A NATIONAL PERIL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16487, 28 February 1914, Page 14

A NATIONAL PERIL.

HOSPITAL BOARD TAKES STEPS

CO-OPERATION OF CHEMISTS SOUGHT. Mr W. S. Wharton, secretary of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, lias sent the following circular to chemists and herbalists in tho district, in order to obtain their co-operation:— “ I havo to inform you that the Board lias decided to open a branch of the out-patients’ department at tho Christchurch Hospital for the treatment of venereal diseases (gonorrhcea and syphilis). The department will bo open from 7 p.m. to S p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays, commencing on Wednesday, March 4. “The ordinary out-patient’s foe of Is 6d will bo charged at each attond- • unco if the patient is able to pay, or such smaller sum as may be determined according to tho circumstances of the individual. “ No doubt, in the course of your business, you may have opportunities of making known that the Board is prepared to treat such eases, and the Board will be obliged if you will kindly advise such persons as may come under your notice of tho facts above stated.’’ THE HAWKE’S BAY CHEMISTS. DR FENWICK’S REPLY. Dr P. C. Fenwick, when asked yesterday if ho would reply to tho complaints made by the Hawke’s Bay Chemists’ Association regarding his statement that 90 per cent of men suffering from syphilis went to chemists and did not get proper treatment, said that his statement was made purely as a member of the Hospital Board and he therefore could not engage in a controversy. The proposals made by Dr Thacker really amount to an extension of the Contagious Diseases Act, 1908, which though still oa tho statute book ; s not in force. Tho Act provided for the segregation of women contaminated, hut many years ago the enforcement of it was stopped as a icsult of public agitation