HEALTH OF LYTTELTON.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11096, 15 October 1901, Page 6

HEALTH OF LYTTELTON.

REPORT BY DR. SYMES. DISCUSSION IN TTHE BOROUGH COUNCIL. i Aα outbreak of diphtheria and scarlatina occurred in Lyttelton recently, and Dr. Uph»i» reported the .matter to the District He&lth Officer, Dr. Byrnes. The latter-Tisi-ted Lyttelton on September 14th, and epeot nine daye inspecting every bouse affected during the lepfe clx months, and examining th* principal dairies. . Hβ prepared an eihaustive report;, which -was submitted to

the LyttieJton Borough Council last night. The doctor submitted a plan with the report showing the. Were of Lyttelton. "There are, ,, he wye, '%& main eewers extending from the harfxrar up tffe valley between the bills, on which the town is boflt. These sewers ar* cumbered from one to six, commencing from the eaet.. J have indicated by a red circle on tbe plan the

position of every house affected. It is thus shows that roost of these bouses are near the mnin sewera, and Qrat they increase in. a regular series front west to east. Thue, the Jirea served by six presents no affected houses. - Sewage. A«a five presents three oases in three houses. Area four presents four eases in four houses; Area three presents twelve, oases- in .fire houses. Area two presents:'sixteen in eight houses, and arei otic' presents twenty-ssven cases in fourteen houses. The totals are sixty-two coses in th;r£y>four houses. It may bo noted taa* the proportion of cares per house increase* from wtst ii> east, indicating pro? g.€»*ive valence. THe «rfxty-two.cases inctiift twenty *five of diphtheria, ten of mixed diphtheria and scarlatina, nineteen "of scarlatina,' five of infectious sore throats, one of'iMWlea, and,two of fever. The milk eupp.y is as follows: —pairy A supplied two fcou'er** in which four cases occurred; dairy C' supplied" twenty houses, and thirty-three" csiae*; dairy D supplied two houses, and "two, cases f dairy E supplied six houses, and , fourteen cases; dairy F - one house and one case; dairy & one how* and one caee; dairy H two houses and seven oases. ,, ■ -',',■'.■. ' Continuing, Dr. Symes stated. that he Tinted dairy C on September 14th» "at 5 p.m. The old milking shed and iriitk. room were too near the house, but an entirely new sited and room had reoenfcly been erected,' under the supervision of the-Agri-cultural Department. There was a good water supply from a spring in the-hill side, and there vnae. no risk of tbe -water being contamiimt«d. The hew pig-stye c wore mate the fifty yards distance required from toe dairy, but thfere was a bad smell from the swill and offal used for feeding the pigs. Hβ caw a heap of old stinking bones, which had been need for feeding the pigs, lying dose to the cart used for conveying . tWe milk to town. Two casks full of swiU wijhan abominable em*ll also stood there. He had taken steps to have these gross nuisances abated, but he had no power to remedy what he considered a still more serioue dwiger, winch wa« flhat the same men that 'handled each filthy offal -were -allowed to milk rbe cows - and handle the milk. Mr McPhereon, fch* Dairy Inspector, agreed w|th his statement, and said the dairy complied with every regulation of the Act, and that he had no power to prevents offensive ewill and ©ffa.l being used beyond fifty yards from ilte dairy, nor the men using such off*! from milkinjr th« con's and handling the milk. He. agreed also wilab Dr. Symee that it wa» desirable that the Dairy Acfc should be ameoded, so that no duirymen keeping nigff should be allowed to use either offal or swill for feeding thsm trith. The swill or reftiae food from hotels and houses was already decomposing when remored. Offal, or th* refuse from butchers and fishmongers, was even worse. Tin dairymen stared all this refuse in ca*ke, to be used e» required, and it was allowed to decompose still further. Its smell was alwaj* bad, an* in the case of dairy C tfc* stench was overpowering. It was" possible tha* this putrefaction of food was not necessarily injurious to pig*, any more th«ui very old chewp or high game were injurious to the public. It.might even rend«- the food more digestible, and fatten nici. mora quickly. Some tribes of savages were known to bury the animals they killed and not «»t them until partly aecomposed. It wan, how«v*r, certain ti»fc such refuse tainted the hands fax a way the* clung to them for several days, and that frequent washing . would not remove it. No curgeon would venture to operate for several days after eimi!ar pollution of his hands, without special precautiona. the Dairy Act of 1898, being made to include farms in the country, where

swill and offal -were not used for feeding pige. bad no special provision for dairies m tb* suburbs of towns, where Mich methods oi feeding pige were followed. It w*s a matter for consideration whether the impdrtant business of feeding pige on the offil Bind refuse of towns could not be relegated to others than dairymen, to whom the latter could sell their surplus milk. A slight increase in the price of milk would even be a less evil than the present arrangement. There was one other point in which be thought the Dairy Act should be amended. Ihere was no rule about the construction of pigstyes, except that thay moat be fifty yards away from the dairy; but be thought that these styes should -be concreted and made to drain into a concrete tank It was certain that fifty yard* would not protect dairies from the influence of etyes which were knee-deep in filth, the sewage of which soaked into the ground or accumulated in a dirty ditch. The doctor added that he found a similar state of thing* existing in other dames. Regarding the state of the premises, he said that in view of the crowded, condition of some parts of Lyttelton, he was agreeably surprised to find the premises generally so clean. He found only three dirty premises, but) he • found some of the houw. crowded, especially A 17, which had five rooms, and contained at the time of his vist tweive inmates sleeping there. Comparing this with the cubic space of the rooms, he found it allowed only 310 cubic feet per inmate, whereas 400 cubic feet was the minimum compatible with health. The report then referred to what, in the writer s opinion, wa« the most important result of bm investigation, viz., the condition ot the drains. Ihe six main sewers running up from the harbour were open at- each end but had no iutermediate ventilation, «cm>l through gome of the street gullies There were muny long-branch sewerr, which had m ventilation at all. Lastly, there were th° hou&3 drains, none of which were ventilated except that of the Union Bank. He had been some distance inside one of the mair> sewers, aad found the air thereof very foiil ami offensive, which would not ba v Ca ?tu '"j 1 * ,F°P er ventilation. Many of the yard gullies smelt very badly although many others had no bad smell. Absence of smell was, however, no guarantee of safety, because, without ventilators, any current of air m the severs would drive sewer gas through the water seal of the gully-trap. Dr. Symes quoted several opinions from eminent authorities, and expressed the hope that the Council would agree to" the recommendations he intended to make—viz., that every house gully should be provided with a ventilator of not less than 4in diameter, carried as high as convenient above the highest part of the roof. He could not help mentioning a remark made to him by Mr Parsons, the chemist. He said there had been more diphtheria in Lyttelton since trapped gullies were introduced in the house drains some twelve years ago than previously. "At any rate, ,, added.Dr. Symes, "I think it js possible that in the specM conditions of the Lyttelton sewers, traps without ventilators do more harm than §ood, since the eewer gas would never acquire such bad qualities if it were not so confined. "I attribute to this cause the. bad smell noticed in some of those of the street gullies which are trapped. Thus, the gully in Norwich Quay, opposite the Bank of New" Zealand, has been complained of as being very offensive. It is probable that *it may have been, the cause of the repeated and fatal recurrence of diphtheria in that house. "In conclusion, I wish to say that epidemics like the present one are brougnt on by a. combination of many different causes; and the best way to trace out these cauete is to give fair consideration to all the sanitary conditions of the town. The principal fault is the non-ventilation of the. eewers, leading to the formation of poisonous forms' gas. The" effect of eewer gas ia to predispose the body to infection by the germe of disease. The recent cases in Lyttelton probably had their blood contaminated by sewer gas,, which rendered them susceptible to infection by rma conveyed in the milk or otherwise. has been proved 1 by experiments that when animals,, not. previously accustomed to it, are-kept.in am atmosphere, of sewer gas, and inoculated with typhoid germe, 75 to 100 per-cent.' of them' succumb; whereas, of animals kept in pure, air, .and similarly inc«uTated, onljrV' per -cent, die: "The ventilation of the drains will no doubt cost a .good.deal of money. andJ it would be greatly to the public advantage if the whole work could be undertaken by the borough, while charging cu'fair .'proportion to each householder. I-propose, that the sewers should be ventilated through tha house drains; and as tii6 ventilation of the sewers is the duty of the borough, so the principal cost of the work should be borne by it. The householder should, of course, pay something for the improvement of hie dwelling, but,.in mv opinion, it should be only a small proportion of the total expense.' The state of the sewers had, no;doubt, .-been made worse by the recent drought, and. I hope something will be done.for their improvement, before the lessons derived from the present epidemic are forgotten." ■■•■■• SANITARY COMMITTEE'S REPORT. The Sanitary ; Committee of the Council also presented, its report, which stated that during the months of .April, May. June, July t Angustt-and September fifty-five cases of dloihtheria and 1 scarlatina, had occurred in the following order—7 in April, 3 in Mary-1 in June, 3.in Jnly-,.,6. in August, ana 22 in September. The details sup--1 plied by the district; health officer showed that or a, total' of fifty-four cases, forty were in houses supplied with, niilk by two I dairies. The Committee desired to remind i the Council fhat the inspection and , regulation of the milk supply, was.now undertaken by the Government, and while the condition of affairs as revealed in Dr. Byrnes's report wae not. all .that could be< wished, still no breach of the regulations 1 had been comihitted; , The -Committee therefore agreed with the. suggestion of the health officer that the, regulations ooncenri ing the keeping of pigs in connection with the dairy trade should be made more stringent, and recommended the Council to apI prove any reasonable suggestion that Dr. Syme* might/think fit to make to the Department on this head. It appeared, that the health officer did not regard the milk supply as the chief cause of the recent out-break. The other matter that in the opinion of the health officer bad been a cause of 1 the appearance of sickness was the absence of ventilation: of the drains. On this head the Committee reminded the Council that in May last the Health Department 'were.asked "to recommend certain work in connection, with drainage improvement and 1 extensions to enable a loan to be raised

under the Public Health Act. The approval of the Department was received under date August 29th. and. the resolution authorising the loan -was confirmed that night. During the pact few years very extensive drainage works had been undertaken by the Council, and the adoption of the earthenware trap had been insisted upon for all -hoise connections. The main sewers, which- washed away the house drainage, but not night soil, were open at each end, and were, therefore, wind-swept twice everr twenty-four hours. Hie health officer recommended that a system of ventila- ; in connection with ■ t£e branch' or pri- ' rate drain? should be pot into operation, and pointed out that with a high pressure ,of air in the main sewers it was possibls that sewer gas was forced into the branch drain?, and eventually through the water Jin the traps. The Committee bad give* i the matter careful consideration, . and re.commended that steps be taken to initiate I a system of ventilation as suggested. The ! ventilation of private drains was, correctly speaking, an expense that should be borne by householders, but as some considerable ''■ time would probably elapse before the work would be eitectively done if left to the individual .householder the Committee recommended that- forty ventilators, at points which had been indicated on the drainage , map, be put in by the Council, it being understood that afi new drains connected with the sewers must be ventilated at the time they are put down. DISCUSSION OF THE BEPORTS. Upon the motion of Cr. Kay. seconded by Cr. Cook, thte report was adopted. Cr. Kay, chairman of the Sanitary Coniraittce, stated that the Committee had gone carefully into the matter, and they estimated that it would ooet about £50 to place j the ventilators. He could not agree with Dr. Syznes's opinion t-hat one of wie causes of the recent •epidemic.was the condition of , the drains. During July and August heavy 1 falls of snow and rain were experienced, and the drains then must Itfave been thoroughly . washed out. He would like to know how [ Dr. Symes accounted for the fact that although nothing tad b?en done to fche sewers the diphtheria had disappeared. This fact, Ihe maintained, proved his tbte&ry that tihe diphtheria was iravelmg in the air. He thought that Dr. Symes should be prepared !to state- that Lytte'ton was one of the healthiest places in Xew Zealand. Cγ. (larrard —"I think he should be asked to contradict tihe statements he has made." , Or. Whitfcy did not consider that the ; epidemic arose from the condition of the i drains at all. If Dr. Symes made out that Lyttelton was so bwl wben its darains had suoh a fall, what, condition must the Christchurch drains be in? 1 Cr. Webb could not understand why the ' Committee proposed to spend £50 or £60 !'cn ventilators vben they did not consider ' that the epidemic arose from the drains. He thought Dr. SynWs report wae a little I hard. If any suggestions were made in the j Council respecting epidemics or diseases the Council should carefully consider them. If i after reviewing the. evidence they came to ■ the conclusion that the medjical opinion was wrong they should, decide, upon their , own course. It was not wise to run against the opinions' of experts,' neither was it wise to regard what all experts said as being I perfectly true and 1 reliable. Statistics showed that the death rate in Lvttelton was about as low as any place in New Zealand. It had been clearly proved that drains did generate injurious gases, and he therefore thought the course they proposed to follow was a wise «oe. and the best thing they could dk>. Hβ did not thinjf that tnfe borough of Lyttelton was ae-unhealtihy'as some people appeaTed to think, nor did he think that tibe Borough Council had been so lax as hod'been suggested. Cr. Brown was pleased with Dr..Syme*'s report, and he hoped that his suggestions worald 'be adopted. Dr. Symee, whV> subsequently waited on the Council, explained that the prim© caree of the epidemic was probably the collection of poisonous forms of sewer gas,.but if the sewers were properly. ventilated tihe aii could be ais sweet as anywhere." The sewer gas rendered the 'body susceptible to infection, .but fctye infection might come from anywhere. A good many; disease %etma came from the milk, but he waa not prepared to saiy that"they all came fijpm that source, for In some bouses the damp ground underneath was the caus* of He trueted that nothing that he had done would convey the impression that be bad in any way formed an unfavourable opinion of Lyttelton as a place of residence. He considered that Lyttelton should be one oi the healthiest resorts of Christchurch 1 . The mjftters he had reported on, ha considered, could be entirely Temedied, end if after they ventilated the sewers they ever got anot&ei epidemic of the kind, he would.never show his face in Lyttefton again. {Applause). He wished;' to express his sincere tWanks tc the Sanitary Committee for the Very admirable way in which . they had adopted the views and suggestions he hod put before fcbem. , '; - In reply to questions Dr. Symes said that be found the streets and back yards oi Lyttelton remarkably clean. Out of thirtyfour of the latter he hSad inspected lie had only to complain of three. Regarding-the dairies, he considered that fault was in the Dairy Act, which should certainly be amended. , He did 'not agree with. tCie opinions expressed to 'The Press" leader. The epidemic might "disappear even if nothing were done to, the eewers, but in such a c&5« tltere was much, more likelihood of its return. Dr. Symee was f&anked for hie attendance and explanations, and the Mayor intimated , that the Council would, direct the Government's attention to the necessity for , amending the Dairy Act.