"ASSYRIANS" AND THE EPIDEMIC

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 48, 21 November 1918, Page 4

"ASSYRIANS" AND THE EPIDEMIC

Sir,—ln to-day's Dominion' you publish a statement from an officer of tho Health Department containing allegations reflecting on the Syrian section of this community, which are both -unwarranted mid devoid of foundation in fact. I refer, of course, to his statement to the effect that "twelve or fifteen Assyrians" were found crowded in a hovel in Plaining Street, of whom one has- since died. Permit me to say, first, that there are no Syrians in Haining Street, and, secondly, that not one of mv countrymen has so far died of the epidemic in this city! So much for the accuracy of official information! I may be permitted to add that my countrymen are not accustomed to living in hovels, and that wo usually observe tho habits of sanitation and personal cleanliness usual to civilised people. Of course, poor people may be compelled by necessity to live in surroundings not conducive to good health, but'that is a misfortune to which people of any race are liable, and it happens in the present instance at any rate that nothing has occurred in Wellington to show that wo Syrians are less cleanly in onr habits than other people. Your informant may be a most competent official, but ho has allowed his imagination to run ■ riot, with the result that you hnve unwittingly given currency to a statement at once baseless, offensive, and uncalled for. I thank you in anticipation for affording me the opportunity of publishing this emphatic contradiction—l am, etc., A SYRIAN. November 20, 1918.