Chapter 5

SECTION 1.--ORIGIN AND SCOPE OF INQUIRY.

A perusal of departmental files reveals that many persons and bodies have during recent times urged upon the Government the desirability of setting up a Committee or Commission of Inquiry to go into this subject. The appointment of the present Committee, however, arose out of a suggestion forwarded to the Chairman of the Board of Health, under date of the 20th June, 1922, from the Council of the New Zealand Branch of the British Medical Association. The Board of Health duly considered the representations of the Association and passed a resolution recommending the Minister to set up a committee to gather data and to make recommendations as to the best means of preventing and combating venereal diseases. The proposal thereafter took concrete form, following the receipt by the members of this Committee of the under-quoted letter, dated 13th July, 1922, sent out under your direction by the Secretary of the Board of Health:--

"I am directed by the Hon. the Minister of Health, Chairman of this Board, to inform you that, acting upon the recommendation of the Board, he has decided to appoint a special Committee from among the members of the Board to conduct an inquiry into the question of venereal diseases in New Zealand. The following members are being asked to become members of the Committee, and the Chairman trusts you will see your way to accept the position: Dr. Valintine, Dr. Elliott, Lady Luke, Hon. Mr. Triggs, Sir Donald McGavin, Mr. Fraser. The Hon. the Minister has asked the Hon. Mr. Triggs to accept the chairmanship of the Committee.

"I am further directed to state that the function and duty laid upon the Committee is as follows:--

"(1.) To inquire into and report upon the prevalence; of venereal disease in New Zealand.

"(2.) To inquire into and report any special reasons or causes for the existence of venereal disease in New Zealand.

"(3.) To advise as to the best means of combating and preventing venereal disease in New Zealand, and especially as to the necessity or otherwise of fresh legislation in the matter.

"The Minister of Health is anxious that the Committee should hear such evidence and representations on the above-mentioned matters as may be necessary to fully inform the Committee on the items referred to it, and with respect to which it is asked to report, and he further suggests to the Committee that the various organizations and persons likely to be interested should be notified that the Committee will, at a certain place and date, in Wellington, hear any evidence they may desire to tender."

The Committee regrets that owing to ill health Dr. Valintine, Director-General of Health, was unable to act as one of its members. His place was taken by Dr. J.P. Frengley, Deputy Director-General of Health. Unfortunately, illness also overtook Mr. Murdoch Fraser, who has been unable to attend the sittings of the Committee since the middle of August. The remaining members have been present at all sittings of the Committee, details of which are appended in the following table:--

+------------------------------------------ Places and Dates of Sittings. | Witnesses examined or Work done. --------------------------------+------------------------------------------ Wellington, 26th July, 1922 | Preliminary meeting. (forenoon only) | Wellington, 8th August, 1922 | Dr. M.H. Watt, Director, Division of (forenoon only) | Public Hygiene. | Dr. B.F. Aldred, Officer in Charge | Venereal Diseases Clinic. Wellington, 9th August, 1922 | Hon. Dr. W.E. Collins, M.L.C. (forenoon only) | Mr. J. Caughley, M.A., Director of | Education. Auckland, 17th August, 1922 | Dr. Falconer Brown, Officer in Charge | Venereal Diseases Clinic. | Dr. Hilda Northcroft. | Dr. Frank Macky. | Dr. W. Gilmour, Bacteriologist and | Pathologist, Auckland Hospital. | Dr. C.E. Maguire, Medical Superintendent, | Auckland Hospital. | Dr. W.H. Parkes. | Dr. J. Hardie Neil. | Dr. R. Tracy Inglis, Medical Officer, St. | Helens Hospital. | Dr. E.W. Sharman, Port Health Officer. | Dr. W.H. Pettit. Auckland, 18th August, 1922 | Mrs. De Treeby, representing Women's | International and Political League. | Dr. D.N.W. Murray, Medical Officer to | Prisons Department. | Mr. R.J. Pudney. | Mr. Egerton Gill. | Mrs. Harrison Lee Cowie. | Mrs. E.B. Miller. | Dr. Kenneth Mackenzie. | Dr. E.H. Milsom. | Dr. E. Carrick Robertson. | Rev. Jasper Calder. | Mr. F.L. Armitage, Government | Bacteriologist. | Dr. W.A. Fairclough. | Dr. A.N. McKelvey, Medical Officer, | Costley Home. Christchurch, 29th August, 1922 | Dr. A.C. Thomson, Officer in Charge | Venereal Diseases Clinic. | Dr. P.C. Fenwick. | Mrs. E. Roberts, President Women's | Branch, Social Hygiene Society. | Mrs. A.E. Herbert. | Dr. A.B. Pearson, Bacteriologist and | Pathologist, Christchurch Hospital. | Nurse E.M. Stringer, Health Patrol. | Dr. W. Fox, Medical Superintendent, | Christchurch Hospital. | Dr. C.H. Upham, Port Health Officer. | Dr. C.L. Nedwill, Medical Officer to | Prisons Department. | Dr. D.E. Currie. | Dr. J. Guthrie. | Dr. W. Irving, Medical Officer, St. | Helens Hospital. | Dr. A.C. Sandston, President, Men's | Branch Social Hygiene Society. | Major R. Barnes, Salvation Army Officer. | Dr. A.B. Lindsay. Dunedin, 31st August, 1922 | Dr. A. Marshall, Officer in Charge | Venereal Diseases Clinic. | Dr. A.R. Falconer, Medical | Superintendent, Dunedin Hospital. | Dr. H.L. Ferguson, Dean Medical Faculty, | Otago University. | Dr. Emily H. Seideberg, Medical Officer, | St. Helens Hospital. | Dr. J.A. Jenkins. | Canon E.R. Nevill, representing the | Dunedin Council of Sex Education. | Miss Pattrick, Director of Plunket | Nursing. | Mr. J.M. Galloway, representing Society | for Protection of Women and Children. | Dr. F.R. Riley. Wellington, 12th September | Dr. W. Young. (forenoon only) | Mr. T.R. Cresswell, Headmaster, | Wellington College. | Mr. W.W. Cook, Registrar-General. | Mr. Malcolm Fraser, Government | Statistician. | Mr. W.D. Hunt. | Rev. R.S. Gray. Wellington, 13th September | Dr. Frank Hay, Inspector-General of (forenoon only) | Mental Defectives. | Mrs. Henderson, Representative Women | Prisoners' Welfare Society and | Wellington Branch National Council of | Women. | Rev. Van Staveren, Jewish Rabbi. Wellington, 14th September | Dr. Agnes Bennett, Medical Officer, St. | Helens Hospital. | Mrs. F. McHugh, Health Patrol. | Mr. F. Castle, President Pharmacy Board, | and Chairman Wellington Hospital Board. | Dr. D.M. Wilson, Medical Superintendent, | Wellington Hospital. | Mr. A.H. Wright, Commissioner of Police. | Mr. W. Dinnie, ex-Commissioner of Police, | representing Bible in Schools | Propaganda Committee. | Rev. J.T. Pinfold, D.D., representing | Wellington Ministers' Association. | Canon T. Feilden Taylor, appointed by the | Bishop of Wellington. Wellington, 15th September | Major Winton, Salvation Army. | Mr. W. Beck, Officer in Charge Special | Schools Branch, Education Department. | Dr. D.E. Platts-Mills, representing Young | Women's Christian Association. | Mrs. Morpeth, representing Young Women's | Christian Association. | Miss Dunlop, representing Young Women's | Christian Association. | Mrs. Glover, Salvation Army. Wellington, 26th September | Consideration of report. Wellington, 10th October | Consideration of report. Wellington, 12th October | Consideration of report. Wellington, 13th October | Consideration of report. Wellington, 18th October | Final meeting. | --------------------------------+--------------------------------------

It will thus be seen that, apart from time spent in travelling, the Committee have met on seventeen days and have heard seventy-four witnesses in person.

The Committee would like to express their thanks to the witnesses, many of whom had gone to considerable trouble to collect information and prepare their evidence. Thanks are also due to the British Medical Association for their willing co-operation and assistance; to the large number of members of the medical profession throughout the Dominion who responded to the Committee's request for information; to Dr. J.H.L. Cumpston, Federal Director-General of Health, Melbourne, for much Australian information on the subject, particularly in relation to Commonwealth quarantine provisions; to Dr. Everitt Atkinson, Commissioner of Public Health, Perth, West Australia, for a most lucid and informative report on the working of the legislation in force in that State; and to many other persons who by means of correspondence and literature have placed at the Committee's disposal a large amount of information which has been of material assistance in considering various aspects of the problems involved.

The Committee desire to acknowledge their indebtedness to their secretary, Mr. C.J. Drake, whose wide knowledge of public-health matters has been of material assistance in their investigations and who has discharged his duties with marked zeal and ability.

SECTION 2.--VENEREAL DISEASES AND THEIR EFFECTS.

One result of the Committee's investigations has been to show that the public in general are very ignorant regarding the nature of venereal diseases, and their lamentable effects not only upon the individuals infected, but upon the health and well-being of the community as a whole. This ignorance of the nature of the problem and of the grave issues involved naturally stands in the way of the evil being grappled with effectually. Furthermore, the policy of reticence which has prevailed in the past, while it has led to the omission of proper instruction of the young, either by their parents or as part of our system of education, has not prevented the dissemination of an incomplete or perverted knowledge of the facts relating to sex, which, being derived as a rule from tainted sources of information, has been productive of a great deal of evil.

In these circumstances the Committee feel it their duty, before making known their recommendations, to state in as plain terms as possible the medical aspects of the problem they have had to consider.

There are three forms of venereal diseases namely, syphilis, gonorrhœa, and chancroid--and of these the first two are the common and most serious diseases. That sporadic syphilis existed in antiquity and even in prehistoric times is probable, but there is no doubt that the disease was a malignant European pandemic in the closing years of the fifteenth century. The first reference to its origin is in a work written about the year 1510, wherein it is described as a new affection in Barcelona, unheard of until brought from Hayti by the sailors of Columbus in 1493. The army of Charles VIII carried the scourge through Italy, and soon Europe was aflame. "Its enormous prevalence in modern times," says Dr. Creighton, "dates, without doubt, from the European libertinism of the latter part of the fifteenth century." Gonorrhœa also has its origin in the shades of antiquity, but that it became common in Europe about 1520 is a fact based on the highest authority.

Syphilization follows civilization, and syphilis is an important factor in the extermination of aboriginal races. Syphilis was introduced into Uganda when that country was opened to trade with the coast, and Colonel Lambkin reported that "In some districts 90 per cent. suffer from it.... Owing to the presence of syphilis the entire population stands a good chance of being exterminated in a very few years, or left a degenerate race fit for nothing." The earliest known account of the introduction of syphilis into the Maori race is in an old Maori song composed in the far North. The Maori population in a village on the shores of Tom Bowline's Bay was employed in a whaling-station on the Three Kings Islands, and there they became infected and carried the disease to the mainland. Venereal disease is not common now among the Maoris, but it made great ravages in the early days of colonization, to which may be attributed much of the sterility and repeated miscarriages in the transitional period of Maori history.

Through the ages great confusion existed as to the origin and nature of venereal disease, but in 1905 a micro-organism, the _Spironema pallidum_, was demonstrated as the infective agent in syphilis, and the gonococcus as the infecting organism of gonorrhœa had been discovered in 1879. As regards modes of infection, syphilis is contracted usually by sexual congress; occasionally the mode of infection is accidental and innocent, and congenital transmission is not uncommon. Gonorrhœa is contracted by sexual congress as a rule, but occasionally from innocent contact with discharges, as in lavatories.

Syphilis, therefore, is a markedly contagious and inoculable disease. It gains entrance, and usually in three weeks (although this period may be much shorter) a slight sore appears at the site of infection. It may be so slight as to pass unnoticed. This is the primary stage of syphilis. Later, often after two months, the secondary stage begins, and if not properly treated may last for two years. The patient is not too ill usually to attend to his avocation, and has severe headache, skin rashes, loss of hair, inflammation of the eyes, or other varied symptoms. The tertiary stage may be early or delayed, and its effects are serious. Masses of cells of low vitality, known as "gummata," with a tendency to break down or ulcerate, may form in almost any part of the body, and the damage that occurs is considerable indeed. Various diseases result which the lay mind would not associate with syphilis, but it would be difficult to overestimate the resultant diseases that may occur in any organ of the body:--

This racks the joints; this fires the veins: That every labouring sinew strains; Those in the deeper vitals rage.

Many deaths ascribed to other causes are the direct consequence of syphilis. It cuts off life at its source, being a frequent cause of abortion and early death of infants. It slays those who otherwise would be strong and vigorous, sometimes striking down with palsy men in their prime, or extinguishing the light of reason. It is an important factor in the production of blindness, deafness, throat affections, heart-disease and degeneration of the arteries, stomach and bowel disease, kidney-disease, and affections of the bones. Congenital syphilis often leads to epilepsy or to idiocy, and most of the victims who survive are a charge on the State. This indictment against syphilis is by no means complete. The economic loss resulting from this disease is enormous as regards young, old, middle-aged. It respects not sex, social rank, or years.

Gonorrhœa is characterized in its commonest form by a discharge of pus from the urethra, and causes acute pain at its onset in the male, but in the female it commonly causes little or no discomfort. Unless carefully treated, and treated early, it gives rise to many complications, such as inflammation of the bladder, gleet, stricture, inflammation of joints, abscesses, and rheumatism. It is a common cause of sterility and of miscarriages, and, in the female, of many internal inflammations and disablement, and in its later effects requires often surgical operations on women. It is a very common disease, and the public know little of the evil consequences which may follow what they have persisted in regarding as a simple complaint. From its prevalence and its complications it is one of the most serious diseases that affect mankind.

As regards treatment of venereal disease of all kinds, it should be clearly understood that the causative germs are well known and can readily be destroyed immediately after exposure to infection by thorough cleansing with antiseptic lotion or ointment. The use of soap and water only would lessen the incidence of infection. On the first suspicious sign of venereal disease the patient should apply at once for medical advice. There are methods of diagnosis, such as microscopic examination and the Wassermann test, the result of recent discovery, which make diagnosis simple and certain; and if treatment is begun early according to modern methods, which are much more effective than the remedies formerly applied, the germs of infection are easily vanquished. When sufficient time, however, is lost to enable these germs to become entrenched in parts of the body not readily accessible to treatment, cure is difficult, prolonged, and perhaps in some cases uncertain.

For their own sakes, as well as for the sake of others, patients suffering from any form of venereal disease should continue treatment, which may be prolonged in the case of syphilis for two years, until their medical adviser is satisfied that further treatment is unnecessary.

Women suffer less pain than men in these diseases, and consequently are more apt to neglect securing medical advice and treatment, and more ready to discontinue treatment before a cure is effected.

SECTION 3.--ACCIDENTAL INFECTION.

Occasionally cases are met with in which syphilis is acquired innocently by direct or indirect contact with syphilitic material, and then the primary sore is often located on some other part of the body than the genitals. Thus the lip may be infected by kissing, or by drinking out of the same glass, or smoking the same pipe as a syphilitic patient. A medical witness reported a case to the Committee in which syphilis was conveyed to two girls "through a young fellow handing them a cigarette which he was smoking." Metchnikoff has proved that the spironema of syphilis is a delicate organism and quickly loses its virulence outside the human body, and it cannot enter the system through unbroken skin or mucous membrane. It is extremely doubtful if any form of venereal infection can be conveyed in food. Frequently venereal disease is deceitfully attributed by patients to innocent infection, and no doubt some genuine cases do occur, but how seldom is illustrated by the statement of the Officer in Charge of the V.D. Clinic at Christchurch, who said, "I cannot remember a case where I was absolutely certain that infection was acquired innocently or extragenitally."

Gonorrhœa may be conveyed innocently from infective discharge on a closet-seat, or from an infected towel, &c., and undoubtedly gonorrhœal discharge if brought into contact with the eye sets up a violent suppuration.

The Committee are of opinion that the extent of accidental infection is greatly exaggerated in the public mind, but a few cases occasionally occur, and the Committee recommend that there should be better provision of public conveniences, especially for women, and the U-shaped closet-seat should be adopted. The use of common towels and drinking-cups in railway-trains, schools, factories, and elsewhere is condemned not only for the reasons stated above, but on general sanitary grounds.

SECTION 4.--PREVIOUS INQUIRIES AND CONFERENCES.

After the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act in England in 1886, various Committees and Royal Commissions, such as the Inter-departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration in 1904, the Royal Commission on the Poor-laws in 1909, and the Royal Commission on Divorce in 1912, drew attention to the frightful havoc wrought by venereal disease, and urged that further action should be taken to deal with the evil. In 1913 the British Government appointed a Royal Commission to inquire into the prevalence of venereal diseases in the United Kingdom, their effects upon the health of the community, and the means by which these effects could be alleviated or prevented, it being understood that no return to the policy or provisions of the Contagious Diseases Acts was to be regarded as falling within the scope of the inquiry.

The Commission took a great deal of most valuable evidence, and did not present their final report until 1916. They recommended improved facilities for diagnosis and treatment, including free clinics. They came to the conclusion that at that time any system of compulsory personal notification would fail to secure the advantages claimed. The Commission added, however, "it is possible that the situation may be modified when these facilities for diagnosis and treatment [recommended by the Commission] have been in operation for some time, and the question of notification should then be further considered. It is also possible that when the general public become alive to the grave dangers arising from venereal disease, notification in some form will be demanded." The Commission supported the adoption of a recommendation by the Royal Commission on Divorce to the effect that where one of the parties at the time of marriage is suffering from venereal disease in a communicable form and the fact is not disclosed by the party, the other party shall be entitled to obtain a decree annulling the marriage, provided that the suit is instituted within a year of the celebration of the marriage, and there has been no marital intercourse after the discovery of the infection. The Commission urged that more careful instruction should be provided in regard to moral conduct as bearing upon sexual relations throughout all types and grades of education. Such instruction, they urged, should be based upon moral principles and spiritual considerations, and should not be based only on the physical consequences of immoral conduct. They also favoured general propaganda work, and urged that the National Council for Combating Venereal Diseases should be recognized by Government as an authoritative body for the purpose of spreading knowledge and giving advice.

Another important Commission, sitting almost simultaneously with that just referred to, was the National Birth-rate Commission, which began its labours on the 24th October, 1913, and presented its first Report on the 28th June, 1916. The Commission was reconstituted, with the Bishop of Birmingham as Chairman, in 1918, to further consider the question, and especially in view of the effects of the Great War upon vital problems of population. Among the terms of reference the Commission were requested to inquire into "the present spread of venereal disease, the chief causes of sterility and degeneracy, and the further menace of these diseases during demobilization." The Commission in their report, presented in 1920, stated that they realized the difficulties involved in the introduction of any efficient scheme of compulsory notification and treatment of venereal diseases, but, they added, they "feel that it has now passed the experimental stage both in our colonies and in forty of the forty-eight of the United States of America, and think it is advisable for the State to make a trial of compulsory notification and treatment in this country, provided that there should be no return to the principles or practice of the Contagious Diseases Act." Referring to the finding of the Royal Commission on Venereal Disease that it would not be possible at present to organize a satisfactory method of certification of fitness for marriage, the National Birth-rate Commission thought this question should now be reconsidered with a view to legislation. "If," says the report, "a certificate of health was to become a legal obligation for persons contemplating marriage, many of the legal, ethical, and professional difficulties surrounding this question would be removed."

In Sweden, where a Venereal Diseases Law was passed in 1918, stress was laid on the importance of general enlightenment with regard to venereal disease and germane subjects, such as sex hygiene. A committee was appointed, consisting of experts in medicine and pedagogy, to inquire into the best means of providing such education. Their report, which has just been issued, is described by the _British Medical Journal_ as a document of considerable value, promising to become the charter of a new and complete system of sex education and hygiene in schools throughout Sweden. Further reference will be made to this document in the section of this report dealing with education.

The subject of venereal disease has also been considered by more than one important Medical Conference in Australia and New Zealand.

At a general meeting of the Australasian Medical Congress held in Melbourne in October, 1908, it was resolved that the executive be recommended to appoint a committee to investigate and report on the facts in regard to syphilis. Such a committee was appointed, and reported to the Congress in Sydney in 1911. In 1914 the Congress was held in Auckland, and a special committee which had been appointed, with the Hon. Dr. W.E. Collins, M.L.C., as chairman, presented a valuable report giving some interesting information in regard to the prevalence of venereal disease, in New Zealand. The committee recommended that syphilis be declared a notifiable disease; that notification be encouraged and discretionary, but not compulsory; and that the Chief Medical Officer of Health be the only person to whom the notification be made. They also recommended the provision of laboratories for the diagnosis of syphilis, and that free treatment for syphilis be provided in the public hospitals and dispensaries. These recommendations were embodied in the report adopted by the Congress.

In February of the present year an important Conference, convened by the Prime Minister of Australia, was held in Parliament House, Melbourne. It was attended by official representatives of the Health Departments of all the States, together with representatives from the British Medical Association, the Women's Medical Staff at the Queen Victoria Hospital Diseases Clinic in Melbourne, and other scientific and medical authorities. The Commonwealth subsidizes the work of the States in combating venereal disease, and the object of the Prime Minister in calling the Conference was in order that it might inquire into the effectiveness of the present system of legislation, of administrative measures, and of clinical methods, with a view of determining whether the best results were being obtained for the expenditure of the money.

Western Australia has an Act, which came into operation in June, 1916, providing for what is known as conditional notification of patients, together with other provisions for the control of venereal disease which are on a more comprehensive scale than has been attempted anywhere with the possible exception of Denmark. In December, 1916, Victoria passed a similar Act, and this example was followed by Queensland, Tasmania, and New South Wales.

The Conference, answering the several questions put to it, found that a greater proportion of persons infected with venereal disease were receiving more effective treatment than before the passing of the Venereal Diseases Act. In the opinion of the Conference this was due partly to the passing of legislation and partly to the opening of clinics affording greater opportunities for free treatment. They considered the operations of the Act had been more successful in bringing men under treatment than it had been in the case of women. Among the opinions expressed by the committee were the following: The Act was not equally successful in respect of private and hospital patients in regard to notification, but was equally successful in respect of securing to both more effective treatment. There has been an apparent reduction in the prevalence of venereal diseases, and the Conference were strongly of opinion that the results so far justify the continuance of these Acts in operation.

The Conference found that venereal diseases are the most potent of all causes of sterility and of infant and fœtal morbidity and mortality. It recommended, among other remedial measures, that prophylactic depots, both for males and females, should be established as widely in the community as possible. Referring to the educational aspect, the Conference urged that children should be instructed in general biological facts up to the age of puberty, when more explicit information concerning facts of sexual life should be given. They urged on all parents and educational, philanthropic, and religious organizations the pressing necessity for a sustained campaign, in co-operation with the medical profession, in order to inculcate in the community higher ideals of personal hygiene and health.

Lastly, it may be mentioned that, at the instance of Lord Dawson of Penn, a highly qualified and representative committee of medical men, with Lord Trevethin as chairman, has been appointed in England to report to the Minister of Health upon "the best medical measures for preventing venereal disease in the civil community, having regard to administrative practicability, including cost." The appointment of such a committee was requested by Lord Dawson chiefly with a view to obtaining an authoritative pronouncement on the subject of medical preventive measures, and the committee's report will be awaited with much interest.

SECTION 5.--LEGISLATION IN NEW ZEALAND, PAST AND PRESENT.

(A) _Contagious Diseases Act (repealed)._

The Contagious Diseases Act was passed in 1869, and repealed in 1910. Briefly, its aim was to secure periodical examinations of prostitutes, and to detain for treatment those prostitutes found infected with venereal disease.

There appears to be, in some quarters, an apprehension that hidden beneath the movement to combat venereal diseases is an implied desire or intention to reinstate the antiquated and detested provisions of that Act. The Committee deem it necessary to say that they have not found grounds for this suspicion; that no legislation can be effective unless it deals equally and adequately with all men, women, and children sufferers from venereal diseases of all kinds; that it finds little evidence of a definite prostitute class in New Zealand, and, even if there were such, the Contagious Diseases Acts have been proved to be useless as measures towards the prevention of venereal infections; and it is the Committee's individual and collective opinion that anything involving a return to the administrative procedure of the Contagious Diseases Act should have no part whatever in any new legislation in this Dominion.

(B.) _Examples of Difficulties--Concrete Cases._

Before proceeding to refer to present and suggested legislation, a few incidents and cases taken from the evidence may help, as concrete examples, to indicate the difficulties to be contended with:--

_Case 1._--A man--young and married, a municipal employee in a city--associated sexually with a female employee in an eating-house frequented by himself and co-employees. In due time he sought the advice of the Medical Officer of Health for (what he suspected) severe syphilis. Steps were taken to obtain his speedy admission to the local hospital. The woman continued in her employment.

_Case 2._--A social-hygiene worker in her evidence said: "I think the majority of cases I deal with (girls attending a hospital clinic) are caused through mental depravity, and in some instances you cannot convince them--they continue to carry on. I have tried all I know how to show them the dangers, but they just laugh at me. I think it is really in many cases just a mental condition--mental degeneration, possibly." This officer explained that even while actually attending the clinic some of these girls (affected with gonorrhœa), without any semblance of reserve or decency, would discuss arrangements for further intercourse with men, and on leaving the clinic (still in an infectious state) were even seen to go off with young men waiting for them.

_Case 3._--Asked if he knew of any cases where the disease had been contracted innocently, a medical practitioner stated in evidence: "I know of a case where two girls in ---- were infected (syphilis) on the lip through a young fellow handing them a cigarette which he was smoking."

_Case 4._--A medical man in private practice, and Medical Superintendent of the hospital in a small country town, states: "Although, judging from an experience of over fifteen years, this district would appear to be peculiarly free from any variety of venereal disease, I think it may be of interest to your Committee to know what happened here in the early part of 1918. At that time there came to reside with her father in ----, a township about nine miles south of ----, a woman, ----, who, shortly after her arrival consulted the late Dr. ----, and was found to be the subject of secondary syphilis.... In all, three cases of gonorrhœa, four of soft chancre (three of whom suffered from phagadœmic ulceration which laid them up for weeks), and six cases of purely syphilitic infection came under my care, all traceable to this same woman. As every case of gonorrhœa and soft chancre afterwards developed syphilis, ultimately I had thirteen cases of syphilis under my treatment alone. Others, I have good reason to believe, went to other towns, and doubtless some failed to seek any kind of help.... Having prevailed upon the woman to come to my surgery ... I told her that she was suffering from three varieties of venereal disease, which she was freely disseminating. I then read to her that part of the Act which deals with those who "knowingly and wilfully disseminate venereal infection." That same afternoon she left for ----, where she continued to ply her calling unhindered. Who can estimate the sum of the damage done by one such person? Not one of those men infected was properly treated, although I did all I possibly could to convince them of their own danger and of the risk of spreading infection to others. Gradually, as the obvious signs of active disease abated, they drifted away. I may say the Wassermann reaction proved strongly positive in every case.... One of these men passed on his infection (syphilis) to a young girl in this town, and she in turn infected other men, one of whom came to me, while others went to my colleagues. Another man of the first group, about middle age, and previously a very healthy, sober, hard-working fellow, has developed thrombosis of his middle cerebral artery as the result of a syphilitic endarteritis. He is totally incapacitated, and in the Old Men's Home at ----. He remains a permanent charge on the community."

(C.) _Hospital and Charitable Institutions Act, 1913, Section 19._

In 1913 the need for detention provisions, to cover any infectious or contagious disease, received the attention of Parliament, and these are embodied in section 19 of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act, 1913, thus:

"19. (1.) The Governor may from time to time, by Order in Council gazetted, make regulations for the reception into any institution under the principal Act of persons suffering from any contagious or infectious disease, and for the detention of such persons in such institution until they may be discharged without danger to the public health.

"(2.) Any person in respect of whom an order under this section is made may at any time while such order remains in force appeal therefrom to a Magistrate exercising jurisdiction in the locality, and the Magistrate shall have jurisdiction to hear such appeal and to make such order in the matter as he thinks fit. An order of a Magistrate under this subsection shall be final and conclusive.

"(3.) Regulations under this section may be made to apply generally or to any specified institution or institutions."

The Committee are advised that this section was not aimed solely at venereal diseases. In that year, and prior thereto, was prominent the difficulty of detaining consumptives who refused to take precautions to prevent the spread of their disease to others; and, again, much attention was being centred on the chronic typhoid and diphtheria "carrier." It seemed rational to compel isolation of such persons in hospital until there was some assurance that they would no longer be a danger to the community if allowed their liberty. Regulations under the Act were not issued, owing to opposition manifested at the time, and consequently the section never became operative.

(D.) _The Prisoners Detention Act, 1915._

This Act secures that individuals of one class of the community--viz., convicted persons--can be held until freed from venereal disease with which they were known or found to be infected. The measure is of value, but logically seems unsound, because the venereal diseases from which such persons suffer are in no way a greater danger to the public than the same diseases in the law-abiding subject of any class, and, furthermore, the Committee have no reason to conclude from the evidence that convicted persons, as a whole, show a higher percentage of venereal cases than those who never enter a prison. The Controller-General of Prisons submitted a schedule showing that the number of prisoners detained under the Prisoners Detention Act from its commencement in 1916 to 1922 was twenty-eight, consisting of nineteen males and nine females.

(E.) _Social Hygiene Act, 1917._

In the words of the Commissioner for Public Health of West Australia, who prepared the first comprehensive legislation on venereal diseases in 1915, this Act "can hardly be classed with recent Australian legislation, for the reason that it provides for no notification of the disease and no compulsory examination." By this Act infected persons are required to consult a medical practitioner and go under treatment by him, or at a hospital; but no penalty is provided, and there is nothing to compel such persons to do either of these things.

Reference to case 1 in the concrete examples cited above will show the weakness of the Act. The waitress continued in employment, handling cups and spoons and cakes, &c. The Medical Officer of Health had every reason to believe she was infected with syphilis, but, not having the power to insist on her obtaining medical advice, he could do nothing to enforce the provisions of section 6 of the Act.

Section 7, making it an offence for any person not being a registered medical practitioner to undertake for payment or other reward the treatment of any venereal disease, has, in the opinion of the Commissioner of Police, proved beneficial in restricting the operation of quacks, but he suggests that it should be amended by deleting the words "for payment or reward," as it is sometimes easy to prove the treatment and difficult to prove the payment, and it is the treatment by unqualified persons that is aimed at.

Section 8, which makes it an offence knowingly to infect any person with venereal disease, is practically inoperative, as will be shown later in this report, owing to the extreme difficulty, in the absence of any system of notification and compulsory treatment, of proving that the offence was committed knowingly.

The Committee desire to draw attention to section 13. Herein is provided towards hospital maintenance a higher subsidy for venereal patients than is receivable for the maintenance of patients suffering from other infectious diseases. They think that it is inadvisable to particularize venereal sufferers, or, indeed, to draw any distinction between different classes of diseases in a hospital, and that the ordinary subsidy should be paid in all cases.

In this Act also is power to make regulations for the "classification, treatment, control, and discipline of persons _detained_ in such hospitals," but apparently, owing to the opposition to the almost analagous provision in the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act, 1913, no such regulations have as yet been made.