The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 1884.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIV, Issue 4325, 27 March 1884, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 1884.

For the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrong that nooda resistance, For tho futuro in the distance, And the Keod that we can do.

There is a rather nice question which should receive the attention of Councillors in connection with the recent death from typhoid fever in Franklin Road—for in spite of Inspector Goldie's singular denial, wo believe thero is no reason to doubt that the case was one of typhoid, arid of a very virulent typo. It appears that tho residents in the street, which has no pipe-drain down it, are precluded by the city authorities from draining out into the water channels. Tho consequenco is that tho whole of the sewage from the houses must Ho festering in the back yards. Tho reason for this edict is, we believe, that to run the drainagein to theguttersisonly extending the nuisance from private premises to the public thorougbfaie ; but the latter evil is likely, wo think, to prove very much tho least. The whole sewage water of Melbourne passes down the streot channels, and there are those who declare this system, unsightly as it is, to be the bost method of drainage, becauso it is more completely under control than when solid sewerage matter is carried in pipes under-ground. Without endorsing this opinion, which tho present municipal authorities of Melbourne do not now enfjoyso, it is quite possible by flushing the gutters, and by the action pf rain-water upon thorn, to keep them tolerahly sweet. Tho filth necessarily created in small backyards, under tho prohibitory order, howovor, is tenfold more dangerous to tho public health than the waste water of houses could over become. It generates infectious disorders, which will not bo controlled by by-laws, but will issuq forth from sick chambers, carrying death abroad. Of two evils, wo prefer one that is open and can be grappled with—tho hidden danger is what wo have most to fear—and tho Council merely enact the part of the ostrich in telling people to create nuisances in thoir back promises, and thon declaring the town to bo clean. Until pipp drains arc laid* ordinary house water ought to bo permitted to flow down tjio channels, and those in summer should bo regularly (lushed. When any householder abuses this priviloge by draining offensive matter into the gutters, he pap bo brought tp book.