FEVER.

Press, Volume II, Issue 46, 29 March 1862, Page 2

FEVER.

We have before now adverted to the circumstanc which threaten to make Christchurch a m^ muse uq_ healthy city, to the pools of stagnant water which meet us at every turn, to the accumulation of filth all sorts, and to the utter absence of anything i n *i. shape of drainage: we feel compelled to recur to the subject. The death of the Prince Consort from fever ma" serve as a terrible lesson to us at the present ti If it is the nature of this disease, once developed in ' community by some focus of filth, to enter the dwellings of rich and poor, clean or unclean, without the necessity of contamination by intercourse with th sick,—if this is its nature, and yet it is known that strict attention to drainage will remove the sources of this dreaded evil, surely all opposition to effective measures for this purpose will be relinquished, nay the energies of all our citizens will be enlisted to secure so desirable a boon. Nothing is more common than to hear men, especially the pioneers of the colony say—" There was little of this fever in the early days of the province! From whence docs it come? "What is its nature and what the remedy?" Notwithstanding the assertion of the pilgrim as to the non-existence of fever in his day, we believe that the same epidemic* influence swept across this island. All the investigations of science have failed in demonstrating the nature of this poison; this is as deep a mystery now as it was a hundred years ago. It still is supposed to have its abode in the atmosphere, simply because the air is the only medium of communication between the districts or countries whose whole surface is simultaneously attacked. This poisonous influence, whatever its nature, is not of itself the fearful evil that we are accustomed to regard it; it is a puff out of Pandora's box sent forth on the wind in quest of a recipient prepared for its development, in order that it may be operative for evil. Science cannot inform us what it is, but it tells us what it feedson, viz., moisture and animal decomposition. In the days of pilgrims and wharries we can imagine the subtle venom passing over that unsettled, hopeful, determined band, but fortunately their stage of civilization could not afford bad ventilation, cess-pool, and mental depression. They revelled in hardships and in health. These men are right therefore when they say that they knew little of this fever, not however because the epidemic poison was not present, but because it found no resting place, no food for development, no means of converting itself into a virulent and pestilential influence carrying disease and death in its train. The pilgrims are now men of experience who could teach the world a lesson. They have witnessed the gradual acquisition by the province of wealth and comfort, of cesspools and disease. The Auditor of Accounts and the Registrar of Deaths are now important officers of the Government. Can we ourselves read the lesson aright? That wealth has its imperative duties as well as its substantial comforts. We are not so sanguine as to believe that an effective system of drainage will entirely prevent the recurrence of fever. We believe that the epidemic poison will visit our shores as usual, but that it is certain that its influence for evil will be small in proportion as our attention to drainage is great. Of all nuisances wit which we are afflicted the undrained cesspool is the worst; unemptied for months |or years, and often imperfectly covered, it continually poisons both air and water. Typhoid fever, diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, and all the diseases of mal-nutrition an impeded convalescence are results of its pestifeio s operation, acting in different degrees, deaths of Prince Albert, and the King of P° r * tugal from fever sufficiently demonstrates tbe fact.

hat when once Jt enters a district, no class in the •oinmuiiity is exempt from its dreaded influence. Epidemic diseases, although they may attack simuloiislv many individuals over a vide extent o* untrv, do not increase particularly in tbe locality ti ;t affected, nor yet in proportion to intercourse with the sick, but rather according to the existence of predisposing or determining causes to which we have wdy referred. Our plain imperative common sense 1 tv therefore is to remove those causes which are . o\v accumulating arround us, unless we desire Cbri'tcburch to become one of the most unhealthy cities under the sun. Upon the question of the plan hc«t adapted for securing this object it is not now our intention to enter. This subject, as well as that of a plentiful supply of pure water for the city, claim the ear ly and the earnest attention of the newly elected Municipal Council. We do not suppose that it can •it ouce, or even in a short time, accomplish all that is? required ; but it must not shirk the question. If it cannot give us a perfect system of drainage, it can at any rate ascertain the extent of our present evils, and ihe best means of remedying them, and if necessary brin" the matter under the consideration of the Provincial Government. The public expect that the Municipal Council will do this at least.

The Government has sent us the following correspondence lor publication. We have no wish to re-open questions which were disposed of many months ago. When we formerly alluded to the reports current on this subject, we stated at once that we did not believe them. We quarrelled with Mr. Moorhouse, not for having deceived the General Assembly intentionally, but for allowing a report that he had done so to circulate without contradiction. Having brought the Superintendent to our way of thinking - , and extorted from him a not very graceful denial of the rumour, we had no further interest in the matter. It is sufficiently evident however from this correspondence that before Mr. Moorhouse went to Auckland, there was great doubt on Mr. M'Candlish's mind whether be would go on with the work, and that the Government was quite aware of it. Whether the knowledge of such doubt was consistent with what took place at Auckland, those who were present at the examinations before the comuiittee must determine for themselves. Not having been present, we can only abstain from jiving an opinion.

[Copy] 1 Great George-street, Westminster, S. W. 2,"> January, 13G2. Sik,--We beg to forward to your Honor copy of a letter received by us from ?»lr. Sewell, and of our re])ly thereto, We have the honor to he, Your obedient servants, Per pro Smith <{• Knkjht, W. ROEBUCK, io Ilk Honor the Superintendent, Canterbury, X. Z.

Auckland, New Zealand, October 8, ISGI. I'KNTi.'-AtKN, — A statement has been recently made in the Colony, to which, as it affects the character of your firm, I feel myself at liberty to call your attention. The Canterbury llailway Bill obtained the assent of the Colonial Legislature upon the distinct ground (stated iv evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Representatives, and stated -tlso priv;;t'.']y to membors <>f the Legislature, of whom i was ""*-■) that your rinn bad not only undertaken and meant to '■•irry out the contract for the work, but also was prepared to t-'ifce a l«-a.~o of the Railway for a fixed term at a rent which *<mlil cover the interest of the outlay. Upon the strength '■" t'K-s:- statements made in the ujost clear and unequivocal manner by your Agent, Mr. Carleton Baynes, who represented himself as authorized by you, individual members of the ■ (myself included) supported, or at least acquiesced in the Bill ; and the Government, on the same grounds, t\<> Governor t<. assent to it. ,]t has bt -' c ' n lately stated in a published letter in the Canterbury newspapers, that, before the LTJ was introduced to the Mr. Carkton Baynes had announced to private '"'••ivuluals in Canterbury that it was not the intention of .V'urun,] ti, pivceed with the contract. The Superintendent "> Kit' I'iovinu- has ah-o stated (publicly) that he was left in k '" riUlc e <•{ the iiitcntion of your rinn to abandon the contract "•lurt'k- Ii ; ;l bad received the sanction oi the Legislature. • ■■' -1 !n<?-nibs.r of that l"..iy, and as h.aviug been misled upon ■ t( of s.-rave iinjim.-tanco to the int'.'reats of thu Colony • Ll tut /inviii.e of Canterbury by the &ait"iuents made by • ■• i J »;»ynes on your beiir.lf. I have to request tlio ■ •"• 'it y-.;i r ~-^.j;,(-.,-,,.[.j ~>-f lr.!Kiti-->M "f the circum.siauce?.

Such an explanation apjvara to mc due to members of the Legislature who have been misled like myself, as well as to Mr. Baynes and the Superintendent of the Province. 1 have the honor to be, Sirs, Your most obedient servant, (Signed) HENRY SEWELL. Attorney General of New Zealand. [Copy]. 1 Groat George street, Westminster, S.W. January, 1862. Sin,—We have to acknowledge receipt of your letter of Bth October last to which we would have replied sooner had we not considered it due to Mr. Baynes, who is at present on the Continent, to communicate with him before doing so. Mr. Baynes, after perusal of a copy of your letter, has written to us as follows :— "I can only say that I felt certain Mr. McCandlish would '' carry out the preliminary contract, until a day or two "before he actually wrote his refusal to do so, and I gave my "evidence on oath to that effect." "As to Mr. Sewell's letter, I did not tell any individual before the bill was introduced to the legislature, that it was "not the intention of your firm to proceed with the contract, " and if I had said anything to that eifect, it would have been " in direct opposition to my opinion at that time." "There appears to have been some confusion between "Mr. McCandlish'a decision to abandon the contract except " tit an advanced price, and the appearance of the black rock " which led him to make that decision. Before the Superin"tendentleft for Auckland Mr. McCandlish and I both told " his Honor that if the whole of the tunnel ran in such hard " nick as that black stuff on the Lyttelton side, the work " could not be done for the money." "In consequence of this his Honor inspected the work, and " asked if we were prepared to abandon the contract, and I "replied, "No," having previously asked Mr. McCandlish the "same question, who said it would require careful calculation "to decide such a point, that the Government were not then "in a position to confirm the contract, and he had therefore "made no such calculations, besides which, any day's work "might bring them out of the hard rock, in which case the "contract would do very well; or words to that effect." "ft c can only say further that the decision of the matter was left entirely in Mr. McCandlish's bands, and we were not aware of his intention to abandon the contract on our behalf until we heard from him that he had formally done so ; and lie informs us that until a few days before the Superintendent's return from Auckland to Canterbury after the passing of the Jiailway Bill, he had not finally decided upon which course ho would ado]it, and that he never until then intimated to any one, or authorized anyone to state, that it was not our intention to proceed with the contract. Whatever he undertook ou our behalf we were quite prepared to carry out, at the same time that we entirely approve of his ultimate decision. We forward a copy of this correspondence to his Honor the Superintendent of Canterbury, and We have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servants, (Signed) SMITH «D KNIGHT. To the Hon. Henry Sewell, Attorney General. Auckland, Is 7 ew Zealand.

We beg to call the attention of our readers to a letter which we print in another column from Mr. FitzGerald, on the subject of water-cresses, and which appears to us of some importance. There is certainly no subject of greater interest than that of finding a remedy against the water-cress nuisance; and Mr. FitzGerald's suggestion that others should try the experiment which, he has done appears a very rational one, which we have no doubt will be followed.