PUBLIC HEALTH.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9640, 4 November 1909, Page 7

PUBLIC HEALTH.

DR. MASON'S FINAL REPORT.

"The general health of the Dominion has been good. There has been no epidemic of infectious disease of any great magnitude. Diphtheria has appeared in various districts, but, fortunately, the death rate has been low. Outbreaks of enteric fever have taken place in several places, the most important being that which occurred in GinDorne." These [are the leading features of a report from the late Chief Health Officer (Dr Mason) upon the work of his department last year. A considerable amount of space is filled with a long report of Dr. Mason's address to a local body upon consumption. In regard to the State sanatorium at Cambridge, it is point ed out that "Te Waikato" still continues its beneficent work. "Those who complain aboul the expenditure should visit the place, inquire into its working, and hear what the patients say I should be sorry to see its sphere of usefulness curtailed," comments Dr Mason.

Ot the camp for "cured" consumptives at Karere, the report states: "The only fault is that the encampment is too small. The work of cutting tei-tree scrub is hardly suitable for'cured' consumptives, but the tree planting is about as good as one could get. Some misconception has arisen with regard to the financial aspect of this experiment. It would seem that some critics were under the impression that because it had been stated that one man had made 8s a day, 8s per day was the standard wage. That is not so. The patients are paid at the same rate per 1,000 trees planted as the ordinary planter is paid. If he plants 500 trees he get 4s, and so on pro rata. There is no question of the Stats giving a full day's pay to a man who has only earned half. The man gets what he earns. Out of his earnings he pays for his food and his share of running the camp. The department provides the tents and all necessary buildings; also a sister and a nurse, to supervise the work from a remedial point of view. 'Karere' is truly the 'forerunrer'and the 'bringer of hrp?.' the experiment has shown that it paj s t<» 1. ok after our sick. Several who bad been 'hardened off' at Karere have gone back to their ordinary work quits recovered." Karere is the hope of the men, Lut there is no such help for the "cured" consumptive woman, on whi.-e behalf the report contains an urgent, appeal. "If the lot of the man sutterine from consumption is hard, truly the path of the woman is often awful in its hopelessness," states Dr Mason. "I speak of those who are poor, an! have few friends. A housemaid or a dressmaker, perhaps dependent entirely upon her earnings, falls sick. Grant that she has been able to get early admission to a sanatorium, and that she recovers, where can she go to earn a livelihood? It has only to be mi-nti.mtd that she has come from a sanatorium and her way is barred to her former occupation. Some one, either the central authority or the several hospital boards* should provide » farm where such poor souls could work. If a place and shelters were provided by the Government, the various boards would, lam sure, co itributv. The Nelson Board ha already affirmed its willingness to do so. Until suitable work is provided—such ; s bee-keep-ing, poultry-raising, early flowergrowing, etc., —for the 'ccred' woman, much'of the good done in the sanatoria and annexes will be wasted." Notifiable diseases totalled 1.290 in Wellington district, as against 1,574 for the previous year, but it is remarked that the total is much in excess of that of 1906. Fewer scarlet fever cases were mainly responsible for the decrease. Enteric fever showed a tendency to re-

erudescenue in Wellington and Wanganui. The epidemic at Martinborough came to an end with live . cases at the beginning of the year j —a total of ten. The diphtheria | figures are generally tower, Bulla \ being the only place where an epi- | demic manifested itself. Regarding | tuberculosis, the Health Officer repots; "I do not attach much importance to the seeming increase in the numlier of ras* 1 * «f tu herculosis, in aircasea affection of the lungs being reported. lam more inclined to attribute the increase to the more complete compliance of the medical attendants with the now used notification of this disease. Much the same remark may b3 made in regard to the figures for blood poisoning. The Midwives Act has brought into prominence the need for the notification of ineffective puerperal conditions."