The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 1900. AN EVENTFUL MONTH.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 63, 15 March 1900, Page 4

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

THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 1900.

AN EVENTFUL MONTH.

For the causa that laefcs assistance, For tbe -wrong that needs resistance For the futaro In the distance, And tho ircod that -jre can do.

The month that has elapsed since our last summary appeared has been am eventful one. Not one, but many tlhing-s have happened to disturb the usually even tenor of lour life here. ,:YVe have been caught and carried .aloii'g on the full tide of enthusiasm ■which swept over the Empire when Ladysmiih was relieved and Cronje ■was forced to capitulate at. Koodoosrand. Every city and township throuo'liotit the kind has raised. Its paean, re-echoing the vo.'iee of mighty London: and every, rag of colour that could do duty as bunting has proclaimed our satisfaction at the victorious' advance of Lord Roberts and General Ruller. We lived in an., atmosphere oE patriotic ecstasy for.-days after the receipt of that glorious news, and though our humour is now somewhat less intense; there is .little

chance of our recovering our normal

condition of mind while, every day bring\s fresh cause for congratulation, or 'news that raises iis still higher on the -tiptoe of expectation/ There liava ■been other stimulating1 ■ influences, too, art work ■ 'here among- . us. We have a standing camp at Epsom, and the residents in that quiet subarfa have 'become familiar to the "bugle caUtnig- early and late. Other sounds than) the cry of the football barrticker Iran nit Potter's Paddock and awaken the echoes of One Tree Hill. The still evening- air is full ofstrtingfl noises, and in a lmuidred ways one is remanded in that peaceful locality of the linterneciine struggle in South Africa which has wrought the change in the scene. A still stronger reminder was affiordexl us the other day when the city said good-bye to tlvo local company of -tilie Rough Hiders, who went South to join the; Fourth Contingent. The demonstration on that .occasion was' Me of the most impressive ever witnessed ia Auckland. Unbounded enthusiasm marked the progress of the men as tihey maa-ched to the wharf attended by all the. military pomp ami circumstance the cit.y eoiild muster. The final departure of the Fourth Contingent from the colony, wliich ta'&es place til; Dunedin on the IMilh jnst.,-has necessitated the absence of His Excellency the Governor froan Auckland, to be present at the send-off, in the ■ South, tot Lord.Ra.mfjurly -will.return in time to fee present at the departure of the Fifth Contingent from our own failr city. "We are all looking- forward to

that event. When the Fourth Contingent leaves our shores, Wellington, Ohri.stchureh, and Dunediii will each in turn have had the honour of vra.ving- <a last good-bye to our gallant j volunteers. it is now Auckland's turn, and, as the real military centre ; of the colony, she may be relied on to j do her part in fitting- style. She had j 'hardly expected the honour. When ; it was decided to send a fourtUi con- j tingemt Aye imagined that the limit ; of our contribution was reached. Not that we grudged to give furthei aid iif it were required, but we concluded that the army authorities

would have ceased to have need of more men from this distant land before the Fourth Contingent reached t(he scene of the war. When Mi' Chamberlain's request for an additional contribution of men from Australia showed us our mistake we were all eagerness to furnish forth another body of men. Volunteers came forward by the hundred, and had it "been necessary we could without any difficulty have provided tefti times the number required. If this Fifth Contingent should be the last to leave our shores in connection with the present Avar it will certainly not be because there is any lack of men here willing and capable to fight for the Empire. Engrossed as we have been in the progress of. the war and in the part we are taking in it, we have not been able to ignore two present evils that threaten^.' us: "We refer to the scarcity of water and the possibility of the plague reaching- New Zealand. The long continued dry weather has tried to the. utmost the resources of our water supply, while it has demonstrated the almost criminal neglect of the municipality in not providing the city long ago with a supply that no drought could seriously affect When il was announced ten days, ago that the reservoirs were so low that at the usual rate of consumption they 1 would be emptied in a week, there was something like consternation among us. It seemed that we were at last face to face with the water famine, which summer after summer lias lurked on our horizon, unheeded by the authorities. Suddenly we realised what the deprivation must mean. Not merely were we likely to be put to o-rave inconvenience and expense, but the health of the community and the safely of property were terribly endangered. With unfiushed drains and sewers, what an opportunity presented itself for the spread of disease, while it was with trepidation that one entertained the bare thought of an outbreak of fire. The discovery that by shutting oft" the water some twelve hours out of the twenty-four, a great saving could be effected, and an actual water famine averted, has greatly improved the position of things, but still thet outlook is very much the reverse of satisfactory. What helps to increase our apprehension is the fact that we stand in danger just now of a visitation from the bubonic plague which is essentially a dirt disease. (Stringent precautions have, been adopted throughout the colony, and a strict quarantine imposed on vessels coming from infected ports in Australia, while war to the death is being waged against rats, as the rodents have proved the great carriers of the pestilence in Sydney. Attention has mainly been directed to preventing the vermin from the ships landing here, and killing all in the neighbourhood of the wharves, but it is obvious that as inlected rats might escape and communicate the plague to their species on shore, exterminating operations should be carried further afield. It is proposed that the local authorities in the city and suburbs should take action, and while adopting thorough cleansing measures in the various districts, do all in their power to get rid of the rats. The general opinion is that'by the observance of all precautions we have a very fair chance of shutting out the pestilence, and even if the disease did manage to get a foot-, hold among us,, the conditions here are not by any means likely to be favourable to its spread. As yet there is. no great apprehension felt by the public generally.