HEALTH PRECAUTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19557, 9 February 1927, Page 12

HEALTH PRECAUTIONS.

The delay in the granting of pratique to the lonic on her arrival at Auckland yesterday was remarkable for two curious circumstances. The lack of any intimation to the Health Department before the vessel's arrival that exceptional conditions had occurred during the voyage seems to require official explanation. Shipping companies must be fully aware of the necessity for stringent quarantine precautions in respect of all overseas vessels, and should have realised that by instructing their masters to report any unusual circumstances by wireless they would assist the health authorities and minimise the inconvenience to passengers by the delay on arrival. That is perhaps only a matter for arrangement between the Department of Health and the shipowners. The public is more concerned with the actual" proceedings when the history of the lonic's voyage was discovered. Appropriate action was taken by the local officials, but the final decision whether the vessel should be passed was given by the head office in Wellington. On this occasion, it was probably no more than a formal endorsement of the local officer's recommendation, But there is obviously an intrinsic weakness in the department's stipulation that any doubtful quarantine questions must be referred to Wellington. That was only too plainly demonstrated eight years ago, when the Niagara arrived with a severe epidemic of influenza among her company to become " a substantial factor in the introduction" of the terrible devastation of 1918. Warning was given by the master of the Niagara in a wireless message, but, as the commission's inquiries categorically proved, the fateful decision that the ship might be cleared was issued from Wellington on no better evidence than the answers to two direct questions—neither of which referred to the ominous report from the Niagara's master. That experience should have warned the department against the dangers of reserving for its head office the decisive judgment upon circumstances of which it could obtain only imperfect knowledge and have led it to adopt the greater safeguard of placing the full responsibility upon its local officers and supporting their actions with all its authority. If there is a risk of influenza being j introduced from overseas, the i danger cannot be averted unless the | health authorities at every port are | not only vigilant but also armed with | full powers to act upon their own j judgment.