PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 October 1917, Page 5

PARLIAMENT.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The Council resumed this afternoon. Hon. A. T. Maginnity asked the Leader whether the Government will cause, greater care to be exercised with regard to the inspection of all cargo before shipment, and that the same be critically examined before being placed on board any oversea vessel. Sir Francis Bell said the Government had the matter under consideration. The Council adjourned at 2.25.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES The House met at 2.30. REPLIES TO QUESTIONS. Replying to Mr. Dickie, Hon. XV. D. S. Mac Donald said that when asking farmers in the south to grow more; wheat he gave the producers to understand the farms would not be depleted of labor, and that the last man would not be taken if he were necessary to production. He could not control the decisions of the Military Service Boards, hut they know the mind of the Government and were not expected to take the last man. If they were doing so they were not acting in accordance with the wishes of the Government.

Mr. Massey said he could endorse the statement of the Minister of Agriculture, and either ho or the Minister for Defence would make a fuller statement in the course of a few days. Replying to Mr. Payne, Hon. J. A. finnan said the question as to whether technical school teachers not employed by an education board should receive a war bonus was bow under consideration by Cabinet. NEW ZEALAND DIVISION. Sir James Allen, reported that the New Zealand Division did not take part in any operations at the front during tho month of September. He also stated that the total casualties up to 4th September were as follow: Dead 8554, missing or prisoners 141, wounded 21,832.

NATIVE SCHOOLS. The Minister for Education laid on the table the report on Native schools. The report was discussed by Messrs Ngata. Isitt, Poole, MacDonakl, Jennings and Tau Henare. Sir Jas. Carroll urged that the only means by which the Native race could bo saved was to keep them to their land, as their abilities ran along agricultural and mechanical lines, and once divorced from their land they became helpless, 'He therefore- asked the Native Minister to moderate his Native land purchases and not deprive tho Natives of the remnant of their estate. The Minister, in rep!y ; quoted from a report to show that the Department had not lost sight of the country's obligation to teach the Natives mechanical and productive arts. SOCIAL HYGIENE.'

Hon. G. \V. Russell moved the second reading of the Social Hygiene Bill. He said the Bill was a most important one, affecting, as it did, national efficiency and the social purity of the community, and more than any other might bo said to affect, the welfare of unborn millions. The efforts made to educate the public mind on the subject of social disease were now culminating in the introduction of this Bill. He stated that in the first nine ballots 49,588 men were drawn for military service, out of which 25,534 were declared to be medically unfit. This, he considered, was a deplorable fact in a country such as New Zealand, where the conditions of life should be as good as in any part of the world. He was not prepared to say what percentage of men had venereal disease, but, no doubt, a great many defects arose from diseases closely allied to the white plague. Large numbers of infantile deaths were directly due to disease which this Bill was designed to prevent, and he quoted statistics to establish this fact. During 1910 there were 192 cases of venereal diseases at Trentham, but this year these had fallen by 30 per cent., and for »11

camps, from January Ist to August 3'at, the cases Lad fallen from <jo3 to 228, which was satisfactory in its way, because the contraction of these diseases had completely sapped the efficiency of the men, after all tho time and money Bpent upon their training. He referred to the difficulty the authorities experienced in preventing soldiers contracting diseases en route to England, and in England itself, hut stressed the importance of this heing done in the interests of the future of the race. SpeaMng of the Bill itself, he said it was based on the latest information available, and contended it contained nothing approaching to the offensive CD. Act repealed some years ago. The rights of women wore fully protected by the appointment of a prineipaj. and local advisory boards, while the rights, of private citizens were in no way diminished by the Bill. The compulsory clauses only applied to professional,.prostitutes, or persons habitually consorting with such; and when a female was called up for examination she had the right to demand to be examined by a doctor of her own sex. He described the prison hospitals established under the Bill for the detention of persons suffering, and the nature of the treatment of the patients there, a prominent feature of which would be suitable and profitable work. There was nothing in the Bill in the nature of notification, but if this drastic step was found necessary later on, then it would bo taken; but seeing so many were cases of innocent victims, he did not think it wise to go s» far at present. The Bill provided that a person found suffering 'from these disease must undergo medical treatment, and it was. the duty of the medical profession to warn tho patient against contracting marriage until he or she received a clean certificate. He was not yet prepared to insist upon all persons about to marry, producing a clean bill of health, but that might come here, as it already existed in America. Clause 22 made an effort to protect children against the ravages of these diseases, for it must not be supposed that New Zealand was perfectly clean in this respect. The Minister then proceeded to explain that the responsibility of the act rested upon a person knowingly infecting another, there being no distinction between the sexes, while women patrols were to be employed in warning young girls against the danger they ran if seen in compromising circumstances. Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards had considerable' responsibilities under the Bill, the greater part of the expense for which would be borne by the Government. Every patient going into a public hospital .was being assured of treatment free of cost.

Mr. Poole highly commended the measure, which he declared had been long required. The House adjourned at 5.30 p.m. At 7.3o'the debate was resumed. Mr. Hornsby blamed employers for tho spread of disease, since they expected young girls to remain decent and virtuous on the miserable wage of 15s a week. Parents were also greatly to blame for allowing children to grow up in ignorance about the risks they run, and when they learned the lesson in the school of the world they had learned it in the worst possible form. The cure for the spread of these diseases was largely early marriages, but these were only possible by improved social conditions.

Dr. Newman considered that no male patrol should have the right to approach any woman on this subject.

Mr. Glover drew attention to tho fact that there were strangers in the galleries, but the Speaker ruled that there was no need to clear the galleries, as there was nothing in the 'Bill to offend the canons of good taste. Mr. Isitt strongly urged that all parties contemplating marriage should bo compelled to produce a clean bill of health. If such a provision was not put into this Bill, then he hoped the Minister would bring it before Parliament and puT» it into some other Bill. Mr. McCombs protested against the vompulsory clauses, contending that the safest way of dealing with the disease was by affording the fullest opportunity for obtaining free treatment. The Minister, in reply, characterised as unfair the statement by Dr. Newman that the Bill renewed the worst features of tho C.I). Act. The Bill dealt fairly between the sexes. The compulsory clauses only referred to two classes—prostitutes and associates with prostitutes—and who would say that such harpies, seeking to prey upon our soldiers, should not be controlled in much the same way as smallpox patients arc segregated. He quoted from the report of the Royal Commission in Britain to show that these disease did descond to tho third and fourth generation, and asked the House to consider what loss in national efficiency arose from that

cause. Tho Bill was read a second time on the voices. The House rose at 0.-to p.m.