A meeting of the health authorities at Port Chalmers (Drs Ogston, Borrie, and Hodges), the medical officers attending the Maoris throughout the Otago district, and Dr Champtaloup is to be held shortly to discuss any further measures which may be deemed necessary to cope with any outbreak.
In the meantime all passengers and seamen arriving at Bluff by Melbourne are being carefully examined by the health officer there (Dr Torrance), and suspects will, of course, be at once vaccinated.
So far as people from the north, and who may have arrived from Australia via Wellington, are concerned, they will have come under medical supervision long before coming south. It will be seen, therefore, that all necessary measures are being taken to safeguard the health of the Otago people.
A point to which attention may be drawn is that chickenpox is now a notifiable disease, and that doctors have to at once inform the health authorities of any such outbreak.
Where a doctor has not been called in the responsible persons in the house where the chickenpox occurs have to themselves notify the authorities, and a substantial penalty is provided for in the event of any omission in this direction.
• Referring to the operations of the electric power and lighting department at the meeting of the City Council last evening, the chairman (Cr Marlow) claimed that the report of his committee proved the electric department was showing steady progress.
The figures for the quarter just completed showed a substantial increase on the corresponding quarter for last year.
The department showed a sum of 1600 to the good this quarter, and this amount would have been very much exceeded had they not had the recent unfortunate break-down, which cost the department 1000 in revenue.
The speaker said the total revenue from the department this year would not be less than 50,000, and the total expenditure would not be less than 47,000, thus showing a credit of 3000.
He said he was quite prepared to admit that had the council of the day known the enormous expenditure the electric department was going to run the council into it would never have made this purchase. He was also quite prepared to admit that the council walked into the work, as it were, blindly.
Despite this, however, he considered the installation of the electric scheme was one of the wisest steps the council ever took.
• The question of prohibiting spitting on footpaths was raised in the City Council last night by Cr Sinclair, who asked the chairman of the General Committee (Cr Green) if he was going to instruct the police to enforce the expectoration by-law.
Some years ago councillors had felt that there was a need for prohibiting expectoration, and he thought they should now realise the need of enforcing that by-law.
Cr Green, in replying, said that if any case was brought under the committee's notice it would undertake a prosecution.
Cr Sinclair pointed out that this was not exactly his question, and Cr Green thereupon said he would submit the suggestion that the police be instructed to enforce the by-law to the favourable consideration of the committee. - ODT, 10.7.1913
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
