UNHEALTHY WELLINGTON.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 109, 9 May 1892, Page 2

UNHEALTHY WELLINGTON.

The sanitary state of the city of Wellington has of late been the text for moralisings, not only throughout the length and breath of New Zealand, but also in Australia and even in Great Britain, and the Empire City just now enjoys an unenviable notoriety as being about the worst - drained city in these

colonies. But the Wellington press and

people are very loth to admit this, and if the matter wero nob so serious the indignant repudiations of these accusations by the Wellingtoniana would savour very much of the ridiculous. The fact of Wellington's dirt and disease is so patent, and the ravages caused by fever induced by bad drainage in the city are so undeniable, that the feeble attempts of the local papers to the charges levelled against Wellington sanitation fall through altogether, and aggravate rathor than mitigate the scandal. It is a matter of wide comment just now that typhoid fever —the inevitable result of bad and careless drainage and grossly inefficient sanitation—is very prevalent in Wellington, and that scoree of residents of that city have been carried off b}' this plague during the summer months of 1891-92. Our late Governor, Lord Onslow, vory nearly lost one of his own family from the same cause, and even his succeasor seems to have been warned against unhealthy Wellington. Yet we find a Wellington paper, the "Evening Post" of last week, calmly perverting facts as thus :—"Nothing more grossly unjusfa can be conceived than the world-wide attack which is being made just now upon the city of Wellington in relation to its sanitary condition. Nob only throughout New Zealand and Australia, bub also in Europe and America, this unhappy city is being persistently held up to obloquy as abandoned to tilth and disease, and content with its degradation. In every instance the facts aro scandalously pervorted, either by suppression or by direct misrepresentation. So recently as laßb Wednesday, tho Auckland Star comes up fresh to the attack once more." Then tho " Post " quotes a portion of our recent strictures on the health of Wellington, and after referring to the plain talk indulged in recently by a London "society" journal on the pest-stricken condition of Wellington, goes on to remark:—"Now, horo vve have a fair specimon of the manner in which this subject is treated by journals outside Wellington. Yet, what can bo more misleading or more unjust? Unfortunately, even these incorrect and wildly exaggerated statements involve Home of those 'half-truths' which, as the Laureate tolls us, are harder matters to tight than is 'a Ho which is all a lie.' We all know that fever has been deplorably prevalent this season in certain parts of Wellington. It is also undeniable that in those parts a shockingly insanitary condition of affairs exists, alike in the defective drainage and in the dirty habits of the rosiuents, and that the evil eflbcts of this state of things extend far beyond the immediate locality. It is aUo unhappily true that no adequate system of sewerage, including a proper outfall, lias yot been carried out. All these aro facts, and the facts are bad enough. But it is so preposterously inaccurate thab ib would be ludicrous, were not the matter so serious, to represent the whole city as being in a like- condition, or the present visitation of fever as being of dimensions at all approximating to the pestilential epidemics of older countries. The exaggerations indulged in on this point are wild in their absurdity. Take the total death-rate of Wellington lasi< month, when the prevalence of typhoid fever was at its height— I'l3 per 1,000. That was but a minute fraction—l per 100,000 —higher than llio Auckland and Uunedin death-rates. It is equivalent Lo a rate of IS'56 per annum. This does not allecb tho fact that particular parts of Wellington are annually scourged with preventible sickness, but ib does show how remarkably healthy the greater part of the city must be when even the lethal influence of those plaguo-spoba cannot raise the doathrate of the whole city higher than to I*l3 ocr thousand in its worst month. ,1

Tho " Post," ib thus appears, does nob deny that Wellington is very badly drained, that its people are dirty, and that in some parts of the city a " shockingly insanitary " stato of things exists. In further remarks it freely admits tho imperative need of improved sanitation. Its apology for Wellington's bad health starts out with a hysterical denial, and winds up with a meek admission of the most potent facts. It ia thorefore a proven fact that Wellington ia in a disgracefully insanitary anddangerously unhealthy condition.

As though in direct contradiction to its own editorial assertions, tho Wellington "l J os(i" apparently "inadvortontly " allowed the following to appear in its news columns last week :—■" Though the typhoid boom has abated, fever patients are still being received at the Hospital. There are at present 61 typhoid patients in the institution, all of whom are progressing , favourably. Of the typhoid patients still under treatment, there are 13 women, 17 children, and 21 men, as well as nine cases in the convalescent ward. One of the staff—-Nurse Stevens—lias also been suffering for five weeks from typhoid, caught) in the execution of her duties. Tho Hospital is still overcrowded in every department, this state of things involving great additional work and worry for the matron and staff. The out-patients' rooms have had to be converted into wards for in - patients; stretchers havo had to be put wherever space could bo found tor thorn, and every kind of makeshift attempted which would provide accommodation for new cases as they came in. Tho accommodation for nursoa is altogether inadequate. There ara 26 staff' nurses, and for their accommodation there are at present only 20 bedrooms.'' Elsowhore the paper recorded the death of a woman from typhoid after only a fortnight's illness.

A correspondent, writing us from Wellington this week, makes the following remarks: —"Tho 'Evening Post,' though ib writhes under the lash of your comments on 'he horribly dirty state of this town, would like the public to believe that you ' exasperate ' facts and ' scandalously ' pervorfc the truth when writing;on this subject. Such is not tho case, for the sanitary state of Wellington is quite as black as it is painted, only, strange to say, tho 'Post' keep - ' vel '.y quiots about it, except when shamed into its duty by the remarks on the subject mado by the newspapers of other towns. The 'Post' has the audacity to call Lord Onslnw's opinion ' slander,' and has never torgiven him for nob ' putting up' with fche foul smells and bad drainage of this town."

Instead of wasting breath in useless tirades against outsiders for telling the truth about its drainage, Wellington should g&t about devising some adequate means of cleansing itsolf. Certainly the city will neither be (it for viceregal residence nor as the seat of Govornment of the colony until it is clean and healthy, and nntil its filthy ■smells and its typhoid-breeding cess-spots have been got rid of for good. It would appear, however, that the citizens of Wellington nre not quite so much to blame in the matter a« ha; been mado out. Though a large number were afc the recent poll averse to tho drainage scheme, yet a majority voted in its favour, but not a sufficient majority according to legal statute. The "Post" asserts that the New Zealand Parliament is at present the eolo obstacle to sanitary reform in Wellington, and that uncil- Parliament will accord the needful powers, the drainage of tho city cannot bo undertaken. But surely the citizens of iVellirigtnn will net calmly Btj down and await decimation by fovor while the health of the city hangs in aboyanoe. Parliament or no Parliament, they can do something

towards driving away the pest of fever and other epidemics from their midst, lhe well-founded reports in circulation must do, and are doing, ftreac injury to the trade of Wellington, to the value of property, and deter visitors and keep down the growth of population by emigration. Clearly, life in Wellington is ab a discount, and will remain so until some active steps are taken to bettor the sanitary condition of the city.