Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1881-04-30

IT CANNOT ho denied that there cNiss now
amongst our business community constantly
growing feeling of mpaticncc and irritation
Ni tie long continued restrictions Of the quar-
nntine The small pox has boon amongst us
for several months, ia now, and will ho we
fear Tor months 10 come, if evasion of vncoi-
nation and conccalmcnt Of disease continue to
be practiccd. Meanwhile the public outlay
has reached nm enormous figaro per day,
business is seriously homporcd, eommnico-
tious rendered uncertain and Irregular. chill
dren deprived of school advantages, and yet
no mark made as far os this island Is con-
corucd, 1t is we know very oasy To find fault
and very difficult 10 find remedies, and we do
not underestimate the unpleasant tilemmas
the Board finds itself in. We must allow that
it is owing to the quarantine regulations that
the disease has been confined hitherto almost
exclusively TO this island, and we must also
admit that every brauch of trade il dtuadmly
hindcred; retailers especially find their husi-
ness falling off woefully, and this of course
tells on the Wholesale houses Tourists and
would-be visitors pass by. and foreign papers
dcscant on the epidemic in Honolulu some
times not without exuggoratiug its violence
Tho question is, what can be done unlurtuu-
atoly there is no law compelling adults TO
submit to vaccination. We might suggest
that both the city, and the island be divided
into districts of manageable size and kept
under strict supervision by officers appointed
for the purpose, that house to house inspec-
ton should be instituted not only Cor the pur-
pose of reporting already existing disease, but
for vaocinatinng or revaccinating those who
need it. The district Justices and travelling
physicians might he called upon to act in con-
cert. and in the absence of compulsory law we
imagine it competent to the Privy Council to
make such regulations MS the emergency may
in their opinion seem to require. We do not
believe that there are dozen adults in the
kingdom who would refuse vaccination, al the
hands of properly qualified physician, if it
were represented advisable for the public
welfare. Surely something of the kind might
be done, and that it might be no longer possible
that cases should be concealed until nothing
but death dealing corpse remains to be dis
covered. Every physician OF district, with
an attendant constable, going his round care
fully making a muster roll of the dwellers in
and about any infected house and inspecting
them all daily, where practicable, would
surely prevent for the future such discoveries
as we have mentioned. Possibly too, expenses
may be reduced, without sacrifice of efficient
precautions, by discharging or removing to
more useful spheres of action, a number of
the temporary police, if the Board of HEALTH
using some discrimination, would exempt
from watching the households of those who
are well known to be able aud willing to keep
up their own own isolation. The promise on
honor of many heads of households who deem
it advisable to seclude themselves for u certain
period. prescribed by the Board, would, we
think, be more efficient guarantee than the
presence of II newly engaged and unframed
constable.