CITY AND SUBURBAN

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 212, 4 June 1929, Page 12

CITY AND SUBURBAN

HAPPENINGS IN AND ABOUT TOWN

Mrs. E. Haase, 40 Kent Terrace, fell off a tramcar at the corner of Kent Terrace and Vivian Street yesterday afternoon, and suffered from concussion and shock. She was attended to by the Free Ambulance and taken to the hospital.

Some idea of the number of rats which were caught on and about the Wellington wharves and in the city during the past year is gained from the annual report of the Medical Officer of Health (Dr; W. F. Findlay), who states that 276 rats were caught on ships and 372 in Harbour Board sheds; and ,958 were caught by the City Council. Investigation of the work and methods adopted by the Wellington city rat-catcher had been attended to at intervals. Thanks are again due, he says, to the Harbour Board for its co-operation in the matter of rat-catch-ing on wharves and ships. The bacteriologist examined 788 rats with a view to detecting any possible cases of plague or other infectious diseases.

Reference to the water supply and drainage works of Wellington is made in the annual report of Dr. W. F Findlay, Medical Officer of Health, who says, “New reticulations were laid to the railway settlement, Ngaio, and Public Works Settlement, Khandallah. The Board of Health, on the application of the City Council, decided to issue a requisition for £38,752 for water and drainage reticulations in various suburban areas. The completion of the Miramar scheme will remove a source of complaint which has existed for several years, and should make conditions satisfactory in what has been one of the most rapidly-growing suburbs of Wellington. With the completion of the above works, I think it may be said that Wellington is probably • rhe most completely reticulated and sewered city in the Dominion.”

“During the year bacteriological and chemical checks of the milk from various portions of the sterlising and bottling plant were carried out,” states the medical officer of health (Dr. W. F. Findlay) in his annual reports on the health conditions of the city, when making reference to the Wellington municipal milk supply. “These were very satisfactory, Although the consumption of milk in Wellington is perhaps higher than it is in England, there is still room for improvement in the quantity disposed of per head. Perhaps in the years to come the City Council will be able to still further reduce the cost.”

“The food premises in the city continue ro improve,” states the report of the Medical Officer of Health. “Evolution in all cases to the standard of our new regulations must necessarily be a slow matter. During the year I visited the majority of the bakehouses in company with the officer-in-charge, Labour Department In some instances there is still room for improvement. The question is one perhaps not so much of structure of building but of the personal factor. During these inspections, bakers were examined for bakers’ dermatitis. Only one example of this was discovered, and that of a mild type. During last summer a special effort was made to induce fish-shops to provide cases during the fly season. Several co-operated, but in some instances great reluctance was shown. I think that during the summer months some further protection from flies is desirable. The City Council will probably endeavour to secure the necessary protection by by-law.”

A contused wound on the scalp, concussion and shock were suffered by Mrs. S. Bussell, of 14 Walter Street, who fell against a stove in her residence last evening. She was attended to by the Free Ambulance and removed to the hospital.

Reference to the city by-laws is made by the medical officer of health (Dr. W. F. Findlay) in his annual report. “The consolidated or remodelled bylaws of Wellington City which aave been under consideration have not yet been finalised,” says Dr. Findlay. “I have suggested that the City Council adopt our departmental plumbing and drainage by-laws. In some respects the present city by-laws are not up to the standard of those now obtaining in the surrounding boroughs and counties.”

The report of the Medical Officer of Health states that accommodation for infectious diseases in Wellington remains the same as in the previous year. For part of the past year, accommodation at the Wellington Hospital continued to be taxed as regards scarlet fever. With the abatement of the incidence, matters have, of course, improved. The medical superintendent of the Wellington Hospital has drawn attention to the need for increased accommodation for tubercular patients. Occasionally instances occur where it is desirable that T.B. patients living under undesirable conditions should be removed to hospital at the earliest moment.

The police are already on the alert for those drivers of motor-vehicles who have not renewed their licenses, and obtained their new registration plates. Several drivers who were still showing the old brown plates were held up in town yesterday by the police, and told that they must secure the new plates at once, otherwise a prosecution would follow. In one case a police officer stopped a motor-cyclist on Lambton Quay, and drew attention to the fact that he was not showing the new plates, whereupon the driver produced the blue plates from his pocket, explaining that he had not yet had a chance to fix them on; but there and then, with the aid of a piece of string, managed to suspend the new number plates on his machine so as to prevent further delays at the hands of the police.

“I happened to be standing on the road near Point Jerningham yesterday when the Royal salute was fired in honour of the King’s Birthday,” said an Englishman to a “Dominion” reporter. “I naturally doffed my hat, but on looking round I noticed that no others about there at the time bothered to take off their hats. I suppose it’s a matter of training, but you would think that the boys would be trained in the schools to doff their hats during the firing of a Royal salute.” A Royal salute is somewhat of a rarity in New Zealand, and almost wholly one outside the four centres. In the days of Queen Victoria in Wellington the ■whole of the volunteers used to turn out on parade, and, assembling in some open space (usually, in Wellington, the latest piece of reclaimed land), would fire a feu.de joie, whilst the artillery would fire the Royal salute, after which the whole of the companies would march past the Governor.