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Death rates in South Island towns and counties from the influenza pandemic
Robert Makgill Following the pandemic speculation continued over the Niagara's involvement in bringing the virus to New Zealand. The Department of Public Health was also heavily criticised. The government responded by setting up a royal commission with wide powers of investigation. It fell to Robert Makgill, acting Chief Health Officer, to implement the Commission's recommendations. One of the recommendations, which Makgill had argued for, was for a new Health Act ‘to consolidate and simplify the existing legislation'.
It is clear that no matter how the second wave developed in New Zealand, it was many times more deadly than any previous influenza outbreaks. No other event has killed so many New Zealanders in so short a space of time. While the First World War claimed the lives of more than 18,000 New Zealand soldiers over a four-year period, the second wave of the 1918 influenza epidemic killed almost 8600 people in less than two months. Influenza in institutions Death did not occur evenly throughout the country. Some communities were decimated; others escaped largely unscathed.
The first wave When the ‘new pandemic flu’ first appeared in 1918 there was no immediate cause for alarm. The disease was different to other strains experienced in the past – for example, it was unusually prevalent amongst young healthy adults. But most people affected by what would turn out to be ‘the first wave’ of the pandemic recovered. The Spanish flu The 1918 influenza pandemic was commonly referred to as ‘the Spanish flu’ but it did not originate in Spain.
Many people believed that the second wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic arrived in New Zealand in the form of ‘a deadly new virus’ on board the RMS Niagara.
This web feature was written by Imelda Bargas and produced by the NZHistory.net.nz team. We are grateful to Geoffrey Rice for his assistance and to Karen Cameron for information about the pandemic in Samoa. Links  1918 influenza epidemic on the Christchurch City Libraries website The Spanish flu – this Wikipedia page has links to other sites Ministry of Health – see this website for information about the 21st-century avian influenza scare and how New Zealand is preparing for another pandemic Books
A woman describes the importance of the work of nurses and of the Red Cross in training them.
Sound file (Click on arrow to play 240kb) This clip requires Flash Player 7 or higher. Download latest version of Flash Player. var so = new SWFObject("/media/mp3player.swf", "audioplayer3672", "290", "24", "7"); so.addVariable("playerID", "3672"); so.addVariable("righticonhover", "0xffffff");so.addVariable("text", "0x666666"); so.addVariable("loader", "0x9FFFB8"); so.addVariable("soundFile", "/files/sound/flu/overwhelmed.mp3"); so.write("flashcontent"); Transcript[Woman speaking] It just got so that if you wanted help - if you didn't feel so well - you opened your window and you put a white rag out the window and you unlocked you front door and left a white rag on the handle of the door you see so that anybody could come in and when these people who were going around on motorbikes in cars saw them you see they got out to investigate because it was beyond, you couldn't deal with it. You just couldn't deal with it at all. It was beyond anything.
As adults fell to influenza, children were called upon to help with deliveries and other chores.
Many children were made orphans by the pandemic. For others it was just an extended holiday from school.
One man tells of the terrible situations his family faced during the pandemic.
The effects of influenza sent some people 'raving mad'.
All sorts of remedies were tried to cure victims of the pandemic. Many were of little use.
Those suffering from influenza had little interest in celebrating the end of the First World War.
The lethal influenza pandemic that struck New Zealand between October and December 1918 killed more than 8600 people in two months. No other event has claimed so many New Zealand lives in such a short time.
This carved wooden Maori cenotaph was erected at Te Koura marae in memory of those who died in the 1918 influenza pandemic.
The Union Steam Ship Company's trans-Pacific liner Niagara in Auckland. Many people believed a deadly new influenza virus came to New Zealand aboard the Royal Mail liner Niagara, which arrived in Auckland from Vancouver and San Francisco on 12 October 1918.
In what looks more like a cowshed than a medical facility, Christchurch citizens line up in an inhalation chamber for a dose of zinc sulphate. Like many supposed cures for the flu, it probably did more harm than good.
An influenza medicine depot in Christchurch for poor people