(From Our Own Correspondent.)

Otago Witness, Issue 2603, 3 February 1904, Page 46

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

CHRISTCHURCH, January 28. The most alarming lumours of the dirpful results of vaccination in the case of persons •who were inoculate! during the recent smallpox outbreak continue to fill the air. In some instances the reports have been accompanied by the greatest circumstan■fciality as to identity and ills. A complete investigation of the rumours, however, shows that the worst of them are absolutely false and unfounded, and the remainder hopelessly exaggerated. The leport was current all over the city this morning that a your.g man living in Gloucester street, whose namo was freely mentioned, had been so affected by blood poisoning as thp rc.-ult of vaccination that it had been decided to amputate his arm. On inquiry it was ascertained that the rumour was entirely false, and the family of which the young man is a member did not know how it could have arisen. JPeople had been ringing them up all d&y to find out if it was true. It was also Btated that another gentleman, who was mentioned by name, had b"eon inoculated by a public vaccinator, with the result that his arm was black all over, and that at the publio hospital, to whioh he went for relief, |ie was sent back to the doctor who had performed the operation. The public vaccinator in question states that he inoculated ihe man on Sunday week, and he returned last Monday or Tuesday to have his arm inspected. The arm was then all right, and the young man had not com© back since. The following refutations were obtained from public vaccinators. One medical man, who stated that he had performed close on 1500 inoculations during the past few weeks, said that h& had not inspected any very bad arms. A few were a little inBamed and sore, but that was frequently the A'esult of working them too much, and the I,neasines3 lasted only for a day or two. Most of the operations had resulted splendidly. There were a few arms which one would not quite care to chop wood with, but he had not seen »ny serious effects. A medical man wibh from 800 to 900 inoculations to his credit, of which a large proportion had since been inspected, reported to the came effect. Another stated that he had inoculated from 2000 to 3000 persons, and though two arms were bad enough for him to advise that they should be put in slings, lie did not see one casse where any other treatment was required than rest. Most of tha arms were very good. Out of 1700 cases vaccinated, another doctor had met with no instance of seriously bad arms, though some were considerably inflamed. "Blood poisoning? Oh, no!" One public vaccinator said that out of l? 00 vacci-jaat-cd a few had complained of feeling rather unwell, but that was all. Said another, V Some of the arms which I have inspected were moderately bad, but thero has been nothing serious. The rumours are a pack of nonsense." A doctor with 2000 vaccinaJions to his name stated that about 6DO had returned for inspection, and the rest were streaming in. He had had many complaints of ordinary indisposition, but not one Berioua development. Certainly thtre was Bo blood-poisoning out of the 1000 arms inoculated. Another doctor said that he had leen no worse effects than innarumat'on-

"l have vaccinated 1725 people, of whom 1100 ha-\e returned. " A medical man stated: "There were some cases of slight inflammation as far as the elbow, and two or three instances oi inflammation below the elbcw, but there was not one case which could be called really bad. A mother who called m-e in last night to look at her child said that it was black and swollen all down the leg and side. I found the child a little j delirious and feverish, whjch is sometimes a ' result in the ea<-e of infant?, £>nd that was all. The rest was its mother's fancy." WELLINGTON, January 29. Though large numbers of people were vaccinated here during the prevalience of the smallpox outbreak in Chnstchurch the rush for vaccination has now set in in real earnest. Last evening and again to-day meet of the Wellington doctors have been having a very busy time. This morning the rush of candidates at the Health Department was so great that the small space j available was found to be insufficient, and < an upstairs room in the Museum building adjoining was set apart for the purpose. Medical men have been detailed to go through- all the closely-congested parts of the city and make a house-to-house visit } for vaccinating purposes, and to report on their condition. Though it is generally recognised that it is now a matter of duty for every citizen to submit to vaccination there are still a few anti-vacciniets who object. One such writes in this evening's paper objecting to the vaccination of school , children without the authority of parents ■ as an outrage. j

The Union Steam Ship Company has received tho following cable message from its Melbourne manager: — "Owing to smallpox m Wellington, no passengers from New Zealand ran land at Melbourne unless successfully vaccinated within two years, vaccination being at least 15 days old. Other passengers muet go into quarantine until 15 days have elapsed since they were vaccinated, or if they axe not vaccinated then they will be quarantine for 15 days from arrival."