The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1913.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3985, 16 July 1913, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1913.

The outbreak of small-pox which has

Tfia Gnat Need far Precautionary Measures.

been engaging the attention of the health

officials in various portions of this Island during the past few days is without question the most -serious matter of the kind that has occurred in this country for many years. In this regard it is, then, very satisfactory to learn that the disease has ma'de its appearance only in a mild form; and what is also good news is that the extent of the trouble in most districts is not neai'ly so serious as was at first reported. As far as is officially known, there are, however,

at least 50 cases of supposed smallpox altogether. The very worst features of tlie outbreak, it will be agreed, are that the patients reside in so many different districts and that the disease has in some localities made its appearance among the Natives. Such being the case, no legitimate complaint can, we think, arise as a result of the restrictions which have under the circumstances been placed upon travellers by rail and by sea. In connection with the outbreak there has been, it will have been noted, a widespread rush for vaccination and re-vaccination with the result that the number of Vaccinations this year promises to be very considerably larger than has been experienced for some years. As showing what little interest has been displayed in regard to vaccination lately, it may here be mentioned that the proportion of successPul vaccinations of infants to total births has not since 1905 reached 5 per cent, each year.. This result, which must have been very disappointing to the health authorities, is lower than the results for previous years, and everything goes to show that the demand for vaccination has never been very great except when small-pox scares have been about. By way of illustrating this phase of the matter, it is, of course, the case that in 1903 there was a somewhat phenomenal rush for vaccination—some 25 per cent, of infants tinder one year of age, for example, being vaccinated — but that was because there had been a slight visitation of small-pox from abroad which caused one deatli that year. Now as far as this district is concerned, it is unhappily the position that it will not be sufficient for the health authorities to keep a watchful eye only on visitors by boat. Equally important will it be for vigilance to be observed in the case of those who will be entering the district from overland routes. So far as we can see, one of the very best safeguards, however, will be the proposal that the Natives should be requested to notify to the health authorities without delay the visitation in any locality of any disease resembling small-pox or chic-ken-pox. In this connection we trust that the medical officer who has been appointed to do vaccination work among the Natives in this district will lose no time in disseminating among the Natives all the information on the subject which it will lie advaneageous for them to possess. The restriction against unvaccinated Natives travelling on the local railway is in accord with the general rule that is being temporarily enforced, and if drastic, in view of the non-appearance as yet of small-pox in this district, certainly errs only on the safe side. In the same way it would merely be prudent if local Native children were debarred from attending in the meantime the ordinary State schools, and more especially schools which are situated in the back-blocks. Thus it seems to us that until the outbreak is known to have completely subsided the Boards of Education would certainly be acting wisely if they instructed all teachers to keep a sharp look-out for any traces of gny eruptive diseases among school children. As we feel that it is little use taking precautionary measures unless the thing is done preperly, we can only go on to say that there is everything to commend Mr Kirk’s proposal that unvaccinated Natives should not be allowed to use the trams in the meantime. In this regard we should just like to impress upon our readers that if the southern towns consider it necessary to take extensive precautions how much more necessary it is for all reasonable safeguards to be taken in this district where Natives form such a large proportion of the population ! Inconvenience no doubt must be caused in many eases by the adoption of precautionary measures; but should this district have the misfortune to experience an outbreak of the disease it might, we are afraid, be some considerable time before it would again be given “a clean bill of health.” As we have said, one of the worst features of the outbreak is that the cases are fairly widely scattered; so that other cases are liable to occur at anv point and at any moment. On the principal then “that it is cheaper to erect a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom,” the general public will, wo feel sure, do all in their power to help to keep the district free from such an undesirable and such a contagious malady.