PUBLIC HEALTH—OUTBREAK OF CHOLERA IN EGYPT—SANITARY PRECAUTIONS.

§ EARL GRANVILLE

My Lords, my noble Friend has asked me a Question upon a very important subject. No doubt, the question of the public health is one to which every Government ought always to pay the most earnest and immediate attention. Your Lordships are aware that there has been a sudden outbreak of cholera in certain parts of Egypt, chiefly at Damietta, the climate of which is, at this time of the year, of a peculiarly unhealthy character. There is not, and never has been, the slightest evidence whatever of the cholera having been brought by ships from India; and with regard to any measures taken by the Government, while we have made inquiries into the subject, we have not 159 thought it necessary to suggest any change whatever in the regulations for the protection of Egypt from the cholera, and we have no reason to believe that any change has been made in those regulations. The accounts we have received to-day in some of the newspapers is that the deaths from cholera on the 2nd of July were as follows:—Damietta, 130; Mansourah, 12; Damanhour, 4; and at Alexandria one suspicious death, which the doctor who made the examination would probably say had resulted from cholera. We are told that the Egyptian Government are, with great energy, taking steps to isolate the infected districts in which the cholera occurs. On hearing of the outbreak, my noble Friend the Secretary of State for War immediately telegraphed to the English military authorities in Egypt, requesting them to take most stringent precautions with regard to the health of the British troops, and particularly calling their attention to the regulations adopted in India with reference to cholera. I am happy to say that we have reason to believe those instructions from my noble Friend have already been anticipated by the highest English military authorities in Egypt before they reached that country. With regard to our Colonial ports, quarantine has been established for 10 days at Cyprus, and other precautions taken. At Malta, quarantine for 21 days, with other precautions, has been established; while at Gibraltar it has been established for 21 days. With regard to what has been done at home upon the subject of cholera, the noble Earl opposite (the Earl of Wemyss), in common with your Lordships, must be aware that the responsibility of dealing with cholera was 12 years ago transferred from the Privy Council to the Local Government Board. In 1873, Mr. Stansfeld issued an Order, which had been passed in Council, carrying out the three principles of medical inspection, disinfection, and isolation of those seized with illness. That Order remains in full force at this moment; but it has been thought proper, in case attention should not be given to it, to re-issue it immediately with some alterations of a substantial character. It is not for me to say anything of an official character as to what danger there is to Europe from this sudden outbreak; but it may be satisfactory to your Lordships to hear 160 the opinion of one of the most eminent medical authorities of the day—Sir William Gull—upon the subject. It is contained in the following letter, written to me to-day, and which I will read to the House:— Dear Lord Granville,—I have watched, with some interest, the character of the reported outbreak of cholera in Egypt. Up to this time I have not thought there was much ground of alarm, either for Egypt, or for the spread of an epidemic of the disease in Europe. When epidemics of cholera have been extensive and severe, they have generally been preceded in the foregoing winter and spring by scattered cases, and there has been a history of outbreaks in some parts of the East. On this occasion it has not been so. The reported outbreak has been local and sudden, and I believe that at present we may expect it will subside and not become epidemic.

PUBLIC HEALTH—OUTBREAK OF CHOLERA IN EGYPT—SANITARY PRECAUTIONS.—QUESTION.