, 1893-02-11

VAANA W. A&NS OpA oaA' AIN w w
fected, this is attended with the great in con
venience and expense Of theii having to go
TO st. Thomas to be diSinfected; but III truth,
this is but a matter of form, for, as shown
IN an instance not long ago, the vessel Id
which they are brought over, 10 not disln-
fected before it returns to St. Croix, the crsw
as well as other passengers are allowed to
mix at once with the other population, and
the mails too ae landed and distributed
without disinfection. The schooner landed
the mails in st. Thomas and returned
without further. as regards the question
of infection by letters, it has, as far as he
knew, always been considered a matter of ex-
perlence, that paper is one Of the greatest con-
ductors of the germs of disease and with
reference to mails arriving from the United
States TO West End, it is the case that the
Custom House men go aboard, get the mail
bags and bring them on shore the bags are
placed in the Office and the men go about in
the town, without any change of garment or
undergoing any distinction by, for instance,a
bath in carbolio water. Now, if disinfection
is necessary, whether it be Of the bags or the
letters, it deserves to he done properly and
effectively. His Excellency says it belongs
to the Sanitary Authorities to propose whot
measures are needed in West End to afford
more adequate means of protection but if
H0S - OOL4AuASpAoIlo uGRl6GI IuolA 0ubgJ bnd6
should not prevent the Members of the {.
Council from introducing the matters here and
not wait all the time ON those Commissions;
in fact it is the duty of the Members az repre-
sentatlves to forward the matter and lay it
before Cover .ment. Now it is certainly alb
solutely necessary 10 have some proper dis
injecting means in West End, and it should
not 10 left to those Commissions alone to de-
eide, but Government too should look into the
matter and if the Commissions fail to talk
the matter over and to agree upon the proper
measures, why then Government must step in,
and if nothing comes from that quarter, the
people must by their representatives urge tbs
matter, whichis one Of urge4t necessity to the
welfare of the whole community. We can not
be too particular in trying to prevent the
cholera from coming here for if it does, it
will play easy havoc among our labourers
on their work we have to depend we all
know how their habits are, and we can easily
tell that their habits and condition will mako
them easy prey for the epidemic. None Of
our labourers are too clean, and those OF us
who have had a chance of seeing those people
In their homes and seeing their houses, will
tell how it would be if cholera gets among
them. And what then would become of the
Island? When first be heard of the cholera
raging in Europe and the United States last
year, anu as he knew steamers were running
from the States to this Island, he had deter
mined to do what he could on his est ates; he
had lad The labourers' houses white washed
and cleansed inside and the hog pens and
horse stables removed to the west of the build
ings; some time after he saw the general order
ACCORDING to which everybody was bound to
do it. But. after doing all that we can, still
we leave q great opening for infection from
abroad through passengers and mails. 1t is
an important matter this before us !; this pro-
posal deserves serious consider alton, and that
matter should be properly and speedily hand
led, so that for instance passengers need not
to go to another Island to be disinfected and
gain PERMISSION to land here, and if they DO
go, they should remain there for a time. Here
we are now for a time actually doing nothing:
the cholera is still in Europe and as the cold
weather passes and the warm season sets in,
we must expect it to spread.
3rd Member for Frsderiksted's Country
District (He.Oitt): Regarding the proposal he
would beg to say, that in looking over the
Draft Of Budget for l899-94 he had found
ST. 100 as an additional item under the Sanitary
Department, and he had thought that a disin-
fecting oven was included in it; it is true, it
is not explained what the amount is for, but it
was a conclusion he had arrived at. The pro-