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I have requested the Government Interpreter to try and locate the death of the man alluded to, and I enclose herewith his report. This may or may not be the case referred to by Dr. Dawson, but the Interpreter believes it to be the case. Might I draw your attention to the correspondence already before you of Dr. Dawson's attitude with regard to a true case of leprosy in the Penrhyn settlement on this island, and his action thereon; also the correspondence which is before you with regard to a plague scare which proved to have no existence. I think I may be pardoned if, when these two cases are read, I say that I doubt very much whether the three cases he quoted ever existed. He did not consult Dr. Chesson on the subject prior to the latter's departure, neither did he do so to Dr. Story. You must not forget the statements made by Dr. Dawson to Dr. Chesson that his fight was not with Dr. Chesson but with the New Zealand Government. I am, of course, as representative of the New Zealand Goverriment here, bearing the brunt, but as my conscience is clear and my administration can always be vindicated, I pa}' very little attention to the sayings or writings of Dr. Dawson and two other individuals who have no interest in the Cook Islands whatever except of a vindictive nature. I have, &c, J. Eman Smith, Resident Commissioner. The Hon. the Minister in Charge, Cook Islands Administration, Wellington. Statement made by Raea Vaine (Ngau), Mother op Tau (deceased). My son resided at Titikaveka. Tau was his name. He had been suffering from severe diarrhoea. • I was sent for, and went out to see him. When I got to Titikaveka I found him in a very weak state. He also suffered from some complaint of the anus, which discharged a great deal of pus. The Taote Meangiti (Dr. Dawson) attended him and cured the diarrhoea, but he was very weak, just skin and bones. The doctor said that hare c ravenga —there was not much hope for him. I saw myself that there was no hope, for when I got out to Titikaveka he had fallen down under an au-tree, and we left him there and dug a hole under him so as he could do his stool into that hole. After the diarrhoea had ceased the deceased was in a very low condition. I attended on him the whole time. I did not see the doctor perform any operation on him, nor did he tell me to have him brought into the Hospital. He died about a -week after I went to him —died in February or March, lam not sure. My daughter knows all about it. The above statement, made by Ngau to me this 17th day of May, was taken down by me at the time she made it. S. Savage, 17th May, 1911. Government Interpreter.
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