Wellington Independent 10 January 1873
According to clauses 17 and 18 of the Public Health Act, which are published in

yesterday”s Gazette for general information, it shall be the duty of every

medical practitioner or householder to make known at once to the local board any case of infectious or contagious disease which may come under his notice, under a penalty of ten pounds.

Sinclair Family
John James Sinclair died 26 Dec 1873
William Sinclair died 31 Oct 1874

Evening Post 31 December 1873
DEATH
SINCLAIR.- On the 26th instant, at Taita, John James, son of Mr James L. Sinclair, aged 23 months
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could not see a funeral notice
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Daily Southern Cross 14 January 1874
SINCLAIR On December 29, at Taita, Wellington, of diphtheria, John James, fifth son of Mr. James L. Sinclair, aged 23 months

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Birth Details
1861/668, Augusta Boulcott – no parents listed

Hutt Valley Cemetery Record Augusta Boulcott, Date: None listed, Christ Church Anglican, Taita, Monumental Inscriptions, Reference: 116
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Burial Record Date: 4/2/1874, St James Anglican, Lower Hutt

Wellington Independent 5 February 1874
BOULCOTT.- On the 4th February, at Taita, Hutt, of diphtheria, Augusta Boulcott, fourth daughter of Almon and Lavinia Boulcot, aged 12 years and 6 months

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Evening Post 18 February 1874
On the 16th inst, at Taita, Hutt, of diptheria, Hebe, sixth daughter of Almon Boulcott, aged 7 years.
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On the 17th inst, at Taita, Hutt, of diptheria, Charles, second son of Almon Boulcott, aged 4 years.
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FUNERAL NOTICE
The friends of Mr BOULCOTT are respectfully invited to attend the FUNERAL of his late daughter Hebe.
The funeral will leave his residence Taita, on WEDNESDAY, 18th February, at 3 o”clock p.m.
JOHN HALL,
Undertaker.

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Evening Post 31 October 1874
Deaths
On the 31st inst, at Taita, Wellingtion, William, youngest son of James L. Sinclair, aged 10 months
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could not see a Funeral Notice

Wellington Independent 28 February 1874
CLEMENT.- On the 25th instant, at Taita, Hutt, Lucy, infant daughter of Mr G

Clement, aged 8 months
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Funeral Notice
The friends on Mr CLEMENT are respectfully invited to atatend the funeral of his late infant daughter Lucy, to leave his residence, Taita, on Saturday 27, 1874, at 4 p.m.
JOHN HALL,
Undertaker

Evening Post 9 March 1874
On the 8th inst, of diptheria, Alexander Yule, eldest son of W. S. Milne, Taita, aged 7 years and 4 months
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The friends of Mr. W. S. Milne are respectfully informed that the funeral of his late son Alexander will take place at Taita, on TUESDAY, the 10th INST, at 3 o”clock.
JOHN EDWARDS,
Undertaker
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Wellington Independent 10 March 1874
MILNE.- On the 8th instant, at the Taita, of diphtheria, Alexander Yule, eldest son of Mr S. Milne, Esq., M.P.C., aged 7 years

Wellington Independent 12 March 1874
TAITA.
A meeting was held at the residence of the schoolmaster, on the evening of the 9th inst., for the purpose of forming a Sanitary Committee, that measures might be taken to hinder diphtheria from spreading in the district. Mr Bruce occupied the chair, and stated that, when there was a local School Committee, and scarlet fever was prevalent in the district, a regulation was laid down that children could not be admitted to the school until a month had elapsed after their perfect recovery. Mr George Burnett thought that some alterations should be made for the proper ventilation of the school, and the removal of the closets to a greater distance from the main building. The schoolmaster said the Board had been duly apprised of the needed improvements, and nearly two months ago had requested him to obtain the services of a professional man, and forward estimates, but three carpenters he had applied to were too busy to enter upon it till they had completed their contracts. Mr Beetham and Mr Ross had offered to give their advice whenever it was required on the estimated cost of the necessary improvements. On the subject of the malady that has unhappily proved fatal here in six cases, it was thought the frost which occurred on Monday morning might cheek its further progress, but it was also considered advisable that the Central Board of Health should be communicated with, and their advice solicited with reference
to preservatives from epidemic diphtheria, and the best means for disinfecting houses in which the disease had appeared. It was observed that when diphtheria prevailed in the district before, those families that had cases of scarlet fever in one year were free from diphtheria the next, from which it might be inferred that the causes that produce croup, diphtheria, and scarlet fever are somewhat similar.

Wellington Independent 30 March 1874
PRESERVATIVES FROM EPIDEMIC DIPHTHERIA.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE INDEPENDENT.
SIR,— In your issue of the 24th current, there is a melancholy account of four children carried, off by diphtheria, in a large family at Southbridge, in Canterbury; and, not much more than a month ago, three promising children were taken from a family by the same disease at Taita, Hutt.
When this terrible malady appears in a house, the medical attendant recommends the isolation of the patient as much as possible, and the removal of the other children (if there be any), provided the parents are in a position to send them elsewhere. But parents, for obvious reasons, always give the most comfortable room to a child laboring under this or any other disease. Yet, as this disease is infectious (though I do not believe it to be so communicable as some other human diseases), I would counsel parents to place the patient in the uppermost bedroom in the house, when the other children cannot be conveniently sent away; see that the excretions are promptly and carefully removed; and isolate the patient as much as possible from the lower apartments by thorough ventilation of the other sleeping rooms.
The poison of diphtheria, I am disposed to think, is almost harmless by day; but when the air in a bedroom is warmed, and mixed with carbonic acid gas, as at night, it appears to travel some distance. And parents who preserve locks of hair, of children who have died from tnia disease, ought to expose the hair to the temperature of boiling water, and if this be not convenient at the time, the locks should be kept in a cool place till they can be purified in the manner I have described. ��� I am, &c,
SANITAS. March 27th, 1874.