The Bubonic Plague.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 134, 19 April 1900, Page 3

The Bubonic Plague.

Perth, April 16. A son of Constable Sweeney, residing in the police quarters at I Freemantle, has developed plague.

Sydney, April 16. Mr Mills considers the quarantine restrictions onite too stringent. The growing opinion appears to be that except on ships where the plague has occurred, there is no danger of infection and no need of detention, unless they comu iroui an mfpctctl port. Ho doss not regard the outbreak as giving any cause £ol" alarm. Up to date there have been 116 cases and 40 deaths. In consequence of the plague, the Victorian and Queensland Governments have protested against the transports carrying the quotas of Imperial Bushmen taking fodder and coal at Sydney. The Consul- General of Franco has informed Mr Lyne thai; quarantine at Noumea bad been abolished for some time, but thei.e are still a few cases there, also on the H)ast Coast.

April 17. Many lettei'B have appeared m the press condemning the methods of removing tho plague patients to quarantine. It is claimed that, exposure daring the height of fever, and the delays have caused a number of deaths ; and the writers urge treatment under strict quarantine in patients' own homes. There was one fresh case of plague to-night.

RockHAriPTON, April IG. Just as the steamer Bunvah was leaving the wharf with a thousand excursionists, a steward named Meyer was taken ill with suspicious symptoms. All the excursionists were unloaded. The case was subsequently declared to be plague.

Melbourne, April 16. A second case of plague, that of a South Australian cabin boy named Wilson, has developed.

April 17. Since the discovery of the two plague rats six weeks ago, none which iiave since been examined showed symptoms of rlague til] to-day, when one rat was found to be suffering from the plague.

Brisbane, April 17. The Burtvall plague case is not yet officially confirmed. There are two more cases from Burwall, There doctors and attendants have been inoculated. Excursionists have to report for examination.

"Wellington, April 16. The Mayor contradicts the Premier's allegation of laxity by the municipal authorities in the plague precautions. A thorough investigation has already been made of all streets in the heart of the city, and every vestige of refuse xemoved. Owing to the arrangements in ex-, istence for conveying rubbish to the destructor, there were no great accumulations of refuse at all, and none were distinctly offensive. The Council's >carts can keep pace with the collection. Covered receptacles are now "to be used. For some time past a vigorous crusade has been carried on against poultry yards and stables, and all earth closets are being gradually abolished. It may be added to what tho Mayor says that so drastic are the regulations threatened against the poultry yard that nearly everyone in Wellington is killing off his poultry, and in a few weeks there will be scarcely any left in the city. There are loud outcries against what is regarded by some as the unnecessary severity of the regulations which are practically prohibitive, and farmers round the cicy are correspondingly elated. The Mayor confidently asserts that the Premier is altogether wrong in his statements, and inferontially suggests that the greatest check the Council has received (is from the Government itself. Application was mcude for a portion of Somes Island upon which to erect a plague'hospital, but the Colonial Secretary refused, and an appeal made to the Premier elicited no reply. The only alternative appears to be to erect a structure on the town bolt. In reply to the Mayor's complaint re Somes' Island, the Colonial Secretary states that communication is frequent on account of the lighthouse there, and it may be necessary to land passengers on the island from infected ports who are not themselves infected. Dr Mason, who with Mr Gilruth, is acting as a peripatetic health commission, has been commissioned to report whether passengers should be quarantined for the full length of time after arrival. It is thought possible that a case might originate at the last moment 1 and not be detected till the people had landed.

April 17. The Harbour Board have decided to fall in with the suggestion of the ijoveramsnt, to -fumigate vessels t

! and -Keep them 4 feofc from the wharf. In reply to the Mayor's statement that there were no cases to warrant the Premier's statement re the insanitary state of Wellington, the Premier gives the following as a single instance out of many eommunica+cJ bo him known to exist, and which is veufiod by witnesses; — " Removed from the back yard of the Moles woitu street shop now used as a post office, and immediately opposite Parliament buildings, I unco cu'Lloafu. ot oyfter sbtlJrf. Some had not been oponed. and ha\ evidently been deposited by a fish dealer who had previously occupied : the shop. Also two loads of fowl manure, stable manure, and decayed vegetable matter, etc., and an accumulation of old tins,-corrugated iron, etc." Dr James, the health officer, in speaking to the Premier, instanced a case which came under his notice, when the occupier of the premises said that the accumulation was there before he took possession, and he (the oecnpier) was not going" to disturb it. These cases are only instances of many existing nuisances in Wellington, and it is 'not to the credit of the City Council to tak^ up a negative position in the 'grave crisis existing. It ought to come home to the Mayor and members of the Council as men of common sense that the staff now employed by the Council is absolutely inadequate to cope with the difficulty existing, even if the men worked night and day.

Napier, April 17. Tho Afric, the largest steamer which has yet visited New Zealand waters, 11,800 ' tons, arrived direct from Bydney to-day. Her officers expected to work her here ; in fact, all arrangements had been made to do so, but on the fact becoming known, the Premier, in conjunction with the local health authorities, took steps to impose effective quai*-, antme. Under the circumstances, she will probably go to Lyttelton to load, the voyage counting as part , of the quarantine period.

Chbistckurch, April 17. j The steamer Brisbane, which i arrived from Newcastle on Sunday and was quarantined, entered the inner harbour to. day. She had whilst in quarantine been fumigated under the direction of the captain, but as the work had not been done under the supervision of a Government officer the vessel was not allowed to come alongside the wharf, and was subsequently sent back to the quarantine ground, where she will be fumigated under the direction of an officer -of the Customs Department.