HEALTH RESTRICTIONS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 230, 29 September 1931, Page 7

HEALTH RESTRICTIONS

TOFUA’S ISLAND CRUISE. ONLY BRIEF STAY AT APIA [ Per Press Association. ] AUCKLAND, Sept. 28. On arrival from Fiji, Tonga and {Samoa to-day, the island steamer Tofua reported that when the vessel arrived at >Suva the health authorities placed the ship under partial quarantine because it was believed that a severe form of influenza was raging in Auckland. The effect of the partial quarantine was to prohibit the officers and crew from going ashore. No restrictions were placed on the passengers. At Apia neither the passengers making the round trip nor the members of the crew were allowed ashore, and passengers who were booked for that port were put into quarantine on shore for four days. As a result of the quarantine the steamer remained at Apia only 12 hours instead of the customary day and a-half or two days. When the ship returned to Suva after visiting Samoa and Tonga no restrictions were imposed, and as compensation for not being allowed ashore at Apia, passengers were given an extra day at Suva. “The semi-quarantine at Suva was a farce,” declared a member of the crew. “Actually we had no cases of ’flu on board, but passengers who had been sick with colds on the run from Auckland were allowed on shore, while members of the crew, who did not have even colds, were kept on board at Apia. Tho officials were apparently under the impression that the ’flu epidemic was very serious. We were told that they had heard that there had been a number of deaths in Auckland.”