SMALL-POX AMONG NATIVE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 12 July 1913, Page 5

SMALL-POX AMONG NATIVE.

THREE CASES REPORTED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) - TE KUITI, Last Night. Three caseg of smaJl-pox are jre* ported from Otorohanga. Dr Zobel, of Te Kuiti, acting on behalf of tb» Health Department, visited a "tamgi" at Otorohanga and discovered a w<v man, a girl and a ohild suffering. He has isolated the patients »n«l contacts. Numerous application* have been made for vaccination, but * supply of lymph has not arrived. It is expected to-morrow. STATEMENT IN THE HOUSE. BY MINISTER OF HEALTH. A SERIOUS OUTLOOK. (By Telegraph. —Press Association.} WELLINGTON, Last Night. The Minister of Public Health mad* a statement in the House of Representatives to-night regarding th» outhreak of small-pox. The Cabinet had, he said, met, and the whole mat* ter had been discussed. It wag found ! that cases of a suspicious character were being reported from all part* of the Auckland district. There was a definite case of small-pox reported from Te Awamutu. It had been necessary to place some restriction upon Natives travelling. Shipping companies, carrying companies and the railway a/u thorites had been warned not to carry Natives from the affected areas- without from tlie ' health authorities. He thought. ii ' necessary: to make this statement/ as . there was no doubt tho epidemio was. the same as that in Sydney. A case of chicken-pox had been reported from Wellington. He had heard rumours of a case of small-pox in Wellington, but no case had been reported. . They had traced the introduo- • tion of the epidemic to a Mormon missionary, who transferred it to the Maoris. Mr Bradney asked for stricter medical examination of shipg arriving from the East. Mr Rhodes said he had not heard .off any laxity in the examinations of shifts from the East. Asked if he had insisted on the vaccination of passengers for the wrath . from Wellington, Mr Rhodes replied in the negative. He was prepared for the present to leave the matter to the good sense of the people oiF the country. The Native® were fairly aware of the importance of the matter, and were doing all that was possible , to prevent the spread of the epidemic. The Hon. Mr Massey said that while there was no occasion for a l>aauc, there was every necessity fck stamp out the disease which hail visited out shdi'&S. The Natives were ' quite willing to submit to vaccination. It may be necessary for p&ssengers from the North Island to the South 1 tc submit to vaccination. He: hoped that members of the. House, : and !Jie people generally, would sup- .* port the Government in whatever they did. Mr Young stated thofc vaccination did not prevent the spread of the dis* o.ase. Natives isihould not be allowed from areas. The Minister xV et, every possible precaution war W-rrr taken, nd tho House coniM everything being done .wlrch necessary for the publio safety.