THE SMALL-POX "SCARE."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 14 July 1913, Page 4

THE SMALL-POX "SCARE."

One cannot help thinking that a good deal more fuss is being made over the outbreak of a skin disease among tho Natives of New Zealand than the ciroiiinstanoes warrant. li, has been demonstrated that in one or t\v<> cases tho disease assumes the characteristics of a mild form of smallpox. Tihe isolation of these crses, and reasonable precautions against "contact*," is all thac should bo necessary. As the Premier hag well stated, there is not tho slightest c:iise for panic. It has been stated .that the Natives in the Wairarapa are suffering front a skin disease which might prove to be small-pox. Such a statement is unwarranted and ium-called-for, and may have a serious effect upon trade in the district.. The skin disease from which Wairarapa Natives suffer is known as "Maori itch." It has been common among the Natives in the Wairarapa and other parts for the last fifty years, and has no more relationship to smallpox than has the gravel rash. The Department of Health would do well to have-a thorough cleansing of the Maori kiangas in the North Island. Its energies should be chiefly directed, however, to a* close inspection of vessels arriving from the East-. So far as can be aisoertained, not a single case of small-pox has occurred among the European population of New Zealand, and the Wairarapa is as free from disease as any other part.