The Star. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1900. THE PLAGUE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6730, 27 February 1900, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1900. THE PLAGUE.

It is difficult to see how Australia is going to escafpe from the Bubonic plague. Up to.the."pre Se nfc time Melbourne has not been visited by the dreadful scourge but Adelaide .and Sydney have ' both been attacked by it, i n Ade . laide^ the outbreak subsided without doing much harm, but in Sydney it threatens to become serious. The first cases in the New South Wales capital were mild, and excited Httle-apprehension. Moreover, they recovered quickly, and were not followed immediately by any fresh, ones. Yesterday,, however, intelligence w as received to the- effect thafc the plague had manifested itself again, and also that one of the victuns, of the fesh; attack had died. The - recurrence. of. the plague^is serious enough m itself, but there are circumstances surTounding the second outbwatf vhich are calculated still further t 0 arouse misgivings. For if any evidence were required to prove that rats are conductors of the plague, it was provided hy-the spectacle of thousands of rodents ly ing dead oft the gydney wharves, killed, ifc is believed, by tho disease. Moreover, the human victim had previous to being stricken, been en•gaged killing rats. These facts combined completely dispose of any opposition to the ; rat theory, and from the point of view of New Zealandcrs the verification of , this idea is a very serious matter , indeed. For ifc goes, to prove that this colony is no safer than New South Wales from the plague. A large ' number of' the rats which died in Sydney were found lying on the wharves belonging to the Union Meamship; Company and Messrs Huddart, Parker and Co., the points .of departure of .the various steamers trading between Sydney and ' New Zealand. It is not unlikely that some of the plague-infected animals may have found their way oh board the intercolonial liners, and, provided they aro still alive, are carrying the epidemic a step nearer our coasts. It does not follow, of course, that they will .reach'this colony alive', and thdt if they do they will disseminate the- disease. But the knowledge that such a simple method of conveying the 1 plague exisls is not reassuring. It should certainly rouse the New Zealand health authorities to a sense of the danger, and stimulate them to employ every precaution they can. devise to' prevent the plague gaining a foothold here. Happily the large cities of New Zealand afford a smaller field than Sydney for the spread of contagion. Ab the same time, ' they are not entirely free from dirt and filth, and the sooner that any defects in sanitation, thafc are detected are remedied the greater will -be our chance of resisting the invasion of the pLigue.