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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 87, 13 September 1873, Page 2

It would appear that our remarks on Saturday last as to the chances of that fearful scourge, Leprosy, being introduced into this Colony, were not made one whit too soon ; neither were they the outcome of a desire to morbidly anticipate dangers which, being remote, seem to have no real existence. The plague, according to the following paragraph from the Auckland Weekly News, is nearer to our door than is generally known. So far our communication with the Sandwich Islands, where the malady has been known to exist, although confined to a few, has not given any cause for alarm; but that is no reason why the most stringent measures should not be taken in future. Should the San Francisco route be opened up again for our Mail Service to England, with any of the Sandwich group for an intermediate station, we shall have the chances multiplied against us of this dread visitor making its appearance. With Norway on one side and the Sandwich Islands on the other, it will be a marvel if we escape altogether. Therefore, it is earnestly to be hoped that the Government will look well to our protection against the introduction of an evil which when once taken root may be more difficult to eradicate than rinderpest or small-pox:— The number of lepers in the Sandwich Islands is rapidly increasing. Those affected with leprosy are separated from the rest of the population, and taken to a leper settlement in the island of Kalanao. At that place there are now 573 of these unfortunates, and if the friendsand original settlers be included, the population of the settlement will number some 800, soon to be increased to 1,000. Mr. J. H. Napela has recently*, been appointed Assistant-Superintendent of the leper establishment. He is described as a man of uncommon intelligence, and is expected to exercise

a beneficial influence amongst the people there. His wife, a sister of the late Judge Richardson, has contracted the disease, and her husband, rather than see his family broken up, has resolved to banish himself for life from the outside world. How many talcs of sorrow will be connected with Kalanao!