings and a penalty of forty shillings. After a month s notice has been given, the law can be set in motion by any Registrar, Public Vaccmator, or Vaccination Inspector laying an information in writing before a Jostice of the Peace, who is empowered, after issuing ■ a summons to the parent or guardian to appear with the child before him, to make an order, if necessary, directing the child to be vaccinated within a certain time, the breach of which order will entail the penalty just mentioned. In order to secure universal vaccination, as far as possihie, and to catch stragglers, it is further enacted that every child admitted into a public school shall be vaccinated, nnfcffp it has already undergone the operation; that inmates of reformatories, lunatic asylums, and similar institutions, who have not been vaccinated within five years previously, be vaccinated immediately upon their entrance thereto, subject to the opinion of the medical officers of the institutions as to the propriety of so doing; and a pithy clause declares that»J‘‘ No person shall be appointed to any office in the public service who bipy not been vaccinated.”

The Public Vaccinator will attend at fixed times and places within bis district to vaccinate all comers. The Act is rather foggy about fees, but it would appear that this officer is entitled to charge a fee of half a crown for each successful vaccination where it is done at his own residence or place of business, but if performed elsewhere then he is permitted to claim an additional fee at the rate of one shilling a mile. The vaccination may, however, be gratuitous in the case of persons above fourteen years of age, should the Governor think fit to feftao regulations to that effect, the vaccinator being paid out of appropriations by the General Assembly. When,a child has been taken to be vaccinated, it must bo brought back to the operator a week aftcrj wards, in order that he may ascertain tlo result of the operation; and, if it have been unsuccessful, a re-vaccination will take place, and so on, as often as may be needful. Sometimes a child is in such a state of health that it would be improper to vaccinate it. In a case of this kind a certificate will bo given by the Vaccination Inspector postponing the operation for two months, anil capable of repeated renewal until the child is able to bear the operation. Finally, if vaccination has been tried three times unsuccessfully, or the child has already had the small pox, the vaccinator may grant a certificate exempting it from further trials. The provisions of the Act relating te tho quarantining of vessels do not differ materially from those which have hitherto prevailed. Large powers are given to tho Governor, which he may delegate to the Local Board of Health of any seaport town, for dealing with emergencies and particular cases where vessels arrive with infectious diseases on board, “or under any other alarming or suspicions circumstances as to infection or contagion,” even though they may have come from places which the Governor may not by proclamation have declared infected. This clause is likely to be frequently used, and is certainly comprehensive enough in its terms, since it enables the Governor or bis delegate practically to do as he pleases for the time bemg. Another clause seems open to exception. It provides that when a vessel has been ordered into quarantine by a Health Officer (or Justice acting in place of a Health Officer), the fact of such an order having been made should be forthwith reported to the Colonial Secretary and to the Central Board of Health, so “that further measures may if necessary be taken, according to law, for the continuance of such vessel in quarantine or the release thereof.” Now inasmuch as both the Colonial Secretary and the Central Board sit at Wellington, tbip may be dubbed “Government from Wellington ” with a vengeance, and it is obvious that considerable and needless delay might ensue by it being left to the Wellington ! authorities to decide how long a vessel quarantined, say at Port Chalmers, should be so detained. There seems to be no valid reason why the local authorities should hot he entrusted with the task of attending to these matters, if a proper controlling power were reserved to the Central Board. The powers of the Local Boards of Health with regard to the prevention and suppression of infectious and'epidemic diseases which may appear on land have already been noticed, but behind tbiy authority the Governor stands clothed with a general pover, in the event of an iwffetious disease breaking oat in the Colony,,* to “ make snch orders and give such directions, in order to cut off all cornmnnieption between any persons infected with disease and the rest of Her Majesty’ssabjects as shall appear necessary and expedient for the purpose. 1 ’ With one or two exoepS tions the Act is wisely framed, and ehotuef work much better than the statutes which it repeals.

{For continuation of Newt m Fourth Fagt.)