, 1890-02-05

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employed to control the sorting Of letters,
Dat these officers are now away. The
PaddingtOn postmaster reported yesterday
morning that twenty OF his Geographic
messengers were no longer available tor
the work of the Office. At Shepherds
bush five out of six are reported i'll. Out
Ola total force Of 1900 telegraph boys i'll
the London postal district 222 are not Ion
ger able to do duty, the sick thus averaE-
ing one in nine. The departmental
physicians give the average duration of
sickness from influenza as from three and
a ha,f to six days. Taking the London
postal employees as a body, one out of every
seven is on the sick list, or, to give the
precise figures, 1.S06 out ct $4,000. Yes
terday's return, when completed, will
doubtless show a larger proportion OF
.invalidS. Mr.. TombS, Controller of the
Postal Service Department, states: The
public will of course understand that 1t IL
impossible for the Department to deliver
letters with rigid punctuality, and IT the
pOstmen are rather late in their rounds We
must ask for the Indulgence of the public
generally. We hope it will 5e possible to
to maintain the full number of deliveries,
and this, Notwithstanding present Difficult
ties, will be done unless the epidemic should
assume still more alarming proportions"
The difference in the proportion of sick Ill
the City and III the suburbs is daily less.
ening. Some days ago the City return
showed almost double the number of pa
tents; now the suburban return is very
closely approXinating to that Of the head
quarter staff.
Lord Salisbury continues to make salts
factory progress towards cOnValescence.
Great care has still to BE- taken, and his
lOrdship is confined to his room, but trans
acts business of pressing nature.
The disease has attacked the employees in
the Government Small Arms Factory, En-
field Lock, to an alarming extent, over 400
hands-bcing about One-SiXth of the tOfil
having been lncapaCitated from follow
ing their duties during the past few days.
The authorizes are adopting every mea-
sure tor meeting theemtlgencipS otthecaSe.
In Dover and the neighbourh0Od the
epidemic continues to spread very much.
There is a great increase in the number OF
eases, and the local medical men have
thelI hands full. The malady is attacking
all classes. The bronchial form of the
disease does not AS yet appear to DO very
prevalent. A Calais correspondent, writ
ing yesterday, sayS the number of cases
has been greatly augmented, particularly
in the ancient part of the town, where the
malady is the most intense. Hardly a
family has escaped the disease, aud in
sOme instances AS many as five or six
people in one household are down with it.
Amongst the garrison and the employees at
the factories particularly it has been very
serious.
The epidemic has reached Great Var
mouth, several of the men at the Royal
Artillery Barracks being attacked, and the
doctors i'll the town have IA number of cases
on their hands, som of serious character.
In the outside districts the disease has APP
peared, anil in one residence seven of the
household are under treatment.
The influenza has broken out amongst
the crew of her Majesty's ship Neptune,
the guardship at Holyhead, mostly OF a
severe type. 1t is said they caught the
complaint while on leave at Portsmouth
and Plymouth. Every care is taken to pre-
vent the spreading Of the disease in the
town, and few of the tOwnSpeople are as
yet reported to be suffering from the cpl
dPmic. The Spanish steamer Palma, from
Liverpool to Cardiff, put into Holyhead
yesterday, with one of the crew dead. The
deceased was i'll before leaving Liver
pool, and expired when the steamer was a
few miles below Holy head.
Our Dublin correspondent t~elegraphs:
"The influenza epidemic is still growing in
Dublin, though its form is mild. The aged
nave especially been afflicted, and amongst
them there is a tendency for the disease to