TOO MANY FLIES

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 58, 9 March 1923, Page 4

TOO MANY FLIES

THE NEWTOWN NUISANCE i RESTRICTIONS ON MARKET GARDENING CITY COUNCIL'S DECISION. The fly nuisance at. Newtown was further considered by the City Council last night. The Bylaws Committee originally proposed that the council should pass a new bylaw for the purpose of pre- ! venting the use of animal manure 'in I market gardening or for agriculture carried on for profit within the city area. The question was further considered before the council met, and the committee decided to recommend a modification— that the bylaws should apply within the boundaries of the old city of Wellington as it existed prior to the amalgamation of the borough of Melroso.. It was explained that the bylaw would j then apply to the Russell terrace garden I about which so many complaints have ; been made of late. On behalf of Chinese gardeners, Mr. C. A. L. Treadwell waited on the council with a request that less drastic measures should be taken. It was, he said, an incontrovertible fact that stable manure could be treated in such a way that it would not produce flies. Therefore he appealed to'the council not to prohibit the use of manure but to control it. The Chinese would be prepared to do anything the council desired. They were law-abiding citizens, and if the proposed new bylaw were adopted the Chinese gardener at. Eussell terrace would be ruined. Mr. Treadwell also suggested that the present, fly nuisance might be in the nature of an epidemic. The land now occupied had been used as a Chinese garden for twenty years, and until this year no complaints had been mads about flies. In answer to Councillor Bennett, Mr. Treadwell said his clients would be quite satisfied if the use of stable manure was confined to the winter months. The Mayor said that the council appreciated the way in which Mr. Treadwell had si&fe' the case for the Chinese. However, one ol two things had to happen. The fly nuisance at Newtown had to be remedied or the residents of the affected locality would have to vacate their residences. Under existing conditions it was quite impossible for people to live. Except at Niue Island he had never seen flies so numerous. The council was able to control the manure dumps at Newtown Park, but unless it had an army of inspectors it could not control manure dumps on private property. The residents had very good reason for their complaints, and the council, in the interests of public health, must take some action.

Councillor M. F. Luckie said it was all very well to talk about giving an opportunity for carrying' out the bylaw in a modified form, but it was pretty obvious that the Chinese had shown no inclination to abate the nuisance. The Chinese had been using stable manure right up to last Friday, and more had been dumped within the last three days. It was too much to expect that people working gardens for profit would observe any regulation framed to permit the restricted use of manure. He was not disposed to relax the terms of the proposed bylaw. The city was no place for markt gardens at all. The bylaw would be effective only in the 1500 acres known as the old city area, but he maintained that the land at Russell terrace should have been built on years ago. ] It was a pity that the leases had been granted. The public nuisance created was of such a character that the council could no longer sit down and take no further notice. He considered the bylaw should be put into force to show the Chinese the strength of the council's hand. The council, so he had been , informed, would bo going on very unsafe j grounds if it permitted the use of manure in the winter months. Only one market garden in tlje old city area would bo affected by the bylaw. COUNCIL SHOULD BE DRASTIC. Councillor C. H. Chapman agreed with Councillor■< Luckie. Had the Chinese in the last two months taken, steps to alleviate the trouble, then they (the council) might have been prepared to, concede something, but afer what had occurred the council should act drastically. . ■'. . . In reply to Councillor Forsyth,- Councillor Luckie said that further steps would have to be taken to deal with the stables mentioned by Mr. Treadwell, and the people who dumped manure without permission. ~~ Councillor P. 'Fraeer* M.P., declared that the conditions were wholly.bad and the women iii the neighbourhood were being driven practically frantic in their aE-day struggles with the flies. Councillor Fraser criticised the Health Department authorities for not having taken more, drastic steps to deal with the matars ESTABLISHMENT OF DUMPS. Councillor W. H. Bennett said that the council would have to go further and establish manure dumps in the city. This would meet tho convenience of many people, and the manure could afterwards be sold. "I have never seen anything so disgraceful in my life," declared Councillor L. M'Kenzio when speaking of his visit to the houses invaded by the flios. He supported the proposed bylaw very strongly, and was surprised, after what he had seen, that more had not been heard of the matter earlier. People with stables wero compelled by bylaw to remove manure so maiiy times a week, but where were they to put it? Dumps should be established by the municipality. Councillor C. J. B. Norwood also stressed the necessity of the council providing dumps where manure could be treated so as to render it incapable of creating a nuisance. The bylaw, as modified, was adopted, but it was explained that it could not be made operative for seven weeks. Councillor Fraser wanted to know whether the Health Department could be urged to take some immediate steps to deal with the matter. The Mayor replied that all that xould be done in the meantime was for council inspectors to visit the site every day in order to ensure that the Chinese were taking measures to prevent a nuisance.