SANITATION MATTERS.

Evening Star, Volume 11221, Issue 11221, 21 April 1900, Page 5

SANITATION MATTERS.

Mr N. YvA. Walts, looal representative of the Septic Tank Syndicate at Exeter (England), to-day cabled to his principals : “ Waiting advice re Dunedin installation.” For some time past the arcade beneath the Supreme Court has'been a veritable eye-, sore to passers-by* in the early morning.'bu account of the vile smells proceeding therefrom. The officials of the Court were quite aware that a prodigious nuisance was created, for rumor bath it that they formally notified the local Board of Health of the fact bn a recent occasion. That body, however, < came to the conclusion that it was the duty of the Government, equally with the ordinary citizen, to prevent the creation of a nuisance on State-owned property, and accordingly Mr Sheriff was notified that if the premises under his jurisdiction were not promptly put in a perfectly sanitary state that duty would be undertaken by the Health Board at the expense of the Government. This had the desired effect, and this morning the dwellers in Bond street were rewarded with the exhilarating spectacle of the arcade in question being subjected to the fumigation of which it stood so greatly in need. So far so good ; but the best way ,to prevent a recurrence of the nuisance will, it seems to us, bo to close the arcade at night by means of iron gates. The matter might be brought under the notice of the Hon. Mr M'Oowau when he is in town. In reference to the steps that are being taken to dispose of the City refuse, His Worship the Mayor informs us that, after the recent conference with the Medical Association, he took counsel with Drs Ogston and Gordon Macdonald, with the result that tho Corporation gardener (Mr Oaten) has received instructions to cut a deep trench in the Oral, and into this in future all street refuse, etc., will be deposited. The peaty soil of which the Oval is largely composed will be thrown back till the trench is tilled, and then be put on top of the soil which will cover the rubbish so deposited. Until the Corporation acquire a destructor it is intended to burn on tho ground nil garbage, etc.—so that only comparativ.,l • innocuous matter will bo buried there. As the ground is filled up to its permanent level it will be planted with shrubs, and walks laid out. Hitherto the larger part of the City’s street sweepings has been pitched on to the foreshore or used in filling up private land adjacent thereto. This practice will now be stopped. The local Board of Health have been advised that their present plan of dealing with the street sweepings is a commendable and effective one.