WELLINGTON'S WATER SUPPLY

Evening Star, Issue 4966, 1 February 1879, Page 1

WELLINGTON'S WATER SUPPLY

[Fsxns. Ons Ow^?Corekspondknt.] .. WELLINGTON,' January .31., r The ' Post' has recently, contained a ber of articles on the, water, supply,.founded on. a mieros2opic analysis' l>y I)r;Hector, showing, diarrhocea, ova, • worms, and other* gross, impurities to-' 'exist in the- water I>lied from the reservoir... . The object of articles was to force upon the -City Council tne necessity for filter-beds.. As they had"; not had the desired • result the ' Post's;' importer yesterday add' to-day"visited all the medical men in town, their Opinions occupying two columns of "this, evening's issue. Without all trace the ' frightful amount of contagious diseases ' no\V; prevalent more or less to the water supply;'" :some going further tham others ; but the' majority agree that even infants suckled at" the breast, are not free .from danger,-as diarrhoea, typhoid, or worms can be con-; veyed through the mother's milk. Dr Diver! and others stated that nine out of every* ten children in Wellington suffered from worms, deaths frequently occurring through animals eating their way into the intestines. The Mayor's. youngest daughter, who died yesterday, was killed' by; worms. In an adjoining column is ilia. death rate, showing the largest number of deaths ever registered in Wellington in ono month, nearly all due to zymotic diseases,, thirty-three being those of children, two «ff them being under one year old—all froin, diarrhoea. The city engineer states that the distributing basin is.full of eels, which get into the mains, and there die, either owing to the rapid rush of water or to the absence of food. Two house-pipes, nearly blocked, were opened, and the cause was found £o bjs dead eels. The watershed of the reservoir is used as a grazing ground, and the basin itself as a drinking pond by cattle. Thu article has caused a great sensation in town.