Plague and Riot 



nervous about the importation of serious in- 

 fectious diseases, especially bubonic plague and 

 cholera. There are good grounds for this 

 state of apprehension. A large number of 

 steamers call here from Southern ports, 

 especially those of South America, and strangers 

 are constantly coming and going. Waterborne 

 diseases are invited by the primitive character 

 of the water-supply. Water, pure in its source, 

 is brought from the hills in open conduits, and in 

 its passage is liable to pollution of every kind. 

 The absence of an effective drainage system is 

 perhaps less serious, as owing to the numerous 

 fissures in the volcanic rock, impurities find 

 their own way of escape. Arrangements for 

 the isolation and proper treatment of disease 

 are, or were, inadequate ; and above all the 

 funds at the disposal of the local authorities are 

 quite insufficient to deal with an outbreak. 



And if an epidemic occurs the indirect results 

 are likely to be far more serious to the island 

 than the mere sickness itself. There is a dense 

 population living under conditions of extrava- 

 gant protection, amounting almost to State 

 Socialism, and engaged in an industry created 

 and fostered by the State, for whose welfare the 



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