CHRISTCHURCH MAN'S STORY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XL, Issue 13170, 2 September 1913, Page 5

CHRISTCHURCH MAN'S STORY

v (Special to Herald.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day

A Christchurch man" with interests north of Auckland, who has recently! been visiting tho infected districts, m- j forms tho News that the freedom with which • convalescents travel about within the district is a most disquieting feature to the uninfected, as^clothing and personal belongings must carry infection, j Regarding the lymph, he himself was j vaccinated three times before it took, and ' he says the failure of the lymph to "take" m so large a number of cases is not only condemnatory of the quality of the lymph supplied, but has done •harm m shaking faith m vaccination m the infected districts. Since' his return from the North the ChristcKbrch man has received a letter . from a friend who has been visiting the Mangakahia Valley.. He writes : "The smallpox is very* bad up there, aindi'l tried to avoid it", as mucji as possible. I burnt , tho clothes I wore, and had a good bath on my return, but it is ' impossible to go far without meeting someone with it. I had to go anto a store* to get a" wire-- where the proprietor was just recovering."' His face and hands were covered with spots, although healed up a good bit. He was serving out biscuits' and things t6 anybody who came m. Such a place ought to . have been shut up by the health authorities, I think, as the convalescent handles clothes, telegraVns, letters — everything m fact. I am glad I did not stay longer*! m the place. I bolted as soon as I could get hold of the wire. I must have seen a dozen Maori's riding on the road with spots on them. It is no wonder it has spread so, 7 as no one seems to be there to keep the convalescents, frpm travelling about the road. I Avas very thankful that I had been Vaccinated. The disease has gone through whole settlements of Maoris up there, and the -only ones that have escaped are the few who have been vaccinated.* In one settlement the only Maori who did. not get it was an old man who had been vaccinated about 30 years ago.'"