THE PLAQUE IN SYDNEY

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6769, 17 March 1909, Page 6

THE PLAQUE IN SYDNEY

The occurrence of three cases of bubonic plague in the city wthn two days emphasises in a startling way the need there was for the repeated warnings of danger which the Board of Health and the municipal authorities have been issuing for a fortnight or so (says the Sydney “Telegraph”). The misfortune is that so drastic a thing as the striking down of three citizens with a loathsome and frequently . fatal disease ' should be necessary to impress, on us our duty as citizens to continually keep our house in order. Past experiences in. Sydney leave no room for doubt that perfect cleanliness is the chief essential if a community would remain practically immune from disorders of this kind. The rat must be banished, for it is the host of the plague. When all is going well with the people, a diseased rat hero and there may seem a small thing for the president of the Board of Health and the medical officer of the city to make a fuss over, as, to their credit be it said, they do, regardless of the reputations they may earn as croakers. It is when, almost as surely as night follows day, human sickness comes in. the train of those evidences of tolerated vermin and filth, that we appreciate the services of our guardians of health. Perhaps the only consolatory aspect of this latest outbreak is that it occurs in the fall, a season of the year when, as. we know from experience, certain fever germs, including the bubonic, are either most virulent, or man’s condition becomes most susceptible to their attacks. The promptitude with which the authorities have taken in hand the cleansing and fumigating of the premises known to be affected, and of ascertaining the extent to which potential infection may have spread, is deserving of notice. But even so, apart from the question of human suffering, the presence of plague in a city with the .trade ramifications_ of Sydney exacts a heavy toll in dislocation -of business, delays of shipping, and expenses of fumigation, which a little thoughtfulness and care might have obviated. If evidence that there has been a wilfnl disregard of those signs of plague, which should now be well-known to every .resident of the city, is forthcoming, it is right that prosecution and punishment should follow.