PORT OFFICIAL

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 245, 15 October 1940, Page 8

PORT OFFICIAL

DR. RUSSELL'S DEATH.

LONG SERVICE RECALLED.

The death occurred thi* morning at his residence, 769, Remuerm Road, of Dr. G. Graham Ru#*ell. in hit 79th rear. Dr. Ru»#ell wm far many year# port health officer at Auckland, from which position he retired on Mar 31 lut rear. Dr. Ru*»«U «a« bnm in After practising medicine in and London he ramc to New Zealand I in 1913 with Air*. I!wmI1. For liwal ] a rear he wm in general practice in Waipu, and in 1915, when the port health officer, the late LieutenantColonel \V_ K. Sharman. went on active service with the \'c« Zealand Medical Corp*, he took oxer the dutic# of port health officer for the period of the war. Niagara a ad lafloeata. The late Dr. Rust-ell was a*««oc3atcd with port iia»pcction dniir* fimm time to time. The late Dr. Hawk ' Dr. Sharman, and, on Dr. Hawk'* dealh. Dr. l{u««ell wjf appointed port health officer. Dr. Jlussell wa* fond of incident* connected with the arrival nfi the Niagara in 191 ft, when the Date Mr. i Ma«*r and the late Sir Joxepb Ward j were on board. Tfcey were wlurnia? from an Imperial Conference and »iitin?* of the Itritish War Cabinet, «1 i which thev were luemkr*. The }««*• #ens*r# on the .VupiiJi were not fiok. but many member# of Ibe crew had! contracted influenza on the voyage. IWDgrm wailed at uUr. relieving steward* who were down with infliirnrji.. Dr. I'ii*#el| retained all Ihe *ick on j board and allowed the other* to di*embark. He wa# criticised for not having #trictly iwliird the whole #bip"« company. In answer he maintained 1 that the sickne*# of llw Niagara va« quite di*tinrj from tbe epidemic that followed on shore. Wish lh* view the special commission that wa# set up to examine she cincum*4ances agreed. Not a Single Death. A smoke room on the Niagara wa# isolated from the rest of the ship a# a hospital and not one death occurred among the 250 patients there. They "ere detained for three day* after their temperature had become normal. •|}d then allowed to go on shore. The Niagara left Auckland a perfectly dean > •hip, and wa# the cleanest ship to arrive in Sydney about that period. Since the day* when Dr. Unwell took i up duty the system of inspecting ship# 1 haa undergone a considerable change. The old system used So take from an i hour and a-half to two hour#, but Dr. Ruasell got permission to introduce the i practice of passenger* forming a queue '

and tiling past. Bt that mean* the time for inspection wm cut do«n to about three-quarters of an hour. Overseas ships that carry a doctor now usually come right to* the wharf and the word of the captain and the' doctor is accepted, to that only cot ca*es are inspected by the port health officer. Over**** »hips without a doctor are inspected in the stream. Intercolonial vessels, with or without a doctor, if they have a clean bill of health, come right up to the wharf. On the ha#U of average number* carried. Hmd to PW not far short of 100.000 and crew through hi§ hand# in the count* of a rear. Social Serrics. Work. Some yearn ago Dr. Russell received as a memento some coffee cups wed on the maiden voyage of a ffuddart Parker liner. He collected samples of the ware in use on tbc lines that visit the port, •nd he had a remarkable collK-tion of ships china. Nearly 30 romnaniet were represented. In apite of his duties. Dr. Russell found time for other activities. p or tun* years after the formation of the Presbyterian .Social .Service Association he was its hooorary medical adviser, and no death occurred among those under the association's care during that tine During the war he for a time' superintendent of the Costley Home.