The Daily News. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1918. PREVENTING EPIDEMICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 December 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1918. PREVENTING EPIDEMICS.

In the early (lays of New Plymouth, 'tis said, there was a certam store at which the salesman had a masterly way ox meeting customers' requests—not by giving what they'wanted, but something totally different. For instance, if he were asked for an axe, he would express regret that none were in stock, adding, "but we have an excellent line of knife poiish, if that will suit you." In very much the same spirit the Government meets the requests of the people. When urged to quar antine all vessels and passengev.3 when there arc, or have been, eases of infectious disease aboard, and take drastic measures for the prevention of the spread of such diseases, they offer instead n Royal Commission to solve the difficulties created by the inflii ensa epidemic. It is common knowledge that Royal Commissions—most respectable and painstaking bodies—are' about the limit for waste of time and expenditure. If such pestilences as infectious diseases of a virulent type could be brought to a reasonable frame of mind so as to delay their death dealing crasacte until a Royal Commission' had laboriously collected all the in forma tion available, the position would be endurable, but germs have nei ther sense nor reason; they simply propagate by millions and decimate the community to which they have access. .If only the Government took a lesson from these busy hordes and exhibited an equal activity .in neutralising their'attacks, or, better still, in preventing their introduction to the Dominion, Ministers would earn the commendation and gratitude of the people, but to resort to the comfortable yet pernicious method of appointing a Royaf Commission fcTdeal with microbes is not only, farcical. in the , c;v treine, but indicative of a lack of realisation of the responsibility of their position; Tt does not rcnnire a Royal Commission to take the absolutely necessary, measures to prevent an epidemic disease beins imported into a country. There is only one way in whicH ibat e.nn be accomplished, and Australia has proved it-strict quarantine. It is not worth wmle to revive the discussion as to whether the Niagara did or did not brin-' the virulent type ox mim-en-a to New Zealand, but it is certain that an overseas vessel vr-g responsible and that the Ni a 2 ara gave the . epidemic a Ash and vicious start. What really -matters now is that the Dominion may prom by the terrible experience of late and err if at all, on the side of caution'rather than laxity. Thousands of valuable lives have been sacrificed and much swlermg caused that might, uid should. ha»-e been prevented if the proper stens had been taken to deal with the' vessels and passengers from Unfortunately the Dcnartmeut. instead of being a source of etrenfith and security h being run on entirely rnit'able lines. It should be en tircly free from politica contro fo-< the rlmple reason thac the matters with which it ha. to deal a "e "wcli as only experts can handle, jest the same as in Ue. case of education, and « is evident that until the Department is rfiplr-ed V, a Bcnra of Pnbiw Health, armed with arbitrary J

powers and free from interference by Ministers, the health and the lives of our citizens will remain in jeopardy. The Organisations which were hastily formed to combat the influenza epidemic afforded a pleasing illustration of what can be done in an emergency, and a Board of Health could' confidently rely on the cooperation of these indefatigable and sympathetic men and women at all times, not only when the need arose, but in the important work of aiding the Board to eliminate undesirable and dangerous menaces to the health of the people throughout the Dominion. The friction caused between the head of the Department and the local authority at Auckland is an unpleasant reflection on the pros. ent system. In safe-guarding the public health it is essential ther? should not only be proper and serviceable organisation,, but absolute unity and an entire absence of friction. The old adage that doctors disagree has ceased to have any meaning in these days when the laboratory has become such an important factor in hygiene. This shows the absurdity of referring such a question as the influenza epidemic to a Eoya 1 Commission. We have had a pie thora of Eoyal Commissions. They inquire, deliberate, and after a varying length of time—generally long after 'the subject ceases to be of interest, make a report, and possibly put forward recommendations which are mostly ignored, unless they happen to fit in with Ministerial ideas. The Defence Ex penditure Commission was a case in point, the final act of folly in that case being the referring of the report, to a conference of officers, thereby placing the commission on trial before the Department. It would be quite in order for the Government to invite the medical faculty to submit their views on the origin of the epidemic, its true designation, the most effective means of dealing with it, and where, if at all, the Department failed in its duty to the public, together with suggestions as to what, in their opinion, would be the most effective measures to prevent the entry into the Dominion of that or any other infectious disease. At the same time it would be altogether inadvisable I that the Department should deal with these reports, and that emphasises the urgent need of a board of health' composed of the foremost members of the medical profession to deal with the vital question of the health of the community.