, 1893-02-11

crop. but Frederiksted is the port requiring
fumigating to be made of passengers and mails.
and it can not but look strange that Frederik-
ated has no fumigating appliances beyond
those Of 8 very primitive nature, to which
allusion has been made by the honorable End
Member for Frederiksted Blown, while
Chriatiansted has such an oven. If it be ne
ceSsary to fumigate, then it should be done
properly, or not at all here the men throw
the mail bags in the Custom House and they
20 their way up town mixing with everybody;
afterwards the letters are put In a box and
fumigated of course no fault can be attached
to the Collector in charge of the Institution;
there are no other means provided. The Co
vsrnment should not hesitate to act i'll this
matter at once. The Cholera is on the in
crease in Europe; spring season will cause
further spread it would indeed be a terrible
calamity, if it should come among US. The
oven cam cost much. and it is quite necessary
and urgent.
The Governor said it seems that there is q
strong belief entertained by Members Of the
good to be derived from a dislnfectlng oven
for the purpose of disinfecting mails but he
would beg to state that as far as Government
is aware, 1t is acknowledged nowadays by
experts, that letters in themselves are not apt
to convey Infection, and hence the fumigating
of letters is not Of great use, or at all events
not a great necessity but it is believed that
the Enclosures, the mail bags, can and 10 con-
~ey infection it is those that are to be disin-
footed that can easily be done by dipping
them in a solution of Sublimate. For disin-
fecting mails a disinfectlng Oven in Frederik-
sted is not necessary. For other purposes,
such as for disinfecting apparels and articles
of clothing, a disinfecting oven is more useful,
particularly woollen articles should be disin-
fected in that way but that is not the only
thing to be considered for when there is ques-
tion of disinfecting woollcn articles Of clothing
or the like, it must chiefly be because passen-
gers from infected or suspected ports are under
existing quarantine regulations allowed 80
land; but to give such a permission would at
the same time imply or, impose the Decessi-
ty of proper quarantine establishments but
for that the Island is too small and measures
of that sort would of course cost q great deal
of money. AS regards the honorable Men,
ber's remarks about the 81 100 on the Draft
of Budget ind + the Sanitary Department,
he had intended when the Budget came on to
explain whal Governments intentions are in
proposing that amount the honorable Chair
ma! had stated that the Council would not go
to The Budget now he would have stated
that the amount is for the purpose Of perform
ing Suc1 ulslnIecClnR measures as might De
found useful and advisable. AS regards the
present question, Government has no recon-
msndation from the Sanitary Authorities to
start from; he did not mean by this to blame
any one, but merely to say that Government
must await such recommendation before it
can say anything further in the matter.
2ud Member for Fredsriksted's Country
District (BlaekWoOd) said, His Excelleuoy
had touched about the Island being two mail
for a real extensive Quarantine Station; With
that he (Blackwood) agreed; but in all ordinary
cases, precautionary measures could be effect
cd without great apparatuses and expense.
When great epidemics prevail, ST. Thomas is
the place, and st. Thomas is already provided.
But in cases like those we witnessed last fall,
where parties had to go to St. Thomas to be
merely disinfeoted and then to return, witt
out any disinfection of the vessel that carried
the pal ties over, it becomes a burthen, and a
useless if not Elusive burthen. AS regards
= disinfeoting' Oven in West End, we'll, it
ought certainly not to cost much. The
Governor; how much? p that is what we
want to know it must depend upon the size;
and if he had to build one himself, he would
know exactly how to avoid it's costing more
than worth. We have now the sum Of
$1,000, much could be got for that, and it is
not too much to use for preventive measures.