Second Meeting: 7th August, 1911.
Mr. J. H. Upton, President, in the chair.

New Members.—Messrs. T. Bassett, A. G. Lunn, W. H. Webbe, W. E. Woodward.

Lecture.—“Sources of Plague in Auckland, and its Prevention.” By R. H. Makgill, M.D.

The lecturer briefly alluded to the history of plague, which he said was the most anciently known of diseases, the first record being at least four thousand years old; and traced the more important epidemics of plague during historic times. During the nineteenth century, however, the old endemic centres of the East had become practically free from plague, and the present widespread prevalence of the disease had been traced to the Chinese province of Yun-nan, in which it appears to be truly endemic. It reached India in 1896, and, favoured by the rapid transit of modern times, found its way to Australia and New Zealand in 1900. In Auckland in the past eleven years there has been twenty certain cases of plague, nine of them being fatal. The characteristic disappearance of the disease for intervals manifested itself during that time. In 1901 there was one case, in 1902 none, in 1903 three, in 1904 two, in 1905 and 1906 none, in 1907 two, in 1908 and 1909 none, in 1910 three, and 1911 eight. As plague was usually discoverable in rats in Sydney, it might reasonably be supposed to have been absent during the intervals, and to have been reintroduced by rodents brought across. Point was lent to this supposition by the fact that the first case after the last interval occurred in a man who had been handling goods from Sydney. But until quite recently the examination of rats had not been sufficiently widespread to make it quite certain that the disease had not remained in the rats of the locality.

The lecturer pointed out that it was now perfectly well established that the rat carried the disease from place to place, and that infected rats were always found to precede cases of human plague. When the disease was once firmly established among the rats of any city, then the rat-flea became the carrier of the disease from rat to man. Now, fleas, and to a smaller extent rats, are always much more abundant in summer and autumn than at any other time of the year. Hence we find that the twenty cases of plague in Auckland had occurred as follows: Five in March, three in April, seven in May, and five in June. In combating plague, constant war must be waged against the rat and the flea. One of the first lines of defence was the water-front; and the ferro-concrete wharves, as far as they had been adopted in Auckland, had brought about a great reduction in the rat-population. But much remained to be done in the city itself. Eternal vigilance was the price of immunity from plague. Spasmodic effort could not take the place of continuous hard work, and hysteria was dangerous. Every one must keep his premises, and especially his business premises, clean, and encourage others to do the same; and care should be taken to elect to the local governing bodies men who would see that sanitary laws were effective and properly executed.

Third Meeting: 28th August, 1911.
Mr. J. H. Upton, President, in the chair.

New Members.—R. Burns, W. Coleman, H. C. Choyce, Bishop Crossley, G. Dunnett, J. W. Ellis, Dr. W. A. Fairclough, Dr. G. Fenwick, Rev. H. A. Favell, H. T. Gorrie, J. H. Gunson, H. R. Hesketh, Dr. P. A. Lindsay, S. Milroy, W. F. Napier, S. J. Nathan, P. Oliphant, A. B. Roberton, W. Ware, W. S. Whitley, J. W. Wiseman, Captain C. A. Young.