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Cromwell Argus, Volume XXXV, Issue 1929, 20 March 1905, Page 4

The report by Dr Ogston on the sanitary condition of SANITATION. Cromwell is not very reassuring nor very complimentary to the citizens who have always regarded Cromwell as a very clean and well kept town. Certainly his report deals with only two things ; namely, the water supply and the state of the bank of the Kawarau. It is the manifest duty of the Council to attend at once to both of these matters, although we do not for a moment think that the conditions are such as to give cause for alarm. The Health Department has to justify its existence, and it must make somebody move along. The state of the bank of the Kawarau has often been brought up at the Council meetings, and the Inspector of Nuisances has time and again been instructed to take steps to abate the nuisance, and legal proceedings against offenders have several times been threatened ; but none of these threats have ever been carried out, and the Council has come to be regarded as a barking institution, unwilling to go beyond noise. This is the great disability under which all local bodies lie. In small places the members of a local body who honestly and fearlessly do their duty as such, are liable to be retaliated against as private individuals for carrying out their plain public duty. Therefore, the individual members of a public body, having their own private peace and business interests to conserve, are very loth to put in motion the various laws and bye-laws supposed to be in force. If the sanitation of our small towns is to be properly attended to, the work must be carried out by a central department purely official in its character and, therefore, in a position to do its duty without regard to private sentiment. The work of attending to our water supply and of cleaning up the banks of the Kawarau will no doubt be duly attended to shortly, but as regards the latter it will not be long before another cleaning is necessary. The present water supply is fairly good, but as Dr Ogston says, the water should pass through a gravel bed. It would also be just as well to clean out the reservoir periodically. We hope that the recommendation of the Health Officer will receive due consideration and that the general public may soon be able to vest assured that the sanitary condi-

tion of the town is all that can be desired. Since the above was written —the article having been crowded out of last issue—the bank of the Kawarau has been thoroughly cleaned up. Several citizens have found fault with us for publishing Dr Ogston's report so faithfully ; to these we point out the fact that Dr Ogston will include in his departmental report his opinions of tile sanitary state of Cromwell, and that in a matter of such public interest it is the bounden duty of the Press to : lay the facts, as officially reported on. j before the people for their informai tion and guidance, at the same time , disclaiming any personal responsibility ! for the statements made.