Auckland Institute 



41 



AUCKLAND INSTITUTE. 



•Second Meeting : 7th August, 1911 . 



Mr. J. H. Upton, President, in the chair. 



New Members.— Messrs. T. Bassett, A. G. Lunn, W. H. Webbe, W. E. 

 Woodward. 



Lecture. — " Sources of Plague in Auckland, and its Prevention." Bv 

 R. H. Makgill, M.D. 



The lecturer briefly alluded to the history of plague, which he said was the 

 most anciently known of diseases, the first record being at least four thousand years 

 old ; and traced the more important epidemics of plague during historic times. 

 During the nineteenth century, however, the old endemic centres of the East had 

 become practically free from plague, and the present widespread prevalence of the 

 disease had been traced to the Chinese province of Yun-nan, in which it appeal's 

 to be truly endemic. It reached India in 1896, and, favoured by the rapid transit 

 of modern times, found its way to Australia and New Zealand in 1900. In Auck- 

 land in the past eleven years there has been twenty certain cases of plague, nine 

 of them being fatal. The characteristic disappearance of the disease for intervals 

 manifested itself during that time. In 1901 there was one case, in 1902 none, in 

 1903 three, in 1904 two, in 1905 and 1906 none, in 1907 two, in 1908 and 1909 

 none, in 1910 three, and 1911 eight. As plague was usually discoverable in rats in 

 Sydney, it might reasonably be supposed to have been absent during the intervals, 

 and to have been reinti-oduced by rodents brought across. Point was lent to this 

 supposition by the fact that the first case after the last interval occurred in a man 

 who had been handling goods from Sydney. But until quite recently the examina- 

 tion of rats had not been sufficiently widespread to make it quite certain that the 

 disease had not remained in the rats of the locality. 



The lecturer pointed out that it was now perfectly well established that the 

 rat carried the disease from place to place, and that infected rats were always found 

 to precede cases of human plague. When the disease was once firmly established 

 among the rats of any city, then the rat-flea became the carrier of the disease 

 from rat to man. Now, fleas, and to a smaller extent rats, are always much mor6 

 abundant in summer and autumn than at any other time of the year. Hence we 

 find that the twenty cases of plague in Auckland had occurred as follows : Five 

 in March, three in April, seven in May, and five in June. In combating plague, 

 constant war must be waged against the rat and the flea. One of the first lines of 

 defence was the water-front ; and the ferro-concrete wharves, as far as they had 

 been adopted in Auckland, had brought about a great reduction in the rat-popula- 

 tion. But much remained to be done in the city itself. Eternal vigilance was the 

 price of immunity from plague. Spasmodic effort could not take the place of con- 

 tinuous hard work, and hysteria was dangerous. Every one must keep his premises, 

 and especially his business premises, clean, and encourage others to do the same ; 

 and care should be taken to elect to the local governing bodies men who would see 

 that sanitary laws were effective and properly executed. 



Third MeetinCx : 28th August, 1911. 



Mr. J. H. Upton, President, in the chair. 



New Members. — R. Burns, W. Coleman, H. C. Choyce, Bishop 

 Crossley, G. Dunnett, J. W. Ellis, Dr. W. A. Fairclough, Dr. G. Fenwick, 

 Rev. H. A. Favell, H. T. Gorrie, J. H. Gunson, H. R, Hesketh, Dr. P. A. 

 Lindsay, S. Milroy, W. F. Napier, S. J. Nathan, P. Oliphant, A. B. 

 Roberton, W. Ware, W. S. Whitley, J. W. Wiseman, Captain C. A. 

 Young. 



