Venereal Diseases in New Zealand (1922) | Page 7

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 foetal 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,