HEALTH COMMISSION, SINGAPORE COUNCIL TO BE FORMED.

Under the auspices of the N.C.C.V.D. a conference was held, by kind permission of His Excellency, yesterday at Government House. His Excellency presided and the meeting was well attended by representatives of the Government Departments concerned in the question of public health, of organisations, etc.

His Excellency briefly introduced the two speakers, Mrs. C. Neville Rolfe, O.B.E. and Rupert Hallam, members of the National Council for Combating Venereal Diseases.

Mrs. Rolfe, in the course of her address, said that the problem of venereal disease should be considered entirely as a public health question. She stated that she could unhesitatingly say that the lines of administration which had proved most successful were in those countries which had progressed on these lines. There were many steps that could be taken in any community that had a civic conscience to reduce the social evils, but there were no steps that could be taken usefully by means of legislation to combat venereal disease. If the issue is once confused we shall defeat our object. In speaking of legislation, the speaker pointed out that in the legislation of New Zealand a clause directed medical practitioners to issue certificates of cure or non-infectivity. This was a great danger to public health, and that clause had to be repealed, and it has now been made an offence to give certificates of that nature, a large number of those given were used for purposes of advertisement by women in a position to spread infection to the detriment of public health. She had reason to believe that the Colony, following the example of the progressive nations of the world, was taking steps to provide facilities for free diagnosis and treatment. It was insufficient, however, to provide facilities for treatment unless the provision of these facilities was accompanied by a campaign of public enlightenment in order that the best use might be made of those facilities. She therefore wanted to suggest to those present the advisability of strengthening the hands of the administration by providing the machinery that will enable all parts of the population to be reached. The difficulties encountered in such a campaign made it necessary for any organisation established to be of a semi-official character.

Mrs. Rolfe then described the organisation and work of the National Council for Combating Venereal Diseases, in Great Britain, showing how the movement had progressed, and urged that a Singapore Council for Combating Venereal Diseases should be established, linked up with the organisation at home, the aims and objects of which would be similar. The Dominion and Colonial Councils thus formed were completely autonomous, the only condition being that they did not publish literature antagonistic to the policy of the Council. The problems were different in each place and could only be dealt with by those with a knowledge of local conditions. In Singapore, there were special problems and very special difficulties that would have to be met. On the educational side, the result of the conferences she had had the privilege of holding with the educationalists, showed that there was much to be done on existing educational lines, on the lines of co-operation between parents and teachers in the education of the rising generation in the knowledge of the facts of life, by the introduction of nature study into the schools and by the extension of the syllabus of the Training College for Teachers to include information on this subject. There were certain aspects of the question, certain sides of social work that need stimulating, which a Council is in the position of being able to draw the attention of the Government Departments to, and also they can render services, if they are efficient, to those Departments in the same way as the National Council at home.

Besides considering the formation of a local Council, she also urged their considering an enquiry, quite separate from anything to do with the formation of a local Council, into such social conditions as lead to an artificial stimulus of the demand for promiscuity.

Dr. Hallam spoke in support of the proposal and dwelt on the excellent results achieved at Home, emphasising the extraordinary decrease in the disease recorded, and in some of the large towns, the reduction in the numbers receiving treatment for the first time, due to the excellent facilities provided and to the spread of knowledge among the community as a whole.

His Excellency the Governor stated he considered the aims and objects of the Council were of common interest and applicable to all countries. He moved that those present should form a Council for combating venereal disease, stating that he and Lady Guillemard were willing to act as Presidents. Steps were being taken to appoint Vice-Presidents and to invite representatives of organisations and prominent individuals in Singapore to become members of the Council.

Dr. Dexter Allen and Capt. Hacker, R.A.M.C. were appointed temporary Hon. Secretaries.

The resolution to form a Council in Singapore was seconded by Dr. Lim Boon Keng, the proceedings terminating with votes of thanks to the speakers.