DIPHTHERIA AT DEVONPORT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 118, 18 May 1917, Page 2

DIPHTHERIA AT DEVONPORT.

no tte liditor.i Sir.—ln ypur edition of Wednesday, May ltith, you state that tbc District Health Officer (Dr. Hughes | says that thy rubbish tip at Narrow Neck ha*> been attended to. This id correct, it v-o6 especially prepared by the Council, in a frantic hurry, for (lib inspection. The facts are a« follow,,: — A strongly worded petition from the residentd 01 Narrow Neck \sas sunt to the District Health Officer on or about October lli, l'JlB. The tip «aa inspected by him, aud a letter dated October 19. 1916, wiw sent to the Devonport Borough Council. The letter was to the following eiTect: The tip had been inspected and was found to be in a very bad condition, arid waxs a dan ,T er and a menace to the public health. Hats and llies abounded, and it would have to be permanently closed, but if the Council covered the garbage every week with six inehee of earth and copious of liuie, until the erection of the destructor, then on!v on these conditions being fully carried out would they be allowed to use the tip further. The Council received this letter, but it was filed and apparently forgotten, ac they have not for the past eeven months carried out these instructions, and this gross carelessness is a contributory cause of disease in the district. 'On May sth, 1917, I interviewed Dr. Hugb.ee, and informed him of the continued vile and filthy state of the tip. Hq was extremely annoyed that in the face of his instructions this should be so. He promised assistance at onoe, and the Dcvoppprt Borough Cpuncil at midday on May fith, 1017, got to work with indecent haste to prepare for ths doctor's visit, and the tip now (in the words of the borough's eanitary report) is so clean that one can now spread a table c(oth and eat one's dinner there. The tjp has been attended to. Seven months' accumulation of filth put into a condition in three days; is it .possible? I visited the tip this morning, and the smell was vile, and the rate and jllee still abound, and 1 maintain that the tip as it now exists ia a grave public danger, and calls for immediate closing, and the filth there rendered harmless to the resident* and viaitqrs.—l nm, etc., EKtfEST BROOKE, Hamana Street, Narrow Neck.

Sir,—Referring to your report in your paper of yeeierday respecting the rubbish tip at Narrow Neck, and the official denial of same by Health Department, I was one of the deputation who yvaited Upon the Devonport Council and the circumstances, wfaich, to my mint}, be given too much publicity, as tie tip affects not only the whole of the residents of the district, but afeo the heatth of women and children who visit the beach at Narrow Neck, particularly during the hot days of summer. Now, sir, it was only under pressure that the deputation was received by the Council, who stated that the Health Department's instructions had been carried out to the letter, and that the tip was inspected by the Mayor and Health Officer on Monday last, and they stayed on the tip for 30 minutes and could hot detect an offensive smell arising from it. Together with three other residents of the district I inspected the tip on Saturday, only two days previous, and it waa with difficulty we were able to approach the tip at all, much Ices stand anil view it for 30 minutes. 1 state most emphatically that the instructions of the Health Department were not carried out, inasmuch as their instructions read, according to a letter produced by the town clerk when the deputation was present: "That rubbish should ibe covered -with six inches of earth and a copious quantity of lime should be need once per week." The road engineer admitted that this had not berti done. The statement was made that the tip was now in ouch splendid condition that anyone could eat their dinner off the same. If this is co we, the deputation, »re prepared to supply the meal if the Devonport Council are prepared to eat same.—l am, etc.,

R. C. BROWN. North Avenue, Narrow Neck.

Mr It F. Way also writes on the earns subject. He saya: "Whoever is to blame, the fact remains that this rat-infested, disease-laden rubbish tip is still there. It is a menace to health, and will be a menace to health, even although the Council never empty another drayload of dripping ftlth on to the dump. The Mayor ,has stated that the Council has procured a pulveriser to treat soft refuse. 1 believe that the ratepayers are to bo aaked to destroy all the rubbish of a hard nature themselves. The Council has already expended £000 on the concern, and after still further expenditure the thing will not, bo I am informed, destroy all the rubbish. He also stated that probaUy no more rubbish will be emptied at Narrow Neok. Tihat is not the- question. What others and myself demand is thai the nuisance end health menace that is already there muet be removed." Mr. E. H. Wing also writes regarding the prevalence of diphtheria in Devcmport, and the offensive character of the refuse at Narrow Neck. In our report on Wednesday of Dr. Hughes' remarks, the 7th of April should 'have been printed the 7th of May. Another case has been reported from Devonport since Wednesday morning-