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III
also paid for loss of work. Many of the " contacts " were poor, and could ill afford the loss of wages incurred by their enforced stay in the isolation camp. By your direction all such persons were paid for their loss of time upon the production of satisfactory evidence as to salary, &c. This, though not provided for in the Public Health Act, is only fair and just, as through no fault of theirs they were set apart for the time being as much in the interests of the colony at large, as in their own. Mr. Wigram on behalf of his Council placed eight men at our disposal for the purpose of disinfection and the removal of patients, "contacts," and "suspects." While our officers and these men were engaged in the work they were housed apart. A detailed account of the case' was set out in Dr. Marks's special report. There were in all fourteen cases of small-pox. The numbc of Public Vaccinators was greatly augmented, and every opportunity was given the people to become vaccinated. In addition to notifying the public that they could be vaccinated at the offices of the several Public Vaccinators, organized relays of medical men were in attendance at the Health Office from 9in the morning till 9at night. In this way the vast number of 15,417 were vaccinated within a fortnight in Christchurch alone. Arrangements were made with large employers of labour so that their workers could be done in batches and at hours which would interfere as little as possible with their business. All this, however, great as it was, represents but a little of the work done by the departmental officers during this time of danger and excitement. Not only from Christchurch but from all parts of the colony did we receive disquieting reports of suspicious cases. Looking to the fact that cases had occurred prior to the segregation of the patient of the 11th January, we could not afford to disregard any rumour or report. An officer had to be despatched at once to consult with the medical man reporting and to supervise the isolation, disinfection, or liberation of the suspect, as the necessities of the case required. In every large centre, as well as in the country, people streamed in upon the officials asking to be vaccinated, and the extraordinarily great demands for lymph had to be met. The police under Inspector Gillies lent us great and valuable help in the guarding of houses and hotels where suspected cases had been. At one time we had as many as nine places being guarded night and day. lam pleased to say that there was no instance in which the isolated ones sought to evade the restrictions which we felt it our duty to impose in order to conserve the general safety and stamp out the disease. This says much for the law-abiding nature of our citizens, and something for the tact and discrimination with which the officers of the Department carried out their unsavoury, and in some instances disagreeable, duties. There were thirteen cases treated at the hospital, with, I am glad to say, no deaths. The disease fortunately was of a mild type, though, as will be seen from some of the photographs, the patients presented well-marked evidence of the nature of the disease. An attempt was made in the treatment of the cases to adopt the procedure suggested by Dr. Finsen. The windows of the wards were covered with red blinds, and the patients wore red veils in order to cut off the chemical or violet rays of the sun. Finsen asserts that by this method of treatment the secondary or suppurative fever can be prevented. As, however, most of our cases did not come under observation 7 until the pocks had become pustular, accurate scientific deductions could not be made. Much of the'itching and irritation which usually accompanies the rash was undoubtedly allayed, and some of the freedom from pitting and destruction of the skin may safely be ascribed to this treatment. The woman from whom the 11th January case contracted the disease aborted and the child was, so her medical attendant informed me, much marked with pocks. Our case lam glad to say, although pregnant, went to the full time, and was delivered of a fine healthy child. Careful and exhaustive investigation gave no evidence which could connect the outbreak in Christchurch with the cases which occurred on board the " Gracchus "in May. The interval between May and November is too great to admit of the disease remaining quiescent, even if the very efficient steps taken to cope with the disease in May be disregarded. The only inference therefore which can be drawn with respect to the origin of the recent outbreak is that our colony became infected by means of mailmatter or merchandise from Tasmania. This of course cannot be positively demonstrated, and can only be arrived at and justified by a process of exclusion. The outbreak demonstrates once again the impossibility of defending our colony from outside attacks by any system of inspection or quarantine, even when combined with that amount of fumigation which the laws of commercial intercommunication admit of. With careful inspection such as is carried out in New Zealand it would be next to impossible for a person actually suffering from small-pox to escape the cordon, but absolute safety can come only in one way, and that is through efficient vaccination and revaccination. The ranks of the " conscientious objectors "have been greatly depleted, and it is worthy of record that one lifelong antagonist of vaccination powerful to hamper our efforts was able without offence to his long-cherished convictions to lend us yeoman service. I wish it were possible that this gentleman's name could be mentioned because of his self-sacrifice and abnegation at a time when our opponents were clamouring for him to raise their flag. As might be expected in a country such as this, where a
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