New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4923, 3 January 1877, Page 2

New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1877.

The case of the ship Hurunui, bound from England with emigrants to New Zealand, has excited a good deal of -interest at Home. We do not mean the matter of her collision with a barque in the English Channel, and the loss of life which ensued. Our allusion is to the sickness on board, which caused her to put back to port, and in connection with which there are certain circumstances that, as the Western Daily Mercury says, have caused the word Hurunui to become almost a household word in Plymouth. The published report tells us of the Hurunui, that leaving Gravesend on the 23rd of September for this port with emigrants, in number equal to 220 adults, nine saloon passengers, and a crew numbering 40, she dispensed with the services of a tug during the night, and was bowling down Channel the next day all going well, until she reached the Isle of Wight, when she mot a heavy gale, which occurred on Sunday the 24th of September. After sustaining serious damage to some of her yards, one of them being completely broken, and after tacking about the channel for a couple of days, during which two cases of scarlet fever had been discovered on board, she anchored in Portland Roads on the afternoon of the 26th. On the 29th the fever patients

were landed at Weymouth. Though only two children were actually ill with tho disease, two families, numbering twelve in all, had to be put on shore. On the 3rd of October a case of diphtheria appeared on board, and a child died of inflammation of the lungs. The next morning the emigrants, crew, and passengers underwent a thorough examination by doctors appointed for the purpose, and at the instance of the Board of Trade, the ship was ordered to Plymouth. Accordingly on the 5th, after landing the diphtheria patient and his wife, the ship was taken in tow for Plymouth, anchoring in the Sound the next day, fresh cases of fever being reported by her doctor. On the 7th the quarantine flag was hoisted, and four more families (twenty-two people) were landed during the afternoon. On the oth the saloon passengers were released from quarantine; but on the 10th two more emigrants were sent ashore with the fever. On the 12th the whole of the remaining emigrants were removed to H.M. frigate hulk Pique, and the next day the passengers were lodged at tho Duke of Cornwall Hotel, during the course of fumigation on board the Hurunui, twelve persons fever patients and their relations—being landed from the hulk on this day. The Plymouth paper from which we have already quoted, the Western Daily Mercury, states that at the time last mentioned some of the passengers applied to the owners of the ship for assistance to proceed by another vessel, but they received, so says our English contemporary, an unsatisfactory reply, it being stated that the case of the Hurunui had become so notorious that it would be impracticable for them to obtain’ passages in other vessels. A passenger who went to London to urge a similar request received a similar reply. On the 15th, some days, as will be seen, after the emigrants had been removed and the ship fumigated, it was found that the most serious case of any had appeared in the person of a sailor, and he had to be sent ashore. On the 18th another family, one of whom subsequently died in hospital, was landed from the hulk. As no further cases, however, appeared on board for some time, all was got ready for the departure of the Hurunui on the 27th; but on the 26th, says tho Mercury, “while everyone’s hopes had been raised, all preparations made for a start, and the emigrants’ luggage actually placed on board a steamer for transhipment, the doctors discovered during their final examination that a man affected with the fever had been hiding for three days on board the hulk, and the red marks were plainly developed upon his breast. The feelings of the emigrants and passengers upon hearing this can be better imagined than described. It appears that this man had been trying to run away from his wife, by means of emigration, and hence his desire to conceal the symptoms of the fever and thus avoid a relegation to his former home.” On the 27th the second cabin steward was taken ill, and had to be landed, and as our readers are aware the vessel sailed after several days, only to again put back to England, in consequence of the unfortunate accident particulars of which were published by us on Monday. But we agree with the Plymouth paper that the case of the Hurunui should form a subject for serious reflection with emigration authorities, inasmuch as all the evils above detailed were plainly caused by a neglect of proper preventatives, and it should be considered how such grave consequences, proceeding from slight causes in the beginning, can in future be averted. The Mercury sums up the case as follows :—“The ship left for sea with her emigrants (who had passed through the usual examination by the doctors), apparently all well. One child, whose parents arrived with it at Gravesend only the day before the ship left, is found three days afterwards with scarlet fever. This involves the landing of sixty persons, including families who had entirely broken up their establishments and given up their employment for a new career and a new home in New Zealand. Some of them linger in a hospital hundreds of miles from their friends, whilst others end their troubles by death, all having this risk before them. The ship is detained for six weeks (half the term of her voyage) at a great expense to the owners, and the greatest possible inconvenience to the passengers, to some of whom the detention is a direct monetary loss, and, perhaps, the worst feature of all is that the whole proceedings are extremely unsatisfactory to everybody concerned, as by reason of the many interests involved, a large amount of discredit is thrown upon the shoulders of various persons; but whether justly or not, will in many cases remain for ever a matter of doubt. To go back to the cause. The present disastrous case proves that the mere medical examination of the emigrants in London and at Gravesend before going on board is altogether insufficient, and it seems unreasonable to suppose that such an examination under the most skilful practitioners would answer the purpose of detecting latent disease. It is to be hoped that sad and unsatisfactory as the case of the Hurunui is, it may be productive of good results in the direction which we have indicated for the prevention in future plans for emigration of a recurrence of so much misery and trouble. Indeed the remarkable word ‘ Hurunui’ should now be a watchword for the Board of Trade.”