PUBLIC HEALTH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3778, 31 December 1907, Page 4

PUBLIC HEALTH.

l' ll |j'- Health Office/ Mapon) hail a few' rnu:irks 1.0 raaka to at Wt'llnii.Miin .Kvcnioii'' Post rej porjj-Or on tiu; qucsj/ion of publiJ health hom (he en/i of the ye.il I'oint ol view. 'j/Oue feature of la.'.-l veto#', ’ ’ -sauf Dr Mason, "was the eutynnuus mnnbei of ous.es of scarletf fever, measles, and whoupt“grtoup,h. 'l'he mortality, I am glad to say, was not high, though the number ol oases was very great. These have practically exhausted the suitable pabulum children of a certain age—and in all probability we wall be free from any excerbation for another four years. The question ol medical and dental examination of school children has been considered by n. ■ i ti e educational bodies v a he Dominion,” conDuivd Dr Mason, "and almost without exception it has been approved. At the j(resent; lime the health of the dominion is very good. There is little or nothing in the shape of an epidemic of any kind prevalent anvwhere. The. position from the health' point of view may he generally u-gauled as satisfactory. One very pleasant feature is that the local authorities are more and more seeking our help, and, from being by way of a minatory, we are now becoming an advisory body. This 1 attribute to the tact and skill of the various Health Officers throughout the Dominion. When you remember that the department was instituted in order to point out faults, and that as soon as faults and derelictions and ignorance disappear our occupation will be gone, it says a great deal that we have been met with so little active or passive opposition. Of course, enthusiasts and specialists like we are, get impatient occasionally, but I think, when we review the whole thing calmly, we have ranch to congratulate both the municipalities and ourselves upon You cannot reform the world all at once. There is one matter in which the press might render us help, and that is by drawing the attention of the people in the older lands to the fact that people suffering from consumption are by law prohibited from landing in New Zealand unless they have sufficient funds to enable them to go into a sanatorium, The attention of the medical journals at Home has been drawn to the question, and the Premier has written to the High Commissioner on the subject, but the tide is nof yet checked. ’ ’