AUCKLAND—HER FUTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 114, 13 May 1908, Page 6

AUCKLAND—HER FUTURE.

H. A. TAXBOT TDBBS. I propose in this article to indicate at least the most important methods- of '•cleaning" pur city. And first and foremost is clean air. To attain this certain reiorms are necessary. Kemember, Heaven gave to each of us this inheritance, of which not even in her wildest dreams has monopoly attempted to deprive ■ us. Now, clean air is air that carries a minimum of noxious bacteria. The air of Auckland literally teems with the bacilli of tuberculosis and dysentery. But there is no reason, in science or in common sense, -why it should be so. And if we can clean it we strike a heavy blow at two of the greatest scourges of human life, consumption and that group of diseases whose most virulent form is cholera. Half the mortality in infant life is due to cholera fnfa.Tit.nm - To clean the air all that is necessary is that first we clear away the breedingplaces of the microbes, and that secondly we allow Nature's forces full play. Now, the sun's rays are Nature's own germicide; and no proverb is truer than the Italian "Dove non vail sole vail medico" ("Keep out the sun, and the doctor'll come"). It is, however, advisable to sot forth the former method more in detail. To destroy the breeding-grounds we must see to it that all rubbish and refuse are promptly removed, in a safe manner, and as promptly destroyed. To attain these ends there must be a service at least once a day to every house. Kefuse must be taken away in sealed vessels, and placed directly in the destructor. If •the destructor does its work properly— and there is no obstacle that science and_ engineering cannot cope with successfully ■ —then dirt, which is but '"matter in the wrong place," becomes an efficient source of power, and so transmuted will confer the very health it had otherwise destroyed. Xor must we complain if the destructor does not earn a high rate of interest. The return we demand is health; and increased health, as I have shown in my former article, is actually a solid cash return far in excess of expenditure in rates and taxes. Secondly we must not forget the law of bacterial life. Bacilli develop in a moist medium; but are most easily carried, if wind-borne, in the dry state. Hence we must "put down the dust." The sweepings of our roads simply teem with the unpleasantly common but very dangerous "bacillus coli." If you have seen meat exposed in butchers' shops on a dry, windy day, you will have observed that it is thickly coated with dust, and could you have applied a microscope, would have detected colonies of bacillus coli multiplying with that truly awful rapidity of microbe-life. With the dust come flies. 2\ow, flies are Nature's scavengers, and as such follow where refuse is gathered together. Their wonderfully designed feet are peculiarly suited to give lodgment to microbes which have bred in the rubbish. Hies are perennially thirsty, and having done their work on the refuse-heap, wing a rapid flight towards the moist, juicy steak..ox succulent chop. Slaking their "thirst, they at the same time discharge their passengers, and the happy microbe transported by his own private "airship/ 5 settles down to the duties oi home, and.the rearing of his numerous.progeny on the" joint that will afterwards grace your table, at dinner.' But if you allow no refuse, -there -will be no food for the fly, and he will betake himself to happier hunting-grounds, or starve to death. Therefore, to clean our air we must 3esrroy all rubbish; and incidentally, -we thereby remove another dangerous source of infection. 2vext to clean air, clean -water. And iere I have a crow .to pick..with the City Council. ; -Since; -they have augmented supply, they have also greatly to its impurity. For the last eight or nine months I have been forced to nise the city water, and I am not grateful. A careful -calculation has made it possible to determine : .•with, precision how much- ■•■'dirt" I-have -taken into my system; and it works out at 121b 7ioz. I never asked the City's generosity; and coirid well have- dispensed- ■ with this method of nationalising the land. Let mc satisfy my '"eaTtVhunger" otherwise! ihan through the medium of my daily i allowance of water. "Under the able' leadership of our present ITayor, very' much lias "been done- 1 appeal to bam! How to make our water supply clean. i

It is far more difficult to obtain clean food. Here the danger is two-fold— froEi Bacteria'and from deliberate adul-. Aeration. eria ''ajzeTjnußJi the lesser peril; Tor'the process of cooking largely removes them. (The all-important milksupply mnst be excepted.) But adulteration is übiquitous, and a deadly menace ifco -iealth. My old friend, Mr, WilkinGovernment' Analytical Chemist of iVictoria, has conducted a series of exhaustive inquiries. I shall summarize a few of his results. Of 266 samples of : LAustralian wine, 167 -were adulterated iwiili salicylic acid; 37 foreign samples proved absolutely pure. Of "beers" 40 per cent were adulterated, and '"many ;were quite unfit for human consumpiion." But far worse was it with socalled "temperance" drinks and cordials. Of-162 cordials, 151 were adulterated [(i.e., practically all), and "many of the| samples of raspberry syrup were found j ±o be of entirely fictitious origin." The main adulterants, it may be added, arc salicylic acid (generally used to "eat -.away"- hard cornsj, sulphurous acid "will "bleach red stuffs instaji- ■ itaneouslyj, coal tar, dye, cochineal, saccharin. Mr. Hamlet (3ST.S.W. Government Analyst) says of the. "raspberry syrup" that "with a little less sugar the 3iquid might be used as red ink." A beer' yielded on analysis as per cent of proof spirit! Now, as Mr. "tVilkinson rightly points out the Special danger lies in this, that.it is just! the most delicate organisms—women and! children—who consume these poisons. lAnd I" have myself had four children— guests at a children's .party—more or loss seriously poisoned by an Auckland ibrand of "raspberry vinegar," which J incautiously allowed them to use before I had sampled it. Needless to say, I destroyed the rest of the abominable ttuS, after making a chemical -analysis.

Adulteration is not confined to drinks, whether alcoholic or temperance; it purEves us in every form of manufactured, orepared, or tinned goods. Enough here if I indicate some of the chief adulterants. -In flour, alum with certain mineral substances to increase the weight; in snllk, boric acid, formalin, carbonate of iime, peroxide (to give it "that rich colour") ; in pickles, verdigris and sulphate of copper. Meat and poultry are injected -with sulphurous acid to keep them "of a bright red colour," just as plum is used to haTden and "whiten hams. But the most perfect example of adulteration is "pure cream of tartar," srMch yielded on analysis 30 per cent, plaster of Paris, 16 per cent bone ash, £4 per cent" starcli—so that there was *K>t a grain of "cream of tartar in the S*ole cojngoiind; " Perhajjs""the eons-

monesi of all "faked" goods is vinegar. "Pure malt" has constantly been found to consist of raw acetic acid distilled from wood, costing 5Jd. a gallon, coloured up -with burnt sugar. As genuine malt vinegar is worth 3/ a gallon (cost of production), the public can judge of the temptation there is to ''fake" and so get 2/6 a gallon" profit. ' But enough—the story is horrible; it is in danger "at becoming tedious. Only one thing. Kemember it is but too true," and, therefore, let us demand clean i ood. To this end Parliament has taken some powers under an Act of last session— whether sufficient or not I cannot say, as I have not yet seen the text. It is clear we niust follow the example set by Victoria, !Xew South Wales, Westralia. and Queensland. The evil is probably less in New Zealand, whose manufactures are on a more restricted scale. But that it exists in quite sufficient quantity my own experience has proved, and many of my readers must have known the same. The great remedy is publicity.

i (It is hut fair to the proprietors of the "Lone Hand" to say that I have borrowed my figures from an article in their magazine, as Mr. Wilkinson's and I Mr. Hamlet's official reports were-not available* j'~

To the matter of drainage it is unnecessary to recur. I have already spoken of its prime importance; and in any case the matter rests in far abler hands than mine. But it may be permitted mc again to insist upon the absolute necessity of a single comprehensive scheme and single control. That this is but a truism shall not condemn mc. Sometimes the most obvious is that which most escapes notice. The scheme must come, and with it must also come that "Greater Auckland" which every true lover of our city desiderates.

It remains then to indicate one other method of cleanness, and that is clean houses. To attain this end we must pursue with far more vigour a policy inaugurated when Dr. Makgill was our Officer of Health—the "rookeries" must go. And there are plenty of them. Here we can join hands with "the police. Sweep away the sly-grog house, the unclean lodging-house, the rotting tenement ; bring up with a round turn the avaricious landlord (he is the key of the situation) ; make house-agents Understand the properties they manage; sweep out abuse and let in the stin. But there is one possible injustice. In destroying the "rookeries" we leave tne rocks homeless. Therefore, pari passu, with destruction must go rebuilding. Clean municipal lodging-houses and flats must replace these privately-owned abodes of filth. iSTow, a project of this kind has been put forward more than once by our excellent Mayor. I invite him in the name of cleanliness to reintroduce plans that I am afraid have been "pigeonholed" and to "stick to his guns." He -will find. plenty of willij.g helpers. It is only that the public conscience needs a prick or two; and public opinion will speak with no uncertain voice. We want the sun of publicity. Then the evils of dirt will disappear. Then Auckland, washed and dressed, and in her right mind,-."will go forward undeviatingly upon the path of her ultimate, her predestined, and her glorious triumph; and she shall be then in truth, Xast, loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart.