POSITION IN WAIKATO PAS.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14759, 1 September 1913, Page 9

POSITION IN WAIKATO PAS.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT SEVERELY CRITICISED. (PKESS ASSOCIATION TELEGKAM.) HAMILTON", August 30. Strong comments were made by the Hamilton Borough Council on the attitude of tho Health Department in regard to tho smallpox outbreak. The Mayor stated that a deputation of Natives had waited on him yesterday, appealing for medical assistance to bo sent to tho pas where, thero was much illness apart from smallpox. The camps were also sorely in want of sustenance, some kaingas being on tho verge of starvation, the Natives having no fobd and no money, and being prohibited from leaving tho camps, having no means of earning any. Tbe Health Department, the Mayor said, had taken tho administration of the health laws, out of the hands of tho local bodies, but immediately it had struck trouble, had shirked its responsibilities. It was impossible for tho local inspector to supervise all tho earapg in tho Waikato, which were very scattered and stretched over a wide area. The consequence was that the Natives wandered, and the deputation which called at his oilleo was from a ba.dly infected camp. Tho attitude of tho Department all through, ho eaid, rivalled a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. It was decided to send a strong pro-, test,to.the Minister, demanding moro stringent measures to wipe out the diseaso in the Waikato, and more strict cf the movements of Natives and attention to thoir wants.