Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, NoVEMBER 16, 1881.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 273, 16 November 1881, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, NoVEMBER 16, 1881.

itlß quarantine laws of New Zealand which are now put in force against all vessels arriving in the colony from Sjdeey are according to the experiences of a ree«t arrival ia Wellington, a perfect terror—to use a very expressive if somewbat al&ngy phraseespecially whea administered by officials who are too severely conscientious, or are toe much afraid of assuming a little responsibility in the direction of rendering their operation as little irk3oma as possible. The ?, eT » J 'J£ oUalld vrrit-B a len eth7 letter to the /v. Z. Times, ia which he relates hi3 grievances, and, when they have learaed what thesa are, our readers will ba qnite ditpased to allow that ho k&s a vary jujt ground of complaint. Mr Holland and his wife recently arrived in Sydney from England tn routi for New Zealand. They there learned ihat owing to the prevalence of small pox in that city all passengers embarking in tho Union Company's steamers wtre required tobe vaccinated, a medical officer having been appointed by »he Company to perform tbe operation Upon this officer Mr Holland and hi* wif« called. Having been recently vaccinated himself he was not require] to undergo the operation again., but it W3s coasidered necessary that his wife should, although •' the doctor said that he was certain it would be useless, as she had b«en vaccinated thre* times, and had had the cow-pox which according to the testimony of neariy all medical men, is a sure preventive against small-pox and vaccination is useless." However in order to avoid all further trouble she 'was vaccinated, paid the doctor Ma fee of 10s and received a certiScato from him, which he said, would frea her from quarantine in Wellington. Then, conscious of having performed their duty, the reverend ge.tleman and his wife embarked on board the Wakatipu for Wellington, bavin? no longer the fear of quarantine bafore their eyes. But alas ! they little knew what was in stor 9 for them. Oo arrival, tho health cficor visited tbe ship, and Mrs Ho' laid produced her certificate, bnt to her surprise hs refused to sre it and told her it was useless. "As wa B predicted by tho doctor in Sydn.y," sayg Mr Holland, " the vaccination was nnsup.cesßful and though the marks were visibly R nd be was informed I kit it tra« the ionrth time my wife bad undergone the operation, also that she had bad the cow-pox, which ke hinielf admitted wag a preventive against small-pox yet he ordered her to the Quarantine Islaad for * period of ten dajs." Naturally cmo»h the Rev Mr Holland was " not only iur»rised but indignant." He earnestly protested knt in vain, for all his arguments and entreaties were met with the doctor's assurance tkat they were of no avail, as the wording of tke Act was that « eaeh p«rso» must undergo successful vaccination." Tha doctor kindly concluded ky racomoußding tha aggrieved gentleman to go and aae the Colonial bacretary about it. Thi« advice he followed and what ensued affords sbout as forcikle an illustration of what ean be doaa in a Circumlocution Offiea as could pos»iblv be desired. Wa will let Mr Holland tell it iq his own words : — " On ths arrival of the steamer at. the wharf, I at once proceeded to the Government offices, and laid my case before the Undersecretary. He consulted with the Colonial Secretary, and the result was that thev both considered that there was no reason "whatever for my wife being quarantined. The Lnder Secretary went with me to see the uoctor, but the doctor would not give the required permit for her release, saying that the word "successful" had taken away all his power of releasing her, and that the power lay with tha Colonial Secretary. I again called at the Government office, and begged the Colonial Secretary to take the responsibility and release her, and pointed out to him how wrong it was to make us suffer because of a fight between that office and the medical office " At last xMr Hollar.d oktained a permit for the captain to call at the Quarantine Sution and ttke his wife on board and so allow her to continue her journey soath. Arm.d with tbis, and delighted at haviag at last obtained soma slight concession from the st«nyS r * i* ° u fflci *'' he waited upon tho agent and told him wn*t he had done, but again was disappointment in store for him. Tho agent s reply was that the permit was .f little uie, for it would enly allow Mrs Holland s transference to Lyttelton where the same trouble would agsin «he. Mr Holland however, was not to be beaten so lon* as a chance of success remained, and so, failing the doctor tho Under Secretary and th. Colonial Secretary, he determined to make an attempt in a yet higher quarter and to call upon the Governor. And here we mast pause for a moment asd express our admiration of the pertinacious perseverance with which the perplexed purson pursued hia purpose, although it mnst, at the same time, be admitted that it would be difficult to imagine a stronger incentive to action than tbe fact of one's wife being placed under lock and key brcaose her system refused to be regulated by Act of Parliament. But this is a digression. Having determined to lay his case before the Governor, Mr Hollaad proceeded to Government Houae, and on sending in his card waa ushered into a room where sat & gentleman to wbom after introducing himself, he proceeded to relate his grievances. He received a patient hearing, and was just congratulating himself npon having made an impression upon Her Majesty's Representative, when he found that he had to undergo yet another disappointment. Tbe gentleman to whom he had bean addressing himself, having heard him to the end of his story, said that ho would " go and see bis Excellency." " I thought," fla ys Mr Holland, " that I had been talking to his Excellency all tha time." The Secretary, or whoever il was, left tha room, and after a short absence retained, and informed the

visitor that his Excellency deeply sympathised with him, but was powerless Jo interfere in the case, aud concluded by referring him back to the Colonial Secretary. So he bad to retrace hia steps from Government House " with the sympathy of his Excellency, but minus the justice which I haj a right to denifiLd." Can we ucoior tlie circumatßuces wonder at the despairing exclamation which escapes irom the iips or' the revereLd gentleman, " All day long I had been receiving sympathy, but Vha more I got the more I disliked it," Ti;en followed more interviews with the Colonial Secretary ,- the Under Secretary, cud the doctor, the latter of whom ultimately so fat r&lented as <b advise the unhappy husband to take some lymph and revacciiate his wife for the fifth time, at the same time 6tating that if on his visit on the following morning he saw it was inclined to ba successful he would release her. On th9 evening of that cliy Mr Holland writes hia letter, which cotrcludos in the following heart-broken strain :—" I followed his " (the doctorV) " advice.. End here we are, still prbonsrs for no crimo whatever, unable to fiud the man who ha3 power to release us, although ail confess that there is no reason why we should be detained. The fifth vaccination has bsen unsuccessful, ao when we shall be ailov?«d to proceed on our journey I do not know." It this is & fair illustration of the working of the quarantine laws it will be generally admitted that the Rev Mr Holland end his wife have & good ground for complaint* and that h is high time authority vj^a giVeii to somebody to relax the regulations in cases where the necessity for a 86vere interpretation zi them docs not exist, such as that under notice. It m»y be argued that tbere cannot be too strict a supervision of passengers coding io the colony ia the Sydn«y steamers.but the absurdity of the present precautions ia shown by the fast that intending passengers to New Zealand from Sydney can, and no doubS do in many casas, evade the quaroatine Ip.ws by having tha latter port for Melkoarna over night, embarking thtre in the TJaisa Company's boats, and comieg on direct to New Zealand, where they are permitted to land witheut ecquiry.