THE EPIDEMIC.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1841, 29 August 1913, Page 7

THE EPIDEMIC.

—4 MORE CASES IN AUCKLAND. POSITION REVIEWED. (By Telegraphl'rees Association.) Auckland, August 23. Three Additional-cases - of the disease were discovered in flic city to-day, while kto in tho afternoon a case was ■reported. from Orakci. Tho threo city cases wcj'e all f European males, and wero found' respectively in Upper QueenStreot, a contact from tho ciiso discovered on Tuesday in Tumor Street,, and in Vincent Street. Tho Orakci caso was a Native woman, who will ho 'brought .up to the Isolation Hospital as 1 soon as l possible. One of tho cases found dn tho city' was that of a man who arrived in Auek- , land from tho Thames oil board tho J Northern Company's Waitahi, on Wednesday, but who dtfd not come under , tho notico of tlhe Health Officer until ' yesterday. Meantime the vessel sailed | lor tho riiames, but on returning slio: was hdd up. She was boarded' by four officials from tho Health Office, and' everyone oil lxiard was vaccinated. The' 1 ship was fumigated thoroughly. Not until all this nad l been dono was tho-, steamer brought alongside tho wliarf. Tliero is 110 definite information as to wJic.ro tho first Upper Queen Street l patient caught tho disease, but it is stated that ho contracted it tihrouglii coining into contact with a visitor froia the \\ hangaj'ei district. Tho Oliief UoaltTi Olficor, Dr. Valintine, has been informed that six fifthyear medical students are on their way to Auckland' for tlio purposes of assisting tho doctors who arc already fighting tho epidemic. It is practically certa.mi tiliat six more fifth-year students will follow those already oil their way.. Dir. Jessie Scott, who lias been in tho' sen'ico of tlio Department, silica her re- : turn from England, is to procccd to! Kaiknho to take up work at tlio Isola- 1 tion Hospital. Reports received- from 1 tho country districts were very satisfactory. Dr. Elizabeth Gunn stated that • Parawora was now clear, while tlio Otorolianga patients had been discharged. The northern end of the Waikato district was also stated to be clean, while I no more cases bad been discovered at Taupiri. The. Hospital Committee at>' Morrinsv-ille lias now been broken up. RUMOURS. ' WITHOUT GOOD .FOUNDATION. Tlio attention of the Minister . fol> Public Health (the Hon. R. H. Rhodes)' lias been drawn to a paragraph- appearing in tlio Australian papers stating that over 2000' Maoris wero ot present suffering from smallpox. Tlio state- . mc-nt is- attributed to Mr. V. Reed, M.P. On being approached, Mr. Reed informed tho Minister that what ho had intended to convey was that 2000 Natives had been attacked by tho dis- ■ ease since it mado its first appearance in New Zealand.; .At the present a 1 rough icstimato puts the number of those affected at about 3.00. Tho Minister said ho had been informed that, tho statement published in Australia wan seriously- affecting ' communication between New Zealand and Australia. DOCTOR SHOCKED. PATIENTS WHO DECAMPED. (By 'Poleersmh.—l'rc«s Association'.! Whangarel, August 28. Dr. East 'visited* Whananaki yesterday, whore-ho previously attended forty patients suffering from smallpox. Ho was greatly shocked to find nearly half tho sufferers bad disappeared from tho sottlemont and gono across tho Opuawhanga River to Wairahi. Tho doctor views tho circumstance with alarm, as they are still infectious. They had received definite instructions not to.leavo tho settlement. Tho doctor thinks tho sufferers are scattered all over tho conn • try. STUDENTS SENT NORTH. Dunedin, August 28. Twelvo senior students from , the Otago Medical School went north this morning to assist in fighting tho smallpox outbreak in the Auckland district. ' ■ ' CASES IN SYDNEY. By Telegraph—Preßß Assooiation—Copyright (Rcc. August- 29, 0.40 a.ni) Sydney,-. August .< Ton cases of smallpox wero reported tho city 'to-day..