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call for volunteers was originally made the disease
which had broken out and which was fast spreading was
to all appearances very fatal and contagious, yet Major
General Barker seeing the need of the Colony, and the
danger which threatened it, at once assumed the responsi-
bility of permitting the military to volunteer for house
to house visitation and other offices, and for the
removal of the sick and dead, with all the attendant
dangers.
A further and more urgent call for volunteers
was made later on, and this was also sanctioned by
Major General Barker until about 400 men of all ranks
were employed.
There is no doubt that the military volunteers
rendered very great service to the Colony, and that it
was largely due to their untiring efforts and to the good
work performed by them that the plague was checked and
eventually trampled out.
The general assisted the Colony in other ways,
and the Committee fully acknowledging the value of his aid, unanimously decided that the thanks of the community
should be tendered to him, and that your Excellency
should be approached with a view to the services rendered
by him in connection with the plague being brought to the special notice of Her Majesty's Government for
further recognition.