A TRAINER AND HIS HORSES QUARANTINED.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9100, 19 March 1901, Page 3

A TRAINER AND HIS HORSES QUARANTINED.

MELBOURNE, March 19. Foulsham and the trainers living in the house where the smallpox patient was found have been quarantined, with an acre, of ground' adjoining, in order to get over the difficulty of training the horses. The alarming outbreak of smallpox in Glasgow is considered by the Mayor (Dr Graham), said the Sydney Daily Telegraph of one-day last week, tjo be a serious matter for Sydney, notwithstanding its distance from us. Speaking to press representatives, 'he said that; his own impression was that if, by any chance, the disease was introduced to this city, it would be much more serious in its results than plague. One of the reasons he advanced for this statement was the fact that to his mind the people of- New South Wales—and all the States, for that matter —had been singularly careless with regard to its probable introduction. Fortunately, the long over-sea journey was something of a combatting influence, and even upon the arrival of a vessel with it on board, the fact that it had to be signalled at the heads gave the authorities a chance of grappling with it immediately, ' \ Any scientific man who understood the character of the disease could not. help seeing the danger which might at any time come to us. Smallpox was a form of infectious disease which was harder 'to check than plague, because it depended wholly upon tne sanitation of the city once it got a foothold. Plague was spread principally through the agency of rats. When the rodents were disposed of, the plague soon worked itself out But in the case of smallpox it waa different. Any atmosphere which hap pened to be vitiated in any way bj decomposing matter, any spot where there was a bad odor. from drains or where there was a want of ventilation and light, would afford a good breedingground for the smallpox poison. One safeguard against its ravages waa that of simple vaccination. That had stood the test of time, and had disarmed all criticism, "and I regret to sav," added the Mayor, in conclusion* "that this protection against any of the most dangerous diseases has not been availed of by the citizens of Sydney tp the extent it should have been."