AN OUTBREAK OF TYPHOID.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1030, 20 January 1911, Page 2

AN OUTBREAK OF TYPHOID.

--- SPREAD BY MAORIS. i (By Telegraph.—Special ..CorreenondenU Auckland, January 17. " . ;A man-named Alfred Robinson, a menu her of a'bush camp, writes to the Auck- ' land "Herald" -with Regard to an outbreak of typhoid in a Maori settlement. Ho says"lt is deeply to be deplored' that. : by the neglect, of bur Public Health Department, or. somo other' officials who may ' be entrusted:.to -guard the.,public health, combined'with, the ■ ignorahce':,-of tho' Maoris,'" sad':loss and'.irreparable sorrow, have been brought iiito Captain Cholmondeley Smith's well-known and re. spected family, and grief and anxiety to others whose friends or. relatives have suffered. Out of three sons, who for.soma f years past have been engaged in tha' timber industry, in : the Te Hoe district, two stalwart young' men in their full youth and strength have been struck down. One, Lionel "Percy, the well-known chess player and cricketer, died at Devonport Private Hospital on December 21, 1310. His brother, George, now lies in the same nursing home at Devonport in a: very dangerous.' state. Of their ; employees, Mr. Jourdain, acting-secretary and. Ac- J countant, lies in the Auckland Hospital, slowly recovering, and Mr. George Barloxr, of Devonport, is pulling through.,. Of tha ' bush hands, the - blacksmith's "two 'sons are in the Hamilton Hospital, and one is not expccted to live, but the other is now . out of danger. It is certain that tha cause of all this is owing to the fact that on a creek about a mile or less from the timber camps a settlement of Maoris exists, who contracted typhoid fever amongst them, and, possibly, ignorant of the diseaso and its malignant nature, allowed the deadly refuse from their ■ settlement to be discharged into the otherwise pure water flowing toward the European camps, of. which. water the men and their employers drank and frequently bathed or washed in it, with such terrible ' results. It has also been stated that a Government nurso was sent to theso Maoris, but if so neither she nor the Government officials reported to or warned either the bush camps or-tho.suvrounding settlors of..their,danger.in.bathing, in or drinking from the polluted -stream. Hence another serious danger may accrue. No fewer than, perhaps over, -200" milking cow 9 have been permitted to drink tho' water, and so possibly to spread the germs through milk and butter. I havo . 'wen further informed that Dr. Makgill, tho Health Officer, has said that 'thesa < camps or /locations of. Maoris are fr&. fluently tho generators or sources of typhoid.' It would appear that the doctor is quito right if he so stated." r When tho matter was referred to Dr. Maligill, the district health officer, bv a "Herald" reporter, the doctor explained that the Native Department used to give a subsidy of ,£SOOO to the Health Departmcnt for the supervision of medical attention for Natives. About a year and a half ago that was abolished, and now the position was a very serious one, for there seemed to be little or no medical supervision of tho Natives. Few notifications of infectious diseases amongst Natives aro ever received by the Health Department, he added, and it only becomes aware of through the white community. Similarly there are no notifications of death amongst the Natives. . When tho Department was informed of this outbreak of typhoid it notified tne only European settlers'it knew of, a bushman's camp, who were in danger, and advised them to move.