Sanitary Matters.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5488, 29 March 1889, Page 3

Sanitary Matters.

[to the eottob.J

g IE —Your articles on the sanitary state of this town, and the diversion of tho Tutaekuri, have much Bound, sense to commend them, and I should be glad if you would allow mo to.wake some comments on your statements, and point out how preventable disease may be materially lessened, if not entirely abolished, from our town. Your remark that our town i« lew unhealthy than some other borough? m tho is, I boliove, true, but it is not a euffiei-nt cause for congratulation. llie question is, Can we improve our sanitary condition ? « so, we should not rest until we have done so. It may not be well to cry " stinking fish, ,, but it is worse to shut our eyes to onto that exist, lest mentioning them with ft view to having then, remedied should injure our town. Tho truth is strong and must prevail, and to allow sanitary matters in this town to drift from moderately "**" bad to worse will do more harm to Napier than the injudicious remarks of too enthusiastic reformers. Iβ the sanitary state of this town improving year by yeari , is a question that all thoughtful men should Mk. If I may judge h<m tho records of my own practice, I should say decidedly not but the reverse. Typhoid fever » not decreasing, and I see a greater number t>t septic sore throats every year. Hitherto aiDTtheriahae been almost unknown among-* us but if we do not bestir ourselves we shall have it, and shall learn to conwier typhoid fever a mere pin-prick by comparison. I The eewer outfall should be carried out'further, and the angle between it and Sβ Bhore should be reclaimed. In flood tide some of the filth that issues from the Bawer is carried up into this angle and deposited there, and the ebb title causes no • lour capable of removing it. Then I con«i<w that the present drain connections with the houses arc defeotivo, the catch-pit mretem is dirty, unsightly, and dangerous, A- and should be changed for some safer plmi. Mr Rochfort'e fhißbing tanks seem to mo the best that have been suggested. 1 have had them fitted to my houses for Severn uToutha, and can twtify to tho improvement On il' e Tho disposal of tho nightsoil claim* our attention. The best method, in my om F n on, is by the addition of dry earth in X pane, and then by burning the whole in a suitable kiln. The water-closet system Sμ much to recommend it, but .to bo a LnitaW measure it must be universal toourhout the whole borough, the house connections muet be severally trapped, and ultimate dwpoeal of the sewage must be

ft perfect riddance; the beet, in my opinion, tould be lo carry it well out to eea. Many obfeot to the burning of the mghtwil on the Sof expenee.but I think all eencble will agree that it is cheaper to spend five pound! to prevent than one pound to cure According to some persons, a proS constructed kiln would coat five &nd pounds. The Council, I may «y, Havefe their possession a plan of a suitable kuTtbatwin cont less than one-tenth of Sit sum; but I will allow that the kiln

Waited a year, in addition to the present StfiaSthemghtHoil. As a contra te should have the proceed* of the sale of a leXtly odoarlesH and innocuoua manure. &lie measure alone would do much to J? Tvohoid and other endemic diseases X-tv pounds, and we have on tie thirty P<"\ • f {ty cases a yea r in SSff THb JJ* direct cost U fifteen fP] Jα bounds a 3 ear. Thie does not Sfflo acTunt the* loa of wages that h freauently entailed, the nick pay to memirequeiiwy societies, and the loss Sained ™ the famUy'« the patient to die Nor does it take into coniocs of health and consequent losß of money to persons who are exposed tothetyjhold poison, but do not actually contract the di«Ue. In short, by spending Sven hundred pounds a war in prevention Bave at least fifteen hundred a Telr now expended in cure. Of course in Jnk as m the water-closet system, the tion rf all ref use, and the clearness of all b3 llF r The building regulations are defective in one important particular-many Imieea in out principal Btrecta are bu.lt so Se together that a Wll space is left bespace sufficiently large for animal Sdwratablo refuse to collect, poison the srwit»i noxious and produce disease, but too email to allow of their being l fid "When houses are built so close oieanea. prec lude a person passing Stn th rn,Vshould be iLsted on that X Aoold be actually, joined. If this wa« TnZ by the space being filled up with a SoY concrete wall, it would he a good to theß P r e adofnre,aswella 8 of the TutaeW P . P M« of Napier, that sound and perfectly Satel be laid before the r»tepayere.-I«n,&c., Napier, 29th March, 1889. _