MAORIS IN AMERICA.
, ' " HELD UP " AT SAN FRANCISCO. * | ALLEGED DISEASE OF THE EYES. * I BRITISH AMBASSADOR'S AID * SOUGHT. r j (Fbom Our Special Cobrespoxdent.) [ j SAN FRANCISCO, August 5. Of- the 40 Rotorua Maoris — 24 men and ■ 16 women and girls — who sailed from { ' Wellington by the s.s. Manapouri on July i 7, en route to New York, under engage- [ memVto the well-known theatrical firm of J Shubert and Anderson, the port health officers of San Francisco pronounced 17 } to be- -suffering from trachoma^ a coiik tagibus disease of the eyes, and permission j to lstad was refused. Looked at from all points of view, the 5 position was a serious one. All the memf bers^of the company were examined by 5 a Government medical officer before leavj ing New Zealand, and were pronounced to l be well, but it would appear that no l special examination of their eyes was made, or, if so, the opinion of the doctor t differs greatly from that of the health i authorities at this port. The strange thing L ! about it, however, is that before the . I Maoris -vf^re allowed" to laad" at' Tahiti -they . I wet c carefully examined' by a Fr-ench doc- > tor, eyes and _all, and passed, while the i ' ship's doctor on tne Mariposa, which , i - brought the company on tc San Francisco, l j specially examined their eyes before they ; ; were allowed to board that vessel. Trachoma is regarded as a serious disease in i • the United States, and Hobody suffering 1 j from it io allowed to land in the country. I It is said that it takes fTom three to 15 ' months to cure it, with special treatment. ' , Some years ago it was found that a large I proportion of the children attending the I ! schools in America had bad eyes, and on ■ j investigation it was found that most of ; . the parents were foreigners. The disease, i it is stated, is very common among ' | Japanese and Chinese, and very strict-pre-1 [ cautions are taken to guard against its * , spread in this country, it being stated that in the Eastern States nearly every * ! other child is to be found wearing glasses. 1 i It is a remarkable thing that the Maoris, ' I if they Teally have trachoma, were passed ' j at Tahiti by the doctor on the Mariposa, ' I inasmuch as he was well aware of the re- ' j gulations on this subject, and knew that if they failed to pass the test here the ' Oceanic Company, which employs him, ! would ba compelled to keep and maintain \ them on board and take them back to \ , Tahiti at its own expense. He said i that he found three of the men to be ' , suffering from conjunctivitis, for which I he treated them on - the voyage from ' i Tahiti, but he still maintains that they J are free from trachoma. Here, however, the port health officers are supreme, and . if they say a thing is so, it is so, though ! you move heaven and earth to prove them | wrong. WHEN DOCTORS DIFFER. Mr M 'Bride, the representative of the I fh - m of fcjhubert and Anderson, who went j to* New Zealand to bring the company to j New York, engaged an eminent eye j-pecialist in this city to examine the whole of the 40 members of the company, and hi.s verdict was that, except in one inj stance, they were free from trachoma, i The exception, according to the specialist, j had contracted the disease within the past j two or thi-ee weeks, and could soon be ' cured. The Mariposa arrived here on Saturday last, July 31, and the port health officer made the uauaJ exiimination, the result of which was tiiat 17 of the Maoris — nine men aad eight women and girls — were condemned as suffering from trachoma. On Monday the specialist referred to examined the whale company, and, ac already .stated, only condemned one. On Tuesday a doctor, attached to the United States Immigration Department, further examin-ed the 17 members, and he confirmed the decision of hi* confrere. In some cases the disease was described ad "advanced," and in others aa " slight " ; but slight or advanced it was all the «-ame — the regulations prohibited any of then 1 landing. On Wednesday afternoon two more independent experts, this time engaged by the owners of the Mariposa 4the Oceanic S.S. Company) examined the 17 who had been " held up," and their emphatic verdict was "No trachoma," but , three cases of "conjunctivitis." Mean- j time large sura of money were Bpeafc in I
telegraphing to the authorities in Washington, every effort being made to secure the landing of the Maoris. It was hopedj that a special permit -would be granted op that an independent board of expert* would be appointed to examine the Maoris** The managei of - the compan-y (Mr W^ Farmer Whyte) ca|>led to the Hon. Jame* •da-moll. Prime Minister of New Zealand, explaining the sitjiaiion. Apart from tie i question of trachbma a bond of £5000 hadi to be entered into by the firm of Shuberfc [ and Anderson, guaranteeing the return of all the Maoris t<> .New Zealand at ths' '. end of the engagement, but the signing of this was delayed pending finality in ; regard to the trachoma. In consequence of this all the members of the company^ have been detained on board the Mar;*, posa. TJi« disgust of the Maoris at this* development — after .21 days aboard ship — nine days on the run from Wellington? to Tahiti and l&.-davs from Tahiti toj j3an Francisco — oajj well be imagined. Thar "rejected" onefe'^dld not take kindly td( the idea of starting so soon on the kmgf voyage baok, nowchappily avoided — with-Sf .- out even so much -as having put foot onr I Amei'ican soil. One could sympathise with? f them when they recalled the visit of thq£ United States fleet .to New Zealand aiidr, the entertainment given by the Maoria* , at. Rotorua to -Admiral SpeTry and- th«, other . admirals ' and. officers of the fleet, and contrasted these things with the "reception " accorded themselves at Sanl Francisco. V When, they came to see us at Rotoama,"- they said, " we -entertained 1 them, and sent them away with a c»rt-= load of valuable presents — greenstone meres, tikis, and * other curios— *and :'this is. the return we < get for it." All those who are in this company took part in th« welcome to Admiral Sperry in New Zealand. All the Maori entertainers were allowed to land at San Francisco. Two other l. New Zealanders, however, who went by the same boat, were stopped because they ■ suffered from trachoma, and they bad to return to New Zealand. I
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Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 16
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1,116MAORIS IN AMERICA. Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 16
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