The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. "We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1918 PUBLIC HEALTH.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 397, 2 August 1918, Page 2

The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. "We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1918 PUBLIC HEALTH.

In a letter published elsewhere in this issue Mr. C. K. Lawrie, whilst supporting the proposed establishment of a Technical High School in Pukekohe, stresses the point that in view of the epidemic of contagious disease now existent in the borough and district the first thought of the Borough Council should be the institution of a drainage scheme for the town, for lie suggests that it is only by means of checking the peril that confronts the lives of the children of the district that improved schooling facilities will actually become necessary. His point is, in effect, that unless sanitary steps are taken to prevent the recurrence of the epidemic that is now rife the present scare will result in many residents leaving, whilst settlers in the district will be averse to sending their children to a school in a town that is liable at any time to be infected with disease, the natural sequel being that school attendance will .so dwindle that .sufficient pupils will not be obtainable to warrant the existence of the proposed school. In our opiniou Mr. T,awrie overstates the case, hut all the same his letter serves to draw attention to matters closely associated with Pukekohe's welfare. Whilst drainage is, we believe, eminently desirable in I he best interests of the Borough we understand that the investigations made by the Health Department do not point out to the serious form of illness now rampant having been caused directly or indirectly by sanitary defects. Its origin cannot be traced, but its spread is regarded as bciur due to its contagious , nature, " carriers " probably- being responsible for transmitting It from one household to another.

What we look on as the lesson of the outbreak is that the reticence of the authorities, that is to say of the Health Department, iu uot disclosing to the public full knowledge of the health danger that confronts them, hinders proper and adequate safeguards being taken to combat the spread of the disease. As things now are, public ignorance not only is conducive to persons failing to avoid risks that otherwise they would not run, hut exaggerated rumour- get afloat and the resultant scare that arises is calculated to do a district immense harm. The Health Department, armed with notification from the local medical attendant, certainly institutes various forms of precaution, but everything is so secretly managed that even the local governing authority, viz. the County or Borough Council concerned, is not made acquainted with the danger that lurks in its midst. In England the practice Is that, although a central authority has similar control to that of the Health Department in this country, local governing bodies are informed of each case of infectious disease so that adequate precautions may be taken to stay the spread of infection, figures being regularly made public as to what diseases occur and the number of patients under treatment, no names of course being published. Then again in England, schools in which illness is current may be compulsorily closed by order of the local authority, whereas in New Zealand that power rests with the Health Department who not being thorougly in touch witk local conditions usually only act after the scourge has attained an extreme height of danger. The sooner some such system of administration as prevailing in England is adopted in this country the better it will be for the preservation of the good health of the Dominion and more particularly of its rising generation.