PLAGUE PRECAUTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18218, 11 October 1922, Page 10

PLAGUE PRECAUTIONS.

STILL BEING ENFORCED. THE DANGER PERIOD. [*T TXLIO.BAPH.—SJPECIAL BIIOBTEB.] WELLINGTON. Tuesday. Tho Minister for Health, Hon. C. JParr, said in the House to-day that from ; his statement that, the taking of the temperatures of steamer passengers was to be discontinued it had been incorrectly inferred by some that all precautions against the entry of plague into the country •were being relaxed- He wished it to bo understood that the Health Department was not omitting all the precautions. Ships coming from Sydnsy to New Zealand -were still to be fumigated. All cargo carried in them would, be inspected by officers, -who had to be satisfied that it was put np in rat-proof packages- The ship would still be fended off 4ft. from the wharf and the lines to the shore tarred: and equipped with discs. These precautions, in the opinion of the department, would be necessary for another three or four months at least. Local bodies must continue to help the department. In some ports rat killing was still going on, while in others there was some slackening off. In Auckland last month 525 rata had been taken and examined, while in Wellington 75 had been examined. No plague had been found in any of the rate. ~ . Mr. Parr said he was glad to notice that there wsts to be a health campaign in Wellington this week. He trusted that sanitation would come in for due attention; The plague had made its appear- ' ance in Australia about this time last year, so that the present wa« a time of some danger.