SCARLET FEVER AND CLOSING THE SCHOOLS.

Evening Star, Issue 4055, 24 February 1876, Page 2

SCARLET FEVER AND CLOSING THE SCHOOLS.

the lateness of the hour at which the meeting of the Dunedin School Committee was held yesterday afternoon we were only able to publish in our last night’s issue the correspondence and the resolution arrived at. We now give the discussion which preceded and followed the adoption of the resolution. Th® Chairman (Mr Rob n) said that Dr trill es called upon him with regard to elm-tin*? up the, scoots, and ho a ivised him to address a letter to the Committee, aud a special meetmg would then be called to decide what steps be taken. He (the Chairman) told Mr hitzgerald that if • the committee decided to c.ose the schoo’s the Normal School had better be closed also. Mr Pitzverald agreed to be i*“® decision of the committee. Mr Bell ; tVhat advantage does Dr Giliies ex *? ct r, to g by shutting up the seboo s ! Mi Strode : That is just what I should lik* to know. The Chairman j Dr Gillies thinks that Sai W ° U d prevent spread of tae Mr Strode ; That would bring the chi'dten more closely together, as they would be playYo J I w °nld have gangs of children alto-' g-ther playing “rough and tumble” aH over the place. kicfern^* RK ® T: It would encourage “larriMr Street : The dosing of the schools ~apjo to ba quite unneoessary, Mr Strode : Qmte unnecessary. Mr street : Why, they might just as well ask to have all the churches and places of amusement closed. . Mr Bell’: Now, this case of fever apnea s to have occ md in the High School; There is no case in the schools under our own control at aIL " Mr Strode ; Just so. None has occurred in those under our own control. . Th? • Chairman said that if the Health Oflßcer j visited the Hospitals and mixed with the people, he (the Chairman) did not see the necesn’ty for closing the Schools. He bad even no iced the regular milkman supplying milk to the Hospxtals, Now, hfi believed, that xnil-c carried contagion more than. anything else, so that the City Council had themselves to b'ame for sowmg the seeds of disease broadcast, * Mr Ramsay : It would not get into the can fnmi which milk was supplied to the Hospital. n? AIKMAS : It* B a notorious fact that milk will carry contagion from the air. n la!?? : I ihmi: they mignt shut up the Me ;lih Umcer for fear he should carry the contdgiou about. I thiuk all the alarm is a mere advertisement for th.it eentlem* n, Mr Ramsay : Ob, I think that officer is qu‘te anoy® anything of that sort, Mr Street.: Mr Street : He says here, that fever is making its appearance in the houses of the better class. We have nothing to do with those houses at all. They can take care of themselves. Mr Ramsay : It seems to me that the mere if up of B ®bools wou’d be advisable u tne fevor could be stamped out in a week or . wo * nave no good grounds for cun'-ider-mg tb it the fever will he freed from Dunedin maiew month* If there was a piospect of setting nd of it in a we k or two, there would be some reason for eclosing the schools. The 'scarlet iever has now been here about three months, and it might continue for another three months. ’ ". ; 4 Mr ShehWin : I have had scarlet fever, and w h ft t is. The childrtn_will ge out into the streets and play, and even the parents cannot keep them from it. Mr Strode : Worse cases t v an these occurreq here some years and there was no agitation of this'kind. Mr Sbhrwin ; If there was, any fever in the schools under orr own control, we might take action* The High School is hot übder our coh tfol: the Government has to do with that. They are going to have the Hosp tal at all evi-nt?, inasmuch as they have appointed the master and matron. Mr Street; Why, they have the cabs that .have taken the fever patients to the Hospital runumg about the streets. Mr Ramsay : Dr Gillies disinfects these cabi as much as ever he can. Mr Strode; Then the health Officer is taken up every night to the Hospital itself. Mr Ramsay ; He disinfects the cabs, I be Have. Anybody could keep the fever away if they had all the piecautions Mr Street; The Health Officer appears to have a divine right to keep from infection. Mr Bheewin : In Melbourne I was living withiu 100 yards of ten f p-it.euts suffering fn>m scarlet fever, and I eana* e4. . Mr Ramsay : The City Council have kept it very well down. The Chairman : I think they deserve credit for it. The attendance at the schools is not coining up to the usual staudaid this qiiarte: yet. Ipre urns it is owing to the carefulness of the parent*. Mr Hell : The teachers also ore, or should be, very curefuL Mr street : X believe that there are more People killed in this place from want of -ventilation than from anything else. Mr Strode : So do I—want plenty of good water and purs air.