SOLDIERS DISEMBARKED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17038, 20 December 1918, Page 5

SOLDIERS DISEMBARKED

RELEASE FROM QUARANTINE

DRAFT LANDS AT WELLINGTON.

[BT telegraph.— association-]

WELLINGTON, Thursday.

The troopship carrying draft No. 200 was released from quarantine in time to enable Base Records staff to commence tho demobilising process at seven o'clock this morning.

1 Thero were threo hospital cases, three cot cases and five V.D. cases on board. With these exceptions the draft was passed fit and given Christmas leave. The majority of the men belong to Wellington and Hawke's Bay. There are 60 officers and men and throe nurses for Auckland, but the bulk of the Auckland men returning this month will arrive on December 24.

Tho draft was landed this afternoon,

! Further information shows that there were 14 cases of doubtful influenza during the voyage- The men had been inoculated against influenza before ombarking. When i the steamer arrived thero was only one I mild case, and it was doubtful if it was influenza. It was certainly not of the 'virulent type recently experienced hero.

STATEMENT BY DR. VAUNTINE.

ACTION OF HEALTH DEPARTMENT,

[BY TELEGRAM.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON, Thursday.

Speaking with reference to the arrival of the troopship in the stream, and the action subsequently taken by the Public Health Department with the view of minimising tho risk of any infectious disease being brought into the Dominion by an oversets vessel, Dr. Valentino, Crief Health Officer, stated that there was no truth in the statement published in Thursday morning's papers that a dozen soldiers on the vessel were suffering from infectious disease and that it was on that account that tho Defence authorities were not able to carry out tho necessary procedure prior to disembarking the men. Dr. Valentine mentioned that the Health Department was not taking any risks whiih might lead to a recrudescence of the epidemic and when the port health officer found that there was a suspicious case of influenza on board he promptly reported the matter to tho district health officer, and at the same time to Dr. Valintine himself. The result was that both Dr. Watt and Dr. Valintine accompanied the port health officer out to a visit of inspection of the vessel, and, owing to the suspiqious nature of the case on board, it was considered desirable to prevent the Defence Department from carrying out its work until a definite decision bad been arrived at. To have allowed the officers of the Defenco Department on board tho vessel under the circumstances might have been attended by dire results. On arrival at the vessel, steps were iumediatolv taken to have the temperatures of aft suspicious cases on board registered, and in only one instance, found by tho port health officer, was there reason to suppose that there was a case of influenza among the. 800 soldiers on board, in addition to the ship's personnel. As soon as tho examination was completed, tho medical officers returned to town and arranged for the suspicious case to bo admitted to the general hospital for observation purposes. Instructions were then given for tho vessel to be cleared, and intimation was sent to tho Defence Department that it could commence its work in the morn, ing. This was accordingly done, and at seven o'clock the necessary staff for carrying out the boarding of the men went off in the Government steamer Janie Seddon. This work was not completed until close on -two o'clock this \afterooon, and the vessel was berthed, at Itho Glasgow Wharf three-quarters of an hour later. Dr. Valintine added that it would be reassuring for the public to know that as the result of the medical boarding carried out by tho Defence medical officers, not a single suspicious case had been found. Instead of two medical officers who usually carried out the work there were five on this occasion, thus enabling greater attention to bo given to each individual case. Every soldier on board the vessel was required to pass before the doctors, and not one single man complained about being unwell except as reI gards his war disability.