How to Grapple With Leprosy

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 370, 22 May 1889, Page 4

How to Grapple With Leprosy

The self-sacrifice of Father Damien ab Hawaii, which has lately been consum" mated by his death from leprosy, has ahd the effect of drawing attention to the alarming spread of that loathsome and fatal malady in the " Summer isles of Eden ' which lie in the South Pacific OceanFrom the United States comes a suggestion that a Conference of experts in the treatment of leprosy should be held in one of the European capitals. It is matter for surprise that medical science has nob longago been directed to the problem of how to cure, or better sbill, prevent, this dire malady. We fear it has been too lightly assumed to be incurable, and as European nations have hitherto enjoyed almost complete im munity from the plague, medical acumen and talent and power of investigation have not been sufficiently turned to the consideration of the subject. The transcendant devotion of aßoman Catholic priest* in giving his life for the amelioration of the condition of the Hawaiian lepers, may well cause a noble shame to thrill the medicai men of Christendom into action. If they are moved to bend their powers of intellect to the task we have indicated, and if, with the help of such men as Koch and Pasteur, they are able to eradicate thia scourge of humanity, the noble Father Damien will reauire no sculptured marble, nor does he in any case require it, to make his name be remembered and enshrined among the immortals. Canonisa" tion by Mother Church seems almost a matter of course in his case ; but " St. Damien " has a claim to recognition as an apostle of humanity in the broadest acceptation of the term. The problem of how to grapple with leprosy is one that specially concerns the colonists of Australasia. The fell disease has got a firm foothold in these Austral dominions, and, like most diseases of an epidemic or contagious nature, it appears to take kindly to its new habitat. In New Caledonia, with an aboriginal population of 25,000, there are no fewer than 4,000 afflicted with this terrible disease — a fact of deeper significance to us than tteh c existence of a populous leper settlement in the Hawaiian Islands. New Caledonia is within easy reach of this colony, and there is frequent direct communication between here and there, with the possibility of lepers being brought to New Zealand. But in truth the disease does not require to be brought here, for some Chinese in Otago and Wesbland are said to show unmistakeable signs of the malady. Our temperate climate may shield us from the spread of the scourge; but that is not to bedepended upon when it is remembered that, at New York, Europeans have contracted the disease, in a climate more rigorous than prevails in New Zealand. In the more tropical portions of Australia, where there is a large Asiatic population, leprosy has obtained a more serious foothold. The Government of Queensland lately made proposals to establish a leper settlement on Friday Island, but it was expected thab the authorities on Thursday Island would object to the planting of such a depot in their immediate vicinity. Lepers are tound in all the Chine a e camps in Victoria and New South Wales ; indeed in the city of Sydney alone there are said to be twelve known lepers living. These facts ought to impress upon the medical men of Australasia the vast impoitance of their taking some combined action in the way of investigating the question of how the disease originates and is communicated, so that means may be devised for its arrest and prevention. Little, if any, advance has been made for twenty centuries in medical science, so far as this particular disease is concerned ; our modern civilisation, instead of driving out the lepers to die, condemns them to a seclusion scarcely less horrible, because their cure is scarcely attempted, and when attempted it is well known that the only result is to prolong their agonies. Whether leprosy is a racial disease, whether it iorginates in filthy habits, or whether it is confined to certain latitudes, are all quesbions bhab require to be determined at the outset of the inquiry, for there is great diversity of opinion on these preliminary points. Granting it to be established by American instances that the disease is communicable to Europeans living in such a climate as that of New York, it will be seen that there is good ground for alarm being felt in Europe, and for the action proposed to be taken of holding a medical conference on the subject. But, as we have said, there is sbill greater reason for the medical profession in Australasia being stirred to action. There is also ample ground for the Governments of the different colonies legislating for the effective isolation of leprous patients, and the suppression of the virulent disease until such time as means are devised for its prevention. " Auckland' Star" May 17.

Relative to the privileges of "freemen " in British boroughs, Mr H. Gray writes :—: — " Being a freeman of one of the oldest cities in England, 1 can reply for the information and edification of correspondent re Parnell and freedom conferred. Many years ago, no man could set up in business within the cicy without being a freeman either by birth, seven years' apprenticeship, or purchase, or special grant. Privileges :*" (1) Eligible to enter any civic office, sit on juries or vote at all elections, municipal and Parliamentary ; eligible for M.P. (2) An interest in land called strays, the right to graze one horse and one cow or three cows, or sell the right from year to year. In fact, a freeman had manhood suffrage by swearing the following oath :- ' This, hear you, my Lord Mayor and good men, that I from henceforth shall be true and trusty to our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria and to this city' of , and the same city shall save and maintain to our said Sovereign Lady the Queen, and her successor?, and all the franchises and freedom of the same city, maintain and uphold with the best of my power and cunning, and with my body and goods so often as it shall need my help— so help me, God. You shall be obedient to the Lord Mayor and Sheriff of this city, that are, or shall be for the time being, and justified after the laws, customs, and orders of the same city, the goods of any stranger or men unfranchised. You shall not avow for your own by which the Lord Mayor or Sheriff may lose their tolls or customs, or any other duties that belong to them. The ceuncils and privities of the same city you shall well and truly keep ; and all these points and articles before rehearsed shall hold anent you, and for nothing let, but you shall so do — so help you, God.' This is a true copy of the oaths spoken by H. Gray."