SMALLPOX AND THE CHARLES WORSLEY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 6091, 18 August 1881, Page 4

SMALLPOX AND THE CHARLES WORSLEY.

StK,—lt has several times been thrown in my teeth" that I have introduced smallpox into NewZeaand. Iti a report of tho manner in.which this Insidious. dla«; ease was introduced ou board the Charley Worsley, which appeared some time ago in tho Witness,.was correct, I might father the disease in New Zealand. . As it is, 1 decline the honour. •'■*■■ 7--'- ■*-;;■ ;.. i

In self-defence I will state a few facts, of which 1' have proof at, hand, and which I trust you will publish before the departure of tho ship. , -■ We left the East India Docks, and when wo reached Woolwich 1 was told off to attend a seaman named Gale, then suffering from smallpox." 'We proceeded to Gravesend, and there shipped 500 tons of pig-ifom 1 was all this time attending this man sick with tha smallpox. Whether it was the duty:of the captain.to land this man or not, 1 cannot Bay.;' the results,, howevor, I can describe, ... .

Wo had not been -long at sei when th* ' carpenter caught the infection. I was ' then teld.off to attend him. These* men recovered, and 1 returned to my outies. Three other seamen ! then took it,, but I did not attend upon them. **.-.."■■■ Up to this time the siok were not ssparated: from th*. hale. I was tho next to succumb, and I-wasimm***..;*-diately quarantined, and left to my 'own resources. No man was told off to attend upon me, and throughout my illness I was fed upon salt bcof and water. * \ '■'■' took erysipelas, aud, my head became the size of st * ten-gallon iron pot. About this time the mate wa»*') brought iv and,laid in a bunk alongside of me. .. Poor . .- follow, ho had a wife and family in the Old Country, .".-'7, and this seemed to bo' his whole and sole trouble". . I was at this time convalescent,; and "as hungry '",' as a wolf. It certainly riled 'me to. Eec'1 th* ' ''* mate fed on chicken (that is, ship's roosters), whilst 1' *•:: had to swallow salt junk ; but the miseries of my unfortunate mate actually overcame lay hunger.-. My...... companion iv misery at last became: so bad that, a 7* ~ spoon had to be placed in his mouth to prevent his, 7 eating his lips off. Iv this state. did my . mat* "' passawny. He was Btill limp wncicuewis sewnup ~.'. in oanym and consigned to the deep, and I had to - witness ali this aud brace my nerves for fresh water * i (tank) and salt beef. I myself am disfigured for life, .. although Bcarcely 22 years of age.. I have- no nails on uiy hands or feet, all my hair has fallen off, and all ~ this through—what ? Incapacity and ignorance.' Kindness ot a rough sort I did receive, but not from my superiors. :A Tasmanian native,who was working his passage out to his home }n Otago, used to steal out of his watch to brighten me UP, and thosa rough visits were like angels' wings wafting sweet im* censo to my fevered'brain. And although his coin/ forts wore here and there interspersed with big Dp,, , . tho sounds were welcome in my solitary confinement.1 I may be the only native wha has taken but a trip - to the Old Coi ntry and come out branded with an *;.:* indelible sign, but I certainly havo not introduced It , ; here. * ...,-■:..-,..,,, I came out, Mr Editor, as an ordinary seaman, il'"■ being my first trip. I am., Colonial bom.and, 7, bred, andl should not wishthe imputation put upon -' '- me of having brought such a "disease to mynativ* = land. * - - c - Moy I ask whether it was tho captain's duty to land_ ~ this Bmallpox patient, Gale,, at Gravesend and havo *, - the ship fumigated? Thero are.but two' conclusions:. A h* must have be«n very ignorant or very callous. * Th*' answer to the Health Officer ln entering:* the harbour was, " Chickenpox on board I"—lam,&c., :*-:.:. .. , . ■ i 1 " Jomr Bacok.. ,*:-. ii Hastings, August 10th. ... ;.-,, . * t - IThough thi» letter was not received by us till aftef:*.:7 the departure of the Charles Worsley, we think It right * to give it insertion.—Kd. 0. D. T.] .. ' V..A . THE ANTI-SEMITIC CRUSADE. * .;•_ * ; ■; TO Till BDtTOE.". ■* * •:...'*:.; *: Sin,—Perhaps, after all, Shakespeare was•wrong.-.' :- There may bo "something in aname"o( more signl-' - * fjcance than superficially appears. .There may,.,ia fact, ho some affinity between names and polour.: I have beon particularly interested (h ybtjr leader.of yesterday, and Mr Brown's letter, in your columns o. to-day. The latter has fairly startled me by the faci' , that the writer classes the Colonial movement against •'* the brown-Bkinned Chinese under the heading of an i.:

" Anti-Semitic Crusade," and then closes by informing ;; ,-. us that "yellow agony "is an "anti-Semitic.watch- - word." Can it possibly be, Sir, that the Chinese aro. ' of the Semitic race? Perhaps Mr Brown regards them ."* as the outcast kingdom of Israel, or the- lost ten1 A''tribes. Truly tho revelations of recent decades ar* '-- ,j wonderful 1 tyhat will our friends.of Judah think of -:™i this fraternity 1

Tho object, however, of Mr Brown's letter was not to .-,. prove the racial connection of the two peoples, hut to ■"-. show that we, who hiamo tho Germans for their cnielty to tho Jews, are sheep of quite as.dark*** colour as they-u as evinced by our dislike of Chinese n'-ighbouni. That he entirely failod to establish ths smallest resemblance to a parallel is clear. Are the habits and customs ol tho Chinese for a momont to , be compared with thoso of the Jews 7 It is impossible. We may contrast, but cannot compare the two peoples. They almoßt form a complete antithesis to. each other. Thero is not a people of nobler ancestry than the Jews, nor one whose history, is of deepet * interest to the world. As to physique, they htjTß no superiors. They have competitors in intelligence;*, but though few in number compared with the people among whom they live, they aro not outstripptd. Who ro they earn their wealth, there they make tbeir homo; and in'that country, if permitted, they under-. take a duo proportion of State dutiet* and response bilities. They aro oducated, temperate, well-behaved, , orderly citizens; a most desirable class of colonists, and by no means objectionable neighbours. Of c'ource they arc a class, a sect, amongst us, and are bound to " * have sympathies particularly their own, ns wo all have, ', moro or less.

On tho other hand, the Chinese are not so. Their history is iv oblivion, and is only of Interest to humanity as a curiosity. In stature and constitution they aro of a most inferior stamp. They are ah unintelligent race. They are not free men, being generally the serfs of some wealthy " boss," to whom they aro doomed to give years of dreary labour for the' privilego of being owned by him, and conveyed wherever ho requires them to further his interests. Those of them who do not earn wealth are worse than nonentities to the Colony, for they take no intorost ia the place, and only reside until they c*ui carry away a large capital from tbe country; as a people they contribute but an infinitesimal portion of the. revcmio—unless we take into account the enormous quantity of brmdv thov consume. With a few minor exceptions, they "are most Illiterate. They are not temperate, although not oft;n incarcerated for drunkenness ; and they contribute their full proportion to onr criminal population- criminals of the moro obnoxious class. As neighbours, there are few who esteem thorn, and many who, with good reason, object to them. Theirs is a race which seems to'have no affinity with ours, and only the lowost ot our women take up with them—pilv that even they should.. Let gentlemen who so vehemently argue for the full enfranchisement .of the Chmoso amongst usaskhoW they would relish a Chinese vegetable-hawker as a relation by marriage,'say as a brother-in-law, or even a son-in-law. Perhaps such a consideration would change their opinions.—l am, So., Robert Fair. August 17th. ai | - ||||

All tha prinoi ?*1 Hghtlionaea on the French coast will a.iou be lighted by eleotriciti', and p-ovidoi with powerful "team trumpets for fo < signals, at a cost of £320,000. : General Phra, first ounuoh of the King-of Rain, has arrived in Paris. When at ho.r,e be rules over 350 young ladies in the royal, harems, hi? aid«la tho service being females. A bill requiring employers to provide seats for the women in their employ for rest at reasonable periods, haa"p»s-:ed both Houaos of tho Now York Legislature unanimously. Exporlmeuts have booh made on animals with pure hydrocyanic acid by M. Brame, a French ohemist. The bodies of those killed with it rcmainad nu&ffeoted by decomposition for about a month.

The Hey O. H. Spurgoon has, itis understood, been at last prevailed upon to seek a change of scene, ar.d will take a trip up_ the Nile. Mr .--purgeon haa suffered much cf lato from rheumatism. ■-*•■-'* .' ",' Dr Phene, of rdinburgh, states that, , amongst the benefiti: to bo, derived from planting troos ia,joiiies"-is ihe relict to the i ioptio nerve through tho eye resting on ob> j ota of a green c;ilour. ' .'. ' ■ ■ -...,.