The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 930, 9 April 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 1879.

Thk business- transacted at to-day* mwtin,' of the Oiunaru Hospital tomnuttee was practical, but it was not halt so practicalm* it should have been, if the amount or pr:iutioatn«9» is to be gauged by much speakin* The Committee na» taken pre caution.; to present the advent of additional fever patients from Watmate. by rvptmwntimt the exact potttaoft of matters to fou* Waimate County Councilors, who fortunately happened to W f t)ama f! just when they were muted, ana «T Uhil!* very gpo«& a* ftf **j£ #>«?> *"* ~ l! doe* no* m br »nottgfe- 4*eww » hew ab«»d:y» mm! «i«ar»ntimng «»«»'« «i itaalf will not p«*«n* rt fsom Bpyeontag.

We- have the «ety best authority f«>r| iwtwrttfii* that the disease £* "J a most, contt«f«Bi» natttrw; ami yet, although the Committee were told that only the [inert of the bed opoti which Constable Crm&E&T died had been destroyed, and thae tfw mattrea* and blankets had ; been laid out to air. we preactroe, to again tit thvta for fcospital toe, they listen to th* »an«aac*ffi«a& without uttering a : wo«E cif osmswafc tl»r<tapon. Tito medical •officer of th* Oarnaro Hospital may deem |thi»i«ffiei«Bt, feat if he does, its opinion does (tot coincide with those of other able menof his profession. Bwt. if Dr. Wait Chinks that the mattress and blankets nf the bed upon which a, ty-ph-id fever patient: has died art> innoxious, how is it that to-day, in. replying to a he stated that '" the serrrts of the dtsca.iv ! are contained in the secretions >'< i the jbody, which may become attached to the ; •ctothes of the patients, and where they [are dirty--as was the- ease with some of ' those who have come- here—the danger ii» j the grea-test." There can he fi» doubt that this is true.. In writing of the infectiousness of the disease, fW&lur.R says :— ,- I j was catted to. a young man of 20, who. had j arrived (torn Paris. 'He Had all the symp- | turns of typhoid fever. Companions who. came to see him were-, after hint, my first patients. Sulwecptently hi* father,brothers : tt,rtd two sisters were successively struck down by the, disease. So long as field ■ work kept the inhabitants away front the [dwellings, the fever remained limited t» a small number of individuals, but when ! harvest was. over, and the people remained :(jrfhstantty with the sick, a cereal infection ■of the community took ptace-, and, at one time, among the 'M2 inhabitants, there .were EbO cases." But we need not go- : beyond this town for evidences of the infectious nature of _ typhoid. Several years ago it was rife here. It commenced in unite a simple manner, but there are those here who. will ! never forget how it ended. There can bo no burkrng the fact that such a disease as typhoid can only W eradicated by the exercise of those precautious which are- invariably used oft such occasions ius the present by wise communities searching out and reporting: cases ; tinttiediate isolation of cases a* they occur, and of those that are brought into contact with them; the proper disposal of excretion s *, clothing, and bedding of patients r and the prohibition of children of inflicted families front going to school. i lave our Board of Health—for the Municipal Conned has been constituted a Board of Health—adopted any audi Pleasures as these.'" So. tar _we are fortunate l but we would be still m»re fortunate if they would act in such emergencies as the present. The convener* of the Health Committee appointed by the Municipal Council, it appears- front a statement made he Mr. : iViUtN.r««»t>, wi« desired by hint to call a meeting to consider what should be taken to. arrest the spread of the. dtsoa-sc Cp to the present time not a move has been made by that gentleman in the desired direction. ..fudging from the apathy aft present shown, typhoid fever might be running riot amongst >w: it might exist in almost every other house, and the people from such houses, having become contaminated by being brought irtt'- ontact with those attacked, migttt spread the disease until the rowrt was turned into an hospital, and all men s.ttd women Into nurses. Has it ever struct, the Health Committee that children in wlv-ise abodes typhoid exists may be attending our school's, and thus endangering the health and fives of their associates ?" Have they though* anything ab-utt the patient that was lying in a room irv a hotel in the middle of ottr town, and who is now, we believe, remanded to- the Hospital. What has been done with the bedding, &c., of the foor.t in fehtclt he was plawt. We ;u -e, ~f c.iitrs,:, only putting hypothetical cases, but they are nevertheless more than possibilities. Then there is the necessity fur preventing the iuHitx of more patients from oucst'te sources. Have they., by exercise of- tUe power vested in them, prohibited trie deportation into this community _t;t typhoid stricken p.»t tents front Watmate ? The importation .if diseased cattle is prohibited, and why should not even greater wwe be taken to prevent theitvrtux of human! beings sutFering from contaiTJons diseases > They ~Ttoitld also- have represented to ffovernnvnt the ncct'Ssity foc mafsing special arrangements for the transportation of thoso patients that must be- conveyed by rait. Sow we v.ill s.ty something about the management t»t the

■ -Hospital.' The pn.tnpt.tr.ii.tP of thy CWiuitttew in seuwcin.if Stiu services of special 1 tmeses i* admirable, i'-nt we are not ijtiite satisfied that everything elat? in connection with the- present emergency i» as satisfactory as crniH be wished. We stated last night that Constable l>»y>v\s had been rei|ire*ted to occupy the bed npotv whtuh Constidde Cnritr.ETa- died. ami ive had the best authority for ntafctti". the statement, although the Medical Superintendent and the Warder asw that it i» tnivrtt'i;?. We would far ra'hei be iiigurreut than correct upon the. p<>mt, for to fiu correct wiiiU mean a senonreflection upon the management of tlu Hospital Hut we F>r. W -<«'.- idea of sifting the tnith.of such matters. |re v at to-day's nieetrn:.', enunciated tin neevdiar tfcoovy that we should tut; f"t information upon such matters from tin ottiuoff* of the institution. The rfeetm ; may be correct, but me always though! that people eawght m. fifjMnt* >M:rb,\&»\ not care about criminating themselves.