THE BUBONIC PLAGUE

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4303, 12 March 1901, Page 5

THE BUBONIC PLAGUE

' ANOTHER QUEENSLAND CASE. BRISBANE, March 11. Another plague case has’ been reported here, the victim being a young woman residing at Redhill. ; THE CAPETOWN OUTBREAK. (Received March 12, 0.22 a.m.) LONDON, March 11. ( There is a total of 102 cases of plague at Capetown. Twenty-two deaths have occurred. THE DISEASE AT SAN FRANCISCO. (Received March 11, 10.49 p.m.) NEW YORK, March 11. A committee of experts has reported that the bubonic plague has a serious hold at San Francisco.

CHRISTCHURCH, March 11. Dr Symes, the Health Officer for Canterbury, has written to the Lyttelton Borough Council, asking it to continue poisoning rats on the wharves and to keep a number of ferrets for the destruction of rats. Dr Symes also asked the Christchurch City Council to resume the system of payment for dead rats.

Adelaide and Perth have been declared infected ports. The restriction, however, will be hardly noticeable in this colony, as these ports are never, except in the case of a solitary sailing vessel, the final port of departure for New Zealand bound vessels.

Four inspectors, employed by the City Council, are making a house-to-hofuee visitation in Wellington for the purpose of having any nuisances which may exist removed. The Plague Hospital is furnished and ready for occupation in ca© of emergency. The Minister of Health (Hon J. G. Ward) is taking a special interest in preventive measures in connection with the “plague scare.” Although there is a large quantity of plague serum in the colony, 2000 additional doses have been cabled for. A number of machines of a new pattern for disinfecting steamers have been sent for to Australia.

Hie Chief Health Officer (Dr Mason) is ■ forwarding the following formal intimation to.the chairman of each Colmtv and Borough Council in the co’ony:— “In view or the recrudescence of plague in Australia and at the Cape, Xam directed by the Hon the Minister of Public Health to draw your attention to the extreme importance of at once taking steps to place your district in a thorough sanitary condition. As was pointed out some months ago, rodents—namely, rats and mice—are among ' the principal agents by which plague is propagated between one country and another. In view of this, I would ask your Council to enter upon a crusade against all such animals. _ General insanitary conditions, while not likely to produce any specific disease Such as plague, tend to militate greatly against the general wellbeing of a population, and thus in a measure predispose individuals to the taking of an infectious disease- I would ask your Council, therefore, to do everything that lies in its power to remove any insanitary conditions which may exist. At a time such as this, it behoves every one, .both public and private, to lend their help in the keeping out of such a dreadful scourge as plague. I should be glad to learn what steps your Council has .taken with respect to this most important matter.”