QUARANTINE

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 138, 7 December 1918, Page 3

QUARANTINE

TO THI IDITOK. Sir, —Now that the epidemic hae run [ its course and taken, its toll of so many valuable lives, may 1 with your kind permission make a few statements of advice whereby I sincerely think that in the future New Zealand may be saved much of the terrible sufferings it has just undergone. I wish to express my ■view as one) tiiat lists traveled the world, and I hope that my reaiarko will prove valuable to those who have the dispensing of the lawn regarding' the health of this country. The first essential step is to keep the disease out Now, Sir. Editor, the very first thing that struck me forcibly oa »y arrival in New Zealand some few yeavu Ego was tha disregard the port authorities had for the health of the country. I wish to couple one example with the above subject, and that is the berthing of vessels loaded with ''dangerous goods" right in the heart of the city and its community, I knowing full well the same "dangerous goods" to have been loaded seven miles from Singapore, but within the laws of the Singapore port authorities. But let me give this warning : We shall surely have a disaster some day unless ships loadedl with "dangerous goods" have a discharging wharf of their own a few miles from any community. I will only recall the case of a vessel a short time ago loading coastwise a dangerous cargo from a large vessel full of this cargo, berthed at tho King's Wharf, and it is a miracle to me that the large vessel did not catch fire. We then in Wellington would have felt a calamity. I have seen such a calamity. No one could get near the vessel, the firo and terrifio explosions were terrible, and heard for miles around, and when I saw the vessel towed out safely I thanked God that Wellington had been spared from such a calamity that I once witnessed.

. I simply digress from the subject of the epidemic to couple above with it, to "show the laxity 6i' our port regulations. I write full heartedjy, for 1 have had my share of this scourge, and would advise all overseas ships to bo quarantined in the future—a. proper and efficient medical staff amalgamated with a proper and efficient water police. 1 would advise a proper and up-to-date floating fumigating plant, fijted with a Clayton apparatus, which would thoroughly fumigate the largest vessel visiting the Dominion in sis'hours. I would advise the gutting out and cleansing of one of the many hulks in this harbour as a hospital ship ; any infected of enspected cases to go to this vessel at once on a ship's arnval, and should the overseas veßsel have infected or suspected caeos on board the passengers, crow, and th» vessel to be fumigated, before she is allowed to take her berth amongst a healthy community. I consider the present mode of fumigation inefficient and out of date. Matters should be brought up to date right away, for vessels in the near future wili be from infectious zones—^iz., Panama, Far East, and Egypt, etc., and vessels arriving from or passing through these sones should be fully investigated and fumigated should they have been in these waters within a period of sir months prior to their arrival in the Doaiinion. The port health authorities, with the community of this country, have been lulled into a sense of false security, thinking that the healthy conditions existing would always exist, but may I here most earnestly appeal to tho health authorities to bestir themselves, for as to what, tho future may hold ; also appeal to the community to bestir the port health authorities. It is no avail these authorities bickering over a ca«e of life and death with the civic authorities. In my opinion, the Mayor of this city (I have Been for myself) hag done splendidly, and I for one hold out my hand in an expression of heartfelt thanks. I certainly hope that the community of this city will give him loyal backing in bringing the port health authorities to a proper knowledge as to how to deal with overseas vessels arriving here now, and in the future. lam sure the shipping companies could; stand another id or id a ton as dues (many an overseas vessel' lately has been seriously delayed) to defray the cost and upkeep of a proper quarantine staff, etc. New Zealand in the past has been the last milestone, but with the Panama Canal open, and an ever-increasing trade with the Far East, New Zealand etands now in a promising position ■as to trade, and we shall have to build dry docks, we shall hay©to build a great deal more wharves and sheds; lastly, and not least, have better port health facilites to cope with the large and various shipping of th* ve"y near future, I am, etc. ,■■••'■ PRATIQUE. let December.