The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 1872.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 151, 26 June 1872, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 1872.

The fact of two cases of small-pox being reported almost simultaneously from Auckland and Wellington is one which is calculated to give rise to no little anxiety and alarm, and which should lead to the immediate adoption of precautionary measures with a view to placing some check upon the spread of this terrible disease. We have hitherto enjoyed so complete an immunity from a scourge of this description that there is a general disposition to treat too lightly its appearance in the colony, and to give no heed to the warning note that has within the last few days been sounded in our ears, and for this reason we feel it to be our duty to call attention to the approach of the common enemy, and to remind the public that it depends to a very- great extent upon themselves to decide whether they shall be exposed to its ravages, or whether they are prepared by the exercise of a moderate amount of caution to place themselves beyond its reach. The General Government have recognised the gravity of the evil that threatens the colony, they having taken the precaution, immediately on the receipt of tbe news, to telegraph to tbe

several Boarde of Health informing them that the dreaded disease had unmistakeably broken out, and advising them to adopt such measures as lay in their power to guard against its spreading through the country. Whether or not the Nelson Board has acted upon this advice we are not prepared to say — it may be that they have done their duty quietly, aud with a desire not to create any unnecessary alarm — but there is one precaution we would mention as being to our thinking absolutely necessary, although it is possible that the Board have already made the necessary arrangements for meeting the contingency, should it unfortunately arisf. There is, we believe, a gazetted quarantine ground somewhere in the vicinity of the Waimea River mouth, but there is no sort of accommodation for invalids upon it, and we would suggest the immediate erection of some, building to which a patient might be removed in the event. of his being attacked by a disease such as that to which we are now referring, for, supposing such a case to'appearnowm the person of one who had recently landed and who had no settled habitation in tbe place, where would he be taken to ? Surely it would be the height of cruelty to tbe patients already there to remove him to the Hospital, thus exposing them to the contagion, and, as surely, would it be an act of folly to place him where every facility was afforded for communicating the disease, aud thus multiplying the centres from which it inightradiate through the whole population. In Wellington the importation of this frightful scourge in. the ship England compelled the authorities to hurriedly collect all the carpenters and builders ihat were to be found in the place and set them to work to erect buildings on their quarantine ground, and with this example before our eyes, there should be no hesitation here in taking time by the forelock, and preparing beforehand for any similar emergency that might arise. The expense would be but very trifling, whereas tbe advantages that might arise from the exercise of a little foresight in this direction might prove of unspeakable importance. There is yet another precautionary measure that should be taken, but it is one which depends not upon any body of men but upon each individual of the community. Need we say that it is comprised in the word " vaccination" ? The importance of this operation with infants is now almost universally allowed, but the effects of it are apt to wear out in the course of years, and it has been found that to ensure an adult against smallpox it is necessary that re-vaccination should be resorted to, and no clearer proof of its efficacy is to be found than in the cases of the nurses, servants, and attendants at the smallpox hospitals in the old country, the whole of whom are compelled to submit to a repitition of the operation, und in no single instauce have they been known to take the disease fatally, although in constant communication with the patients affected by it. This fact should of itself be sufficient to induce the grownup members of the community to submit to the temporary inconvenience arising from so trivial au operation. We have no desire to be considered alarmiets, but there is undoubtedly danger abroad, and we are simply performing our duty in calling public attention to it, and reminding our readers of the means by which it may be averted.