INFLUENZA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 174, 17 April 1919, Page 8

INFLUENZA

THE SHIPPING RESTRICTIONS

' AN AMENDED POLICY ' : . QUARANTINE BUT'NO PROHIBITION j A statement regarding an amended |i policy; of the Government in regard. to !■' shipping between Australia' and New Zeai land was rondo by the Minister of Public [' Health (the Hon. G. W. Russell) to a ! ' reporter yesterday. r "The. snipping position arising out of [ . the influenza epidemic has received furj. the.r consideration," said the Minister, ' "and the'final'decisions conio to are as t follow:—Passenger traffic from Australia j to New Zealand shall for the present be ! prevented as far as possible. Any pas- • eenger 6hips arriving hare from Australia I-. , , with passengers on hoard will be quaranj tiried indefinitely, and passengers will not t. be allowed to ,land.. As this comes into [ force from to-day, this decision will apply t to the Moeraki, timed to leave Sydney 1-to-morrow with approximately 250 pasI and. a crew of 1(10. It is not intended, that cargo steamers shall be interfered with in view of the fact that New Zealand requires both coal and wheat j-.' from Australia. , All'cargo vessels will be I 'dealt with.as necessity arises upon their i , arrival. If it/.is ;found that disease is ■ on board,, a'vessel will'be held for such i finie as'may be considered necessary. -If, [.. on';the"oth"er i, hand,- |, a ship is clean on ' 'arrival, pratique will bo granted at the S earliest possible moment. Vessels arriv- {•■ ing from overseas; not from Australia, f. will be. considered on their merits, pro- [ vided they are not from an infected port, I; and that' the.y-.had clean bills of health ! when leaving their last ports of call. j ''These decisions have been come to.after I most careful consideration. The posj sibility of demands on the available, quarl,. antine 'station's <ire such that at the prej sent time no risk whatever can be taken. I .There are coastal steamers, a number ■ of which have been found to have in- [ .fluenza cases on board. For the infected j crews of these vessels ■ accommodation i miist.be made at the quarantine stations, i The waterside workers.have riot unnntur- \ ally taken up a strong stand in conneci lion wifh the working of vessels that have I diseaso'on board. The real anxiety of ! tlie Department is that which arises from I' the possibility of one or more transports j with large bodies of men on board arriv- ! • ing in an infected state. We must hold I. whatever space is available against such j. .a contingency. Consequently, although i the .Government cannot prevent the shipping companies from bringing passengers .from Australia, the Government is deter- ; mined to indicate that no consideration i . will be given, to passengers who travel in I. ,spite of the precautions being taken, if • the effect is_ going to be to reduce the ': ,nccommodation that will be necessary for : .returning soldiers."

I .; . FOOTING THE BILL ■■■ ' HOSPITAL BOARDS CALLED J UPON f SPECIAL ESTIMATES UNNECESSARY • • A statement as to the intention of the i Government in regard to the financing j of, another outbreak, should one occur, ! ;was' made by the Minister of PuMic 1 Health yesterday. I "When the epidemic broke out in Noveniber," snid the Minister, "it spread ' , with such extraordinary rapidity that it ; was. impossible to deal with it by ordin- ," ary' means. Consequent^ , , emergency i hospitals were established all over the \i Dominion; and the Government footed i ;the Bill, the instruction being that in i order to cope with the crisis that had J arisen' money .was to be no object, : .expenditure was not to be limited. A magI. nincent record .was,.set up chiefly be- !• causo the public : throughout New' Zeai land assisted nobly.. As a res.ult prac- | tically the epidemic spent itself in the : .main centres of the Dominion in three : weeks.' As .far as we can ascertain the ] expenditure was practically ,£2C0,000. I ; do not anticipate that when the final i .washing-up''takes place this figure will i be exceeded by any considerable amount. [ During the last two months the Depart- ; ment has been steadily organising with I ft view of meeting a recrudescence of the j epidemic, and if such should unfortun- { fllely happen, the country will not be as ; unprepared as it was on the previous oc- ! .ca'sibn. ' For tho' wave, the hospitalIjgards will be required to accept- their ;...;. Jepil responsibility, and to control tlie j cn tire organisation in their respective j districts.' Also "the Government will not ■ in any future epidemic foot the bill as I ' '.it did on the last occasion. I am of 1 opinion that if partial responsibility is 1 kid upon the hospital boards for the i finance, there will be much closer gunr- ! dianship of the pn.blic funds than there i was last year. Experience shows that ■ when the local bodies are spending Gov- | ernment money, there is not the 6ame i scrutiny and care ss there is when tho J ratepayers whom the local bodies reprei sent have to bear £ portion of the cost. ■ It has .been decided that in accordance : with the law the Jiofijital boards will ; have to nay tho entire cost of any fu- | ture epidemic, nntl the money so exj Tjended will. be treated as portion of the i finnintenance expenditure of the bo:ird, ; on which Government subsidy will be. i payable, in the same way as on ordinary i .

•. '"I notice that the Wellington Hospital ■Board lias made provision in ifcf estimates • for tie. sum of .£20,00(1 for the purpose ■ of. dealing with tho epidemic. There is, .however, no necessity for this courso to be taken.j.Such a method, in my opinior., is ca.leula.ted to weigh, unduly the estimates of the hospital boards. The position can be fully met under clause 42 of the" Hospital "and Charitable Institutions t Act of 1909, which provides that in case of deficiency in the finances of the bo<cd :for the purpose of meeting expenditure for the year the board may, in order to ■•meet a deficiency, make a supplementary levy on tho local bodies. Under the iaw power is given for the local bodies to pay these contributions out of ordinary funds :or to raiee the amount required for the .purpose by rate. In view of the large increase that has taken place in the lost .few-years in the levies by hospital boards j throughout the Dominion, I do not think lit is desirable, until the war taxation is easier, that the public eliould be asked to pay unnecessarily moneys to be used to create what might be described ae an Vepideniic reserve fund. Of course it would be'quite possible for the boarls, having niado this extra levy, if the moneys are' not required, to make tho amount a credit, and thus lessen the ■levies for tho year following. But 1 think it would bo better if the boards utilised the clause I have referred to, and to make supplementary levies if money is needed to make up a deficiency." A BULLETIN i ; ONE WEEIv-112 CASES! Between April Ifl and April H thpro were 62 epidemic cases notified- to the Public Health Department, making a total for the week of 112. In the Auckland health district there were 30, including six mild cases in tho city (fonr in cue ■ household), and three fairly severe cases. ■In the suburbs there are twelve mild cases (four in one household), one ptwa- • nionic, iind one epidemic type. In Wlmknthiie there arc two cases severe. The remainder of the cases in the Auckland iiistrie,- arc mild. In the Wellington health district there are a total of 2l cases. In Wellington hospital district there are six cases, two in the city (one mild pneunionic and one influenza severe), three at Kaiwarra, and one at Kilbirnie. At Napier there are two severe pneumti'iic cases mid six mild. All the rest of the cases in the Wellington district are mild. In the Canterbury district there are 'line cuses, three mild cases in Cliristcliurch ■ ■city, om< at Avonside, one pneumonic cr.se at New Brighton, and four cases at Lytttlton, of which three were- shipping cases, all inifd. In Otago. there were two ''■rases in the Wnituki hospital district, bolh of them mild, in the town of . Oamaru.