Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 188, 7 May 1891 — THE TREATMENT OF LEPERS, ORSO CALLED LEPERS. [ARTICLE]

THE TREATMENT OF LEPERS, ORSO CALLED LEPERS.

One of the most important. duties that ca»> be intrusted inta the hirnun o'" mui is the care of the sick, ruevūariy those suiieritig from cliseases such as we have aiuong us. The most imnortant <*.are now dev-)lving upon the eomnuinity is the proper and judicious n: ol \vhat is *termed leprosv. This daity is Hmv plueed under the supervision of a Board of 11 ealth. eomposed of a President, and four members, thre 4 of whom are foreigners, and two llawaiians whose sympathies. are guided by their coileagues, besideB an examining Board of three physicians. Into the hands of these are ?;iven by law the executive power to do as they pleaie in ihe disposii'.oLi ot' th:» pM<>r tmfortuiri.te niitive, vi-hos«} deoision.' is without appeal. 1 iuili:nited power is ut-ed v«>rv often !»y order of the I>oard. and nas heeii arhir.rari]y exereisfHĪ of l:ite el'.ie U) an a r tempt on the part oi • t>t t!ie fijreigi: i|teßihertf < f tlv:> w]'i> are eniious in iheir tee'i:!gs towarJs thc u:ik)rturiates,

of carrvin£ e.ul a poii:-y of segrega , tion thut is unj ust aiui Inhuuinii. k I ' l)uring (ribson*s adininistratiori of-the atlairs of the co«.intry, segregation was carriedout ainong lepers as effectively» and more of the sick; were gathered togetiier and insolated with K°od will on the part of the people than has beenf <lone since his time. The intermediate hospital and the treatment there whieh is : rrow proposed by Mt. Carter to bē i«bolished i was one of the humane ways in sofcnned the aversion of the natives to tlieir being taken sudden!v away artd isolated forever froni the sight of their relations a*d friends. To think of a poor child of four vcars old being torn frorn its parents and sent to a land never more to see the loving and sympathetic gaze of its mother. and left poor, forlorn, and helpless to the mercy of strangers, and under the heartless care of men. whose swlfishness would even allow to be wrongfully eohdei»ned to a living grave an unfortunate brother, who had been proneunced a non-leper by a snecialist, and who was improving under mcdical advioe. The treatment offtie leper patients should be in the most humane manner, and proper men, those whose S} r ißputhies and social relati'ons connect jtheiji with the unfortunate, should be chosen f«r that service. Due consideration snould be given t» all those who are brought under the serveillance of the health aūthonties, that nll mean ssho u ld bē" tested bef«re 1 a person should be condemned to part from all the ties that make hfe endurable. The nativeB have no aversion as the P. C. Advertiser woukl have its readers infer to being segretated in a propcr way. They are verv willing Ik> abide by the decision of the Board. Their objection is not against segregation, as īt is agaiti3t the suiumary and inhuman w;\v in whieh pretended philanthro),ists are ordering the sick natives about like a lot of sheep to the s]aught<-r-. The most trivinl causes are suftiicient to auth«risc these demons in religiou3 disguise to order and condemn rnen, women and children to a wores than doath.