The Southland Times. FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1872.

Southland Times, Issue 1614, 2 August 1872, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 1872.

One of the most delightful privileges enjoyed by the citizens of a free country is unquestionably that of grumbling. There is uo shorter road to popularity for a newspaper, or a would-be politician, than unsparing abuse of existing institutions. People like to see some one attacked, especially a public functionary. The average Briton is much the same all the world over, and seems never to be happier than when lie is being told that those to whom he has confided the management of public affairs are neglecting their duty, and sending the country to the doga. It is by no means necessary that the critic should understand what he is writing about, or even that there should be any [ truth in what he says. The less of that, indeed, the better, for every purpose is answered so long as something, or some one, is assailed. Should it turn out afterwards that there is nothing very seriously wrong after all, every one ia satisfied. There is no great harm dono, and we all know that the authorities are the better of a little looking after. If they are not in the wrong now, "they have been before, and perhaps may be again, and there is nothing like keeping them up to the mark. Yor instance, there is the Land Transfer Office in Invercargill. What a glaring abuse ! A nest of idle officials, costing the country some £1,200 a-year, and doing nothing at all, or next to nothing, for the money ! ]S T o less than five of them, living at the public eipense, and giving nothing in return ! It surprises no one, when the facts are looked into, to find that the five are reduced to three, and that the cost to the public, instead of £1,200 per annum, is really only about £4-00. Nor does it seem of much importance that the institution in question is in reality a most valuable one to the community, and embodies the results of one of the most enlightened and practical measures ever passed by the Legislature of the Colony. The public must be supplied with a grievance, and if the office were abolished, and all the business which may now be done in Invercargill had to be sent to Dunedin, why, then the gross neglect of local interests evinced by such a proceeding would furnish as good a text as any other. Then there is the Board of Health. That, we are informed, is a myth. Why did it not exercise its functions when scarlet ft- ver broke out in the town ? If its members had been at all alive to a sense of their duty, they would undoubtedly have taken prompt measures to " stamp out" the disease, instead of sitting idly by, and leaving the Work to a committee of private citizens. All that is required is that capable and energetic persons should be appointed, and that the Superintendent must forthwith be moved to do, in order that the small-pox | may be " stamped out," if it should unhappily appear amongst us. There ia nothing like having capable and energetic officials, and as the members of the Board of Health did not try to " stamp out" the scarlet fever, it is very clear that they are neither the one nor the other. Their supineness and indifference deserve the severest reprehension, and those who point it out merit the gratitude of the public for doing so. It is not at all to the purpose to find, on looking into the matter, that the Board of Health had no power to do anything of the sort, and that it cannot be shown to have ever neglected its duty. The great thing is to have something to find fault with, even at the expense of uttering a little nonsense occasionally. The truth is that the functions of the Board of Health are confined exclusively to the port, and that its only duty is to assist the Health Officer and the Harbor Master in enforcing the quarantine regulations. It is constituted under powers conferred by the eleventh clause of the Marine Act, 1867, which authorises the Governor to make euch regulations. The Resident Magistrate of the port, the principal Officer of Customs, and the Health Officer, are ex officio members, and the others are justices of the peace, and medical practitioners, appointed for the purpose. Should there be no Harbor Master or Health Officer, the Resident Magistrate may exercise all the powers conferred on these officials. The duties of the Board are to recommend the appointment of suitable places for the performance of quarantine, to judge of the propriety ot detaining vessels in quarantine, to detain vessels if required, to prescribe measures for the disinfection lof vessels so detained, and to release vessels from quarantine when satisfied that the danger of introducing contagious diseases by such vessels no longer exists. The authority of the Board extends to the port, and the quarantine} ground, and do further, and can only be exercised over vessels arriving from infected ports in JS T evv Zealand or Australia, or any foreign ports, whether infected or not. Its functions are solely preventive, and the extensive powers which it wields are directed exclusively to the enforcement of , quarantine regulations in the port over

„: ;i u'- ' *<•—.■.':■■■;• o-ii, ' ;■":.'. r;:.n:>. ■ .-' ,■ ;....«r?p ]H : : :- : ' '■' . ".<<■'•'.:■■ •'I 1 '_U ['-..I- .UK; i euui-^L'ti.- ■:- n-.ptu I . '* :•■ •■' bo. It would ] rrquire a considerate -tc ;cli of imap;i[jation to transform a cottage on the Town Belt, for instance, into a vessel, and place it, with its passengers and crew, in quarantine. But when the object is merely to firtd fault with existing iustitutious, such trifling difficulties, as we have alreadypointed out, do not always stand in the way. It might be more to the purpose to suggest that some authority with power to enforce sanitary regulations, in towns and country districts, should be constituted by law, under the title of a Board of Health, or any other appropriate designation. It is probable that the Public Health Bill, now uuder consideration in the Assembly, will effect this desirable object, and it may be expected , that the efforts of any body so appointed j to secure the safety of the public from j the effects of contagious or infectious diseases, will receive the support and assistance of all intelligent members of the community.