The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 1919 THE INFLUENZA PLAGUE.

Taihape Daily Times, 1 March 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 1919 THE INFLUENZA PLAGUE.

(With which ifl incorporated Th« Tftihxyer Po»t tod W»lE»itt<» N«w*>.

There are indications that a reemdcsenee of the influenza epidemic may oeeur throughout the whole of the Dominion. For the time being it is not any serious menace to Taihep, due largely to the splendid army r of men and women who voluntarily threw themselves into the fight, not. sparing themselves day or night tfi;at they might save others; they worked not for self, but for the community; they were the true patriots to whom many that are still in full health possibly owe their lives. Should the scourge again come our way what are we going to do 1 about it? Are we. going to neglect all signs, cautions and experiences, and permit it to get into our houses, and' claim as its victims bur sons, daughters, husbands and wives before anything is done to minimise the horrors of its ravages, or are we as sane people going to be fully prepared first, to prevent it, and secondly to limit its terrifying effects down to what is humanly possible? If common humanity does not vitalise the people of this town into action, then fear for our own personal safety impel us to take whatever precautions ' sanitary science has made known to ns. When we soberly realise that the epidemic, was a worse scourge than the war; that it has claimed a larger volume of human life than did the great sin of Prussian militarism; that if, as a community, we permit ourselves- to drift into an atmosphere loaded with the infection, none can tell to what extent we may suffer. It may be fatal to neglect our duty to equip ourselves with the knowledge of how to contend against such a caliamity, by a dependence upon those who gained such valuable experience in the recent visitation, for they may be the very first to fall. It is said that to be forwarned is to be forearmed; we are now forwarned that the plague, which, is attacking localities on the Main Trunk Line a second time, may also envelop this town in its w r ave of infection. Shall we be shall we neglect the warning and take our chances of life or death? This is not a question that is peculiar to any section or person, every breathing human being is liable, and the more one tries to shut himself or herself away from it, the less hope they have of avoiding it. The Public Health Department, owing to persistent indications of the possibility of a second wave of infection passing over the whole Dominion, has made it the duty of the various Hospital Boards to larangc with all communities <vi,thin their -espteetive hospital districts to institute a preparedness to aneet a, second visitation of the epidemic should it eventuate, and, in that connection the chairrnan of the Wanganui Hospital Board will be in Taihep on Monday afternoon, and will explain to a public meeting in the Town Hall what is best to be done by every individual to save his own life and to assist in saving the lives of others in >any such unfortunate circumstances. If there be any too selfish to trouble about the health of his neighmour, let him have concern for his own life and be present j at the meeting to learn what he mlay ! do in preserving it. The subject of the meeting so deeply concerns everyone that although ,tn!d timo ->f Meeting is a little inconvenient, for some,ifc will be quite convenient for most ladies ! to be present. The hour of meeting is four o'clock and it will close not later than five, as Mr Lothbridge has to proceed north, to discuss the subject, with Ohakune,.Raetihi, and other communities. We sincerely hope that there i 3 neither man nor woman in this community who will foolishly think they

arc immnue from the plague because they were fortunate enough to miss its infection on its first visitation; they must realise T that the victims of its first attack arc gone, .and that its victims of a second visitation can only be taken, from those of lis who arc left, and that none' can claim to be immune. Settlers and residents in the country should take the opportunity of being at the meeting to learn what sanitary science calls upon them to do in the saving of their own as well as other human life. If there should be any who have such little acquaintance with modern development of disease resisting methods, tnfet his faith in their efficacy and reality is dead, let such people read some of the evidence history has furnished from the earliest ages to the present day. Let the religiously inclined people consult their Bible, and read what the Mosaic code of sanitary laws made compulsory upon the Jews. They contain the most minute direction for the cleanliness of the person, the purification of the dwelling and the town, the selection of healthy and the avoidance of unwholesome food, the seclusion of persons with contagious infeetion,and Various other matters bearing on the health of the individual and the community which need not here be mentioned. The Jews made sanitary science, or hygiene, -a part of their religious duties ,hence the saying that "cleanliness is next to godliness." Othjer ancient v.ivilis'ations, although not making sanitation a part of their religion, strictly inculacted everything that pertained to the preservation of health. Old Greek republics, and the Platonic ideal polity, give instances of the supreme importance they attached to health; the Cloaca Maxima of the then poor and somewhat rude Romans is an indestructable memorial'", of their attention to drainage and sewage, and in these latter days of boasted civilisation it is a lasting disgrace to the drainage and sewage of many communities. Sanitary seience, because hitherto due attention has been withheld from it, is no new fangled notion,, as we have shown. It is called by some preventive medicine, but whether we call it that, or hygiene, or anything else, sanitary science is as laid down by Doctor Mapother, "an (application of the laws of physiology, and general pathology to the maintenance of the health and life of communities, by means of those agencies which are in constant and common use.''' In the future more than in the past we are going to be made to learn a good deal more about these two '"ologiev' and we are going to be much more intimately brought to understand those agencies Dr.Mapother said ware in constant and common use. because it is to our life and death interest that we should know more about them. The Health Department of New Zealand has kept its operations too hight up in the past to reach the masses, and they are now only coming down to understand that the life of the community may hang upon the life of one individual in it. Let. us be not less desirous than the Jews of the Bible to make compulsory \such laws nf '.leaivlinolss that will operate to the utmost in establishing and maintaining community health. At present we are faced in this country with a possible re-visitation of the awful plague, and the Chairman of the Wanganui Hospital Board is coming to Taihape to discuss with our citizens, men and women, and particularly the latter, how best to contend with that awful scourge. The subject is of such importance tc all that the Town Hall should b? crowded to the door on Monday afternoon.