A CURIOUS CASE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXII, Issue 123, 21 November 1906, Page 8

A CURIOUS CASE.

DOCTORS INTERESTED. Tho mcdic.il men of Wellington are greatly interested in the case of a, number of Clemen irom the 3.3. Bakaia who aro now inmates of the hoijpifal. Medically speaking, they aro f,utfenng from peripheral neuritis, or inilammution of the verves ; how they got it is another matter, and no definite pronouncement on tho subject Las yet been made. It appears that when the ftakaia was on her laflt voyage out from England, and when oS the Capo, at the end of September, a fire broke out in her coal bunker. Some fifteen of the firemen were engaged in extinguishing tho lire, and of these ten aic seriously ill with the coinplairit itfureaaitl; tho other iivo arc slightly affected. They developed the symptoms shortly after the fire, and were ill when tho vessol arrived at Auckland, but for some icasoii not yet explained no remedial measures wore takon at that city, and it ww not until they arrived in Wellington at tho end of lost week that they wcto sent oft* the ship for treatment. Six of them are at the hospital, and four aro under observation on board. Tho six are in a bad way, although perhaps not in any danger, the chief and worst symptom being the complote paralysis of the cxtiemities. Tho ease is a puzzling ono to tho doctoro. Peripheral neuritis is, of , course, well known a« resulting from caibon bisulphate and carbon monoxide poisoning, akoholiem, influenza, exposure, and so on ; but so far it appears tbat_no caoo i« on record in which it resulted from, UlO fames of coal goo, as these cneeo, nppaiently, did. Tho men are leported to be inAlting .iair progress, and meamvbilo Dr Valintine, A6B)6lant Chief Health Ufllcer, in carefully enquiring into the caao, and Frofeusoro Ensterfield nnd Maclmuin are conducting n ncrics of experiments.

From what Mr. W. H. Turnbull stated prior to an auction oalo of ooctipnn in tho Wilton Bush Eatato to-day it would appear that tho Government has not acquired Wilton'tf Buah property at all. Mr. TambnlJ Gaitl what lie had alwayn known «a Willon'o Bush haa brna sold to^Mr. Martin Chapman, and four adjoining noctionc of tho 88 submitted at auction had also been dinposod of to "Mr. Chapman. It ia understood that Mr. Chapman intends to build a residence in thin land, nnd hd will havo tho bush for a background to his dwollinc. A rumour wan circulated lanfc wool? that tho land the Govorumcnt had ncquirod was only a piece of more 1 or Icsn otrngling bush on tho oppooito side of tho stream, but this rumour woo denied by *the Lands Department.