57

H.—3l

pumped from a well. The same water was supplied to an hotel and another house, but no other cases of typhoid occurred. The milk was supplied from the hotel. There seemed no possibility of the well becoming contaminated by sewage, and chemical examination, though it pointed to some organic contamination, indicated that this contamination was probably of vegetable and not animal origin. A bacteriological examination of a specimen sent to the Pathologist at Wellington did not show any evidence of contamination by sewage. Pending the results of the analysis being obtained, all persons using the water for drinking purposes were advised to boil it, and the supply to the passengers on the platform was cut off. In February the Stationmaster was attacked, making a total of five persons from one house. Dr. Barclay had given careful instructions to prevent the spread of the disease from patient to patient, and these were, I believe, carried out as carefully as possible. In spite of this, the evidence seems to point to the fact that, whatever the source of infection of the first case, the subsequent cases were infected through the first case, and that there was no common cause, such as the water-supply or milk-supply, which was the source of infection in all the cases.

DIPHTHERIA. Table 4.

Christchurch has been comparatively, fairly free from this disease, but it has been again prevalent in Lyttelton, and also, though to a less extent, in Timaru. MEASLES. Up to December there had been about forty cases of measles reported. In December seventyfour cases were reported, Christchurch and district being most affected. In January, up to the 10th of the month, when notification of measles was discontinued, forty cases had been reported. After that date, though the information obtainable was not so exact as when notification was in force, the prevalence in the district seemed to increase for a time, and after February to decrease. Practically the only weapon that can be used against an epidemic of measles is the closure of schools, and this step had to be taken in several cases. This weapon is a poor one when an epidemic has started, but may be a most effective one if employed before the cases have become numerous, and for this reason the continuance of the notification of measles when not present in an epidemic form would be most useful. School committees are generally prepared to close a school when an epidemic of measles is already in existence, but my impression is that this is generally done too late in the case of measles. The question of when to close is often a difficult one, and in the case of a country school the local medical practitioner is often in the best position to judge, as he may know of numerous cases in the district, whereas he may only have professionally attended very few, and those few are generally the only ones that the Health Officer gets to know of, as notification by the householder is carried out very casually. TUBERCULOSIS. Of the seventy-seven notifications of phthisis received during the year thirty-one have occurred in Christchurch and suburbs. In Christchurch and suburbs there were fifty-seven deaths. This is sufficient to show that the notifications received are of no statistical importance. The object of the Health Department has been not to treat phthisis on the same lines with other infectious diseases, but to encourage notification of cases which are dangerous to the public health, or in which the interference of the Health Department might be advisable. When a case of phthisis is notified the Inspector or the Health Officer calls and leaves a pamphlet issued by the Health Department, and, if from the nature of the case it seems advisable, disinfection of the rooms occupied by the patient is offered. As it was very desirable to disinfect any room or house in which a patient suffering from consumption had died, and there existed no machinery by which the Health Department could receive information of the deaths of such persons, the Registrars of the various registration districts in the district were written to and requested to fill in a form and send B—H. 81.

Apl. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Totals. Christchurch Linwood St. Albans ... Sydenham ... Addington ... Surrounding district... Lyttelton ... Timaru Ashburton and suburbs Temuka Waimate ... Bangiora ... Kaiapoi 2 1 2 1 2 8 1 2 5 3 5 46 15 4 3 3 2 2 1 ... 1 1 1 1 1 "i "i "i i i i 5 2 3 1 1 1 "5 1 5 1 3 1 2 "a 10 3 "i 7 1 1 2 1 "7 1 2 2 2 "a "i i Totals, Christchurch and district Gross totals 5 1 2 2 3 2 3 2 1 1 2 24 11 9 13 8 8 4 7 16 8 1 6 8 99