Venereal Diseases in New Zealand (1922): Report of the Special Committee of the Board of Health appointed by the Hon. Minister of HealthNew Zealand. Committee of the Board of Health
History
Venereal Diseases in New Zealand (1922): Report of the Special Committee of the Board of Health appointed by the Hon. Minister of Health
New Zealand. Committee of the Board of Health
Sexually transmitted diseases -- New Zealand
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.
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