THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3013, 9 October 1908, Page 3

THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

REVIEW FOR THE YEAR.

The report of the Chief Health ! Officer, Dr Mason, on the public health during the year, contains, as usual, a mass of interesting material. Dr Mason deals first of all with consumption, and reports that the various sanatoria and annexes are doing excellent work, but the value : of the work done in these institutions has in many cases been stultified in that the "cured" patient has had to face the world of work again un- ■ aided. The "cured" consumptive in \ most instances—that is, the cases , which usually pass through the sanatoria—must practise an employment in the open air. The clerk must for ever leave his ledger, the baker his batch, the seamstress her needle, if they are to keep well. Now, what are they to do? The man has no chance in the world of unskilled labour, and for the woman there are few outdoor occupations. Bee-keeping, poultry-farming, shepherding, etc., are all suitable, but unless the patient has some capital it is difficult for him to find an open"As I have pointed out repeatedly," says Dr Mason, "u.iless we are to'lose the money spent in bringing them back to a condition of health, the municipalities, hospital boards, or the central Government must find them some kind of employment at once suitable to their condition of ■ health, and of a nature which will be profitable not only to the "cured," but to the provider of the - work. This, I think, will he accomplished through the camp, the "Karere"— or Forerunner. On the flat near "Waipa has been begun an experiment which I am sure will be as successful as it was longed for. Imagine the fate of the man who has spent, say, nine months in a sanatorium, and leaves it full of gratitude and a desire'for work. Even the most charitable fight shy of having Sam near to them. He has spent all his savings, If he had any. in the two or three years' battle for health before ha entered the sanatorium, and he leaves the institution usually full o£hope, but devoid of money. All indoor work is barred to him: he cannot compete with the strong man in navvying, lumping, or agricultura work. He seeks for light outdoor work, but rarely finds it. He must perforce live in the cheapest of boarding-houses, often sleeping in the same room with others; his food is poor. Repeated denials soon quench even the "spes phthisica." Friends may be wishful to help, but they have children and they fear him. An appeal to the Charitable Aid Board brings him enough to keep starvation off, but his descent is steady, and the end easily foreseen. Improper food, bad hygienic conditions, and crushed hope make him an easy prey to colds, and a varying time, never very long, sees him an applicant again for a bed in the hospital or sanatorium. I have indulged in no rhetoric This is a calm, dispassionate, truthful picture, of which unfortunately we Health officials see too many examples.." Influenza claimed 223 victims in 1907, as against 132 in 1906. The death-rates from phthisis increased slightly last year—from 6.21 to 6.66 per 1,000. This increase, Dr Mason thinks, is of slight significance. Provision is gradually being made for sufferers from this disease. 1 An increase in the death-rate from cancer is reported. ■ In 1906, with a mean population of 895,594, there ■were 623 deaths; in 1907, with a mean population of 919,105, there were 674, an increase of 0.37 per 10,000 persons living. / There were more deaths of males than of females, the numbers being —maleaafil, females 313. The rate of mortality per 10,000 living was 7.33. The increase is not believed by all authorities to be a fact to the extent represented, but partly the result of more careful certification of the causes of death, and of improved diagnosis in cases of what i 9 termed inaccessible cancer. It is certain, however, that out ni a total of 10 066 deaths from all causes in New Zealand during 1907, 674, or 6.70 per cent., were caused by canccr. ' The marriages for 1907 show an increase on the number for the previous yesr—B,l92, or 600 more than in lQOfi; 7,499 were between bachelors and spinsters, 231 between

bachelors and widows, 335 between widowers and spiusters, and 172 between widowers and widows. Divorced men and women have been classed as bachelors or spinsters; 53 divorced men and 75 divorced women were married during the year. Of the marriages in the year 1907, 24,38 per cent, were solemnised by' ministers of the Church of England, 26.23 per cent, by ministers of the Presbyterian churches, 14.95 per cent, by ministers of the Methodist churches, 11.22 per cent, by ministers of the Roman Catholic Church, 7.99 per cent, by ministers of other denominations, and 15.23 per cent, oy Registrars. Of the persons married in 1907, 131 bridegrooms and 1,296 brides were under 21 years of age-one of the bridegrooms was between 16 and 17, and ten between 18 and 19. Of the brides, Un were between 15 and 16, and thirty-four between 16 and 17 years of age. The proportion of men married is greatest at the ages of 25 to 30, and of women at from 21 to 25 years. Deaths from violence form a large item in the total mortality. In 1907 the proportion per 10,000 of persons living was 7.76, the total number of deaths having Deen 713. Of 602 males who died violent deaths, 92 were suicides. The deaths of females by violence were far fewer than those of males, amounting to 111, and out of these only ten committed suicide. A table given previously states the full list of deaths from external or violent causes for the year 1907. Accidental deaths number 605 males 506, and females 99. Of the total male deaths, 210 resulted from fractures or contusions, and 161 from drowning. Of the female deaths, 25 were due to drowning.