INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC.
ACTION OF WATERSIDERS
(Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, last night,
Influenza on the Niagara has been rapidly increasing and nine more cases were -"landed yesterday. To-day four more were taken ashore, making thirtynine cases m all. > t Major Pettit states that the condition of the patients is . satisfactory. It is understood that the passengers arc being landed from the Niagara this afternoon. They will he 'quartered at the quarantine station. A deputation representing thirty-one trade unions waited on. the Acting-Prime Minister, urging that* stricter quarantine preeaiitions should be instituted, and also that adequate provision be made at Motuihi or some other island for healthy passengers ' : on vessels m quarantine. Mr. ' M. J. Savage explained •to the Minister tliat the deputation represented thirty-one trade onions m Auckland and Labor generally.' They' had been given to understand that the' Niagara would berth on Sunday night after, going through quarantine for a period of sixty hours. The experience m Australia had shown that sixty hours* "\vere insufficient. They asked-, therefore, that the. period be restricted to seven days at least. They were also of # the opinion that passengers on tho eliip should be considered, and for that reafjon they urged i that proper accommodation be made on j Motuihi or some other island for healthy j passengers on vessels- in quarantine. In their opinion it was not right to keep passengers crowded together on the ship while she was m quarantine. Every precaution should be taken to safeguard the whole community *md passengers. It was no good indemnifying the waterside workers for any infection they might incur m working a vessel while the whole community was lijid open to danger of infection. A Sir James Allen expiiessed his entire sympathy with the anxiety of tho deputation and the people [hi Auckland fa avoid anything that might lead to a recurrence, of the epidemic. He coulu assure them that whatever the Minister for Public Health and* his officers of the department could d<s to relieve public anxiety would, he ddne. He had not had direct communicatidh with the Minister about the period ', of quarantine, but he understood thai sixty hours was only a tentative arrangement, and if it were found to he inadequate he was sure it would be extended even to the length of seven days, ifinecessary. They must understand that- sixty hours' quarantine was not to be talcen as final. So far as the accommodation was concerned he was bound tw admit that the buildings on the quarantine island conld not possibly accommodate one thousand passengers "or troops, but. he questioned whether it was necessarY to erect permanent accommodation por so- large a number. The huildingV accommodation could always be supplemented by£ canvas, and m his opinioh canvas was healthier and better to live under than some ef the buildings tfce people lived m. .-',*.
A member of the Reputation expressed the opinion that the Niagara ought to be thoroughly |well fumigated, as it seemed to him thra she was nothing but a "floating iniifiibator" at the present time. .A Sir James Allen : I ddn't presume the Niagara is an incubator.> She is bringing m the disease from quite a different source' this time. No matter what regulations are enforced and wliat precautions are taken it does not seem to keep the disease out. However, I am- not sayint? that we should not . take every possible step to provide against it, and I will add my own representations to yours m communicating with, the Minister of Health on the subject. WELLINGTON, last night. A steward on the Manuka who was sick, and had a somewhat high temperature, was taken to tne hospital on Friday for obseryat'on. The ' watersiders engaged m discharging the vessel's cargo, learned of the matter on Saturday afternoon and immediately stopped jvork. Tiie condition of ~|ihe steward is unchanged.- V' . . •-'.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PBH19190407.2.64
Bibliographic details
Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14880, 7 April 1919, Page 7
Word Count
641INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC. Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14880, 7 April 1919, Page 7
Using This Item
The Gisborne Herald Company is the copyright owner for the Poverty Bay Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of the Gisborne Herald Company. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.