WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Marlborough Express, Volume LIII, Issue 195, 20 August 1919, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC.

THE SAMOAN TRAGEDY

(Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON", Aug. 18. One of the most shocking, tragedies in connection with the .«nflii.en:s;i epidenuo was the introduction of the scourge into Samoa, by which 8500 •deatlis in a population cA ahont 38,000 wer.3 .occasioned: and ir.any sufferers wholly or partially incapacitated. According to the report, of the Royal Commission, the whole of the evidence goes to prove that the disease wius introduced into the islands by the Talune on November 7, 191S, and that there was gross negligence or incapacity or both on the part of those in authority. Though the steamer was put into quarantine at Suva on November ••{• "alongside the wharf," she was permitted to unload her cargo with Fijian labn|r, ami "in accordance witb custom" to take about ninety natives on board to load) and dis-

charge cargo.on the round trip of 12 days.

SPREADING THE' DISEASE. The steamer, reached Apia on

November 7, and was again quarantined, six of the passengers having contracted influenza, several members

of the crew being unwell,, and a. number of Fijian laborers sick. No refei--•enee to nil this wa& made in tihe 'officlial lo.gi; as required by law, and the port health officer made the usual perfunctory examination of the passengers and crow, ordering some of them imio hospital amd) advising evthors to take care of themselves. Thus the virulent disease was now If a/inly introduced into the islands. Shortly aftor\va,rds the American Consul at Pago Pago sent a wireless messago to Colonel Loga,n offering help and stating that any vessel coming from Apia would have to undergo fivo id'ays' absolute, quarantine, and t)hat during that time no mail or cargo could be loaded or discharged. Colonel Logan's angry retort to this was to cut-off wireless communication with his American neighbor. LOCAL INtfIGNATffON". .Needless to say, there Is much re>gret and indignaticiii here at what has occurred. The members of the Commission, while recognising the great gravity of the facts,, say all that can be said by way of excusing Ihe responsible officials. . "In reading thi^: report," they state in. their concluding paragraph, "it must be borne in miiid that the Dominion, during tho period under review, was absorbed and had her whole attention focused on the influenza epidemic in Xe;v Zealand, and furcilier, that it is easy to criticise, in the light of after events, tho conduct of individuals in a. time of extreme distress." The general opinion lVero is that' the addendum is vveaJc and illogical, and that no excuse can be made for the officials who have disgraced New Zealand administration in the e\*es of the whole world. H.M.S. NEW ZEALAM>. Speaking at a gathering of the Savage Club en nighti, SirJoseph -Ward -referred with some warmth to the determination of the Mayor of 'Wellington to proclaim no half-holiday in honor of the arrival of H.M.S.'New Zealand and Admiral Jollicoe. The British Navy/ ho said, had kept' watch and ward over the interests of the whole Empire during the war, and the New Zealand was the representative of its might. and! Admiral Jellicoe of the courage and genius by which it was diirccttcd. He could rot understand the Mayor's failure to recognise the importance.of iho occasion. The Mayor, when seen on the matter this morning, said' tjhair the half-holiday Sir Joseph Ward cfeniands wquld "cost th© City Council, with its largely extended trading and commercial activities, between £300 and £400, and he thought the eleven days' hospitality the citizens were extending to the Admiral and his officers andi.nxen would fully meet the requirements of the occasion.