Smallpox at Launceston.

Manawatu Herald, 27 June 1903, Page 2

Smallpox at Launceston.

Five fresh oases of smallpox were* reported in Launceston on Tuesday, among the patients being Dr Bernard, house surgeon at the hospital. The bouses of the patients are isolated, and every precaution is being taken. ' The Union Company insists that all passengers applying for tickets must produce vaccination certificates. If the New Zealand Government imposes stringent regulations, the company will temporarily abandon Hobart as a port of call, hut a direct cargo boat will be put on for the Hobart-Melbourne trade. Passengers will have to go via Launceston. Consternation prevails over the fact that since the 6th inst. fifteen persons were discharged from the hospital after suffering from what is now known to be smallpox, making them liable to spread the disease in all directions. A large number of vaccinations are being made. Strict precautions are being taken in other States against Tasmania, which has been declared infected. FUMIGATION OP MAILS. Owing to New Zealand enforcing quarantine regulations, the Warnmoo, which left Melbourne on Tuesday for the Bluff, will not call at Hobart. The passengers and crew of the Tokomaru, from London to Wellington, landed at Hobart on arrival, despite the instructions of the port health officer. . Everything possible ia being done to prevent the spread of the disease to Hobart. Mails and persons travelling on the mail trains are being fumigated. At the opening of the Criminal Court at Launceston the presiding Judge, after consulting the health authorities, said he would only take cases in which the prisoners pleaded guilty, otherwise it would mean that a large number of witnesses would be summoned from the country, and would run the risk of catching smallpox. VESSELS TO BE QUARANTINED IN NEW ZEALAND. All vessels arriving in New Zealand waters direct from Tasmania will he quarantined for eight days. Vessels arriving from Australia will be disinfected, and the passengers licensed out, as was done during the recent plague epidemic. The result of this will be that Hobart will in all probability be passed by the Union Company and Huddart-Parker steamers on the Melbourne-Bluff service.