A SERIOUS BLUNDER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 998, 18 July 1883, Page 2

A SERIOUS BLUNDER.

[by telegraph.] Auckland, To-day.

The steamer Penguin came into port last evening at half-past nine o’clock from Fiji. Her master brought the vessel alongside the wharf to enable the passengers to get ashore without delay. Within half an hour of the time of her mooring to the wharf there was hardly a passenger on the deck. Whilst the Penguin was coming into port, the following telegram, dated from Wellington, at twenty-five minutes to nine p.m., on the 17th, was being flashed along the wire to the health officer :—“ To Dr Philson —Fiji declared infected place. (Signed) G. S. Cooper.” The telegram reached the hands of Dr Philson about 10 o’clock, and, in the meantime, the Penguin had reached the wharf. Dr Philson hurried to the wharf and found the vessel alongside. Captain Cromarty assured Dr Philson that he was in ignorance of the fact that Fiji had been declared an infected place by the New Zealand Government, but all the passengers were by this time gone away, and he could not see how the matter was to be remedied. Dr Philson ordered the mails to be fumigated before being sent ashore, and then agreed to give Captain Cromarty a clean bill of health Captain Cromarty assured Dr Philson that there was no sickness at Lenika, his last port of departure on the 13th, but that cholera, small pox, and measles were prevalent at Suva, which port he left on the 4th. The Herald blames the Government for the delay in issuing the notice after it was known a week ago that the other colonies had declared Fiji infected. The following from the Suva Times of the 23rd of J une explains the action of the authorities at Sydney and Melbourne in declaring Fijian ports infected places:—“The ship Poonah arrived on Monday last from Calcutta with 495 souls on board, exclusive of the captain, officers, and crew. There had been twenty six deaths from the time of departure until her arrival. The majority died from cholera. Five cases of small pox were reported but no deaths occurred from that disease. The engineer died from cholera. The vessel is quarantined, and the present proposal of the Government is t >at fhe will proceed to Mekalau, there discharge the passengers and stores, leaving the colony without having obtained pratique. There will be no difficulty in placing the men under proper authorities, and exercising due vigilance over the cargo, which will also have to be landed. A fresh outbreak has been reported since the arrival of the ves el, and the Government have issued posters printed in the Fijian language, notifying to the natives that infected Coolie immigrants have been placed in quarantine in tue island of Mekalau, warning them not to approach it or fish on the reef near it, under the usual penalties. ”