“KEEP THE TOWN CLEAN”

Taranaki Daily News, 14 June 1921, Page 5

“KEEP THE TOWN CLEAN”

■SOME SOURCES OF DISEASE. \ HOSPITAL BOARD’S WORK. Mr. M. Fraser, chairman of the Taranaki Hospital Board, and who is also a member of the Board of Health, delivered a very interesting address to the members of the New Plymouth branch of the Victoria League last night, choosing for his subject public health matters, and referring particularly to the Taranaki Hospital Board district and the town of /New Plymouth itself. The Taranaki hospital district, tlie speaker said, extended over a very large area and contained no less than 28,000 Europeans and 1700 natives, according to the census returns of five years ago, all of whom were entitled to enter tne New Plymouth hospital. The capital value of the area amounted to £7,500,000, upon which a rate of l-3d in the £ was charged. The cost of the hospital last year was £30,000, of which the Government provided 16s 3d in the £, and on capital expenditure the Government granted a £ for £ subsidy. The board also had a farm of 70 acres, from which they derived <evenue to the extent of £2l per acre. Ho wished to emphasise upon his hearers the fact that it was necessary that the hospital should receive a certain amount of support from the general public. During the first eight months of last year no less than 847 cases of infectious diseases were admitted to the hospital, and Mr. Fraser asked where they had come from and what was the cause of them being there. The majority of the cases were caused by lack of proper sanitary conditions, particularly in regard to the children. During the last four years one-third of the patients entering the hospital had been children, and the health of the children was an index to the sanitary condition of I|ie town. The town of New Plymouth had a great many advantages not enjoyed by many towns, but these were not being used to the fullest extent. For instance, there was-the Huatoki strearfi, which flows immediately beneath the town. Instead of beautifying it the people had made it a “polluted and evilsmelling festering sewer from which flies carried dirt and infection, and spreading disease through the town.” The speaker said that a largo number of infectious diseases were caused by the Ordinary house fly, and he made stirring appeal to the women to take particular care of the sanitary conditions of their children and the children’s habitations. Mr. Fraser concluded: “After careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that unless 1 can get the support and sympathy of the women of New Plymouth, I am merely a voice crying in the wilderness. I would like to see the ladies of New Plymouth organize a committee called the Public Health and Infectious Disease Prevention Association, to see that this town is kept clean, and more especially organize a crusade against the house fly pest, and to impress upon the community that every house fly is a messenger of death.