INSANITARY DWELLINGS

Evening Star, Issue 11278, 27 June 1900, Page 1

INSANITARY DWELLINGS

We think it necessary to revert to tire nflpkasant but orgeat subject of the remW of insanitary dwellings; and. in view of fl* w>ad»us attempts that/aw being bring about a reactionary movement, we think it abo necessary to express ourselves w unmiatakeaMe terms. -There is no real' reaction: ''the best sense of the com-, munity" (a phrase'for which.we thank the Rev, A. Don) is as convinced as ever of the necessity of Dunedin attaining, as nearly as can be, a condition of civic cleanliness; but interested parties are doing their very best to pooh-pooh the project and induce the citizens to content, themselves with something very like the old state of matters. We are sorry to say that these interested gentry are receiving encouragement, from a few people, not perhaps directly interested, who ought to know better. Last night we published. a letter from the Rev. A. Bon, in reply to our article of the 20th rost., on " The Walker street Chinatown "—a. letter which, in some of its statements, has fairly astounded us. We are tempted to tuggest tb.4. Mr Don, in the course.of his converting mission, has himself been converted to the-Celestial ideas in the matters of sanitation and civic cleanliness. How.:otherwise arc we to explain his extraordinary hostiiitv to the sanitary movement in Dunedin? ' As regards our y?Ti?* ls criticisms » -wc are glad- to find that ' Mr' Dons curious contradiction of the. inspector's verdict respecting a Walker street, house was by way of 'unsweriny -a'quest ion : lie did not volunteer his opinion—consequently the remark was not presumptuous, it was merely inept. For the rest, we have nothing, to-withdraw, and wo hurrv on to the consideration.of the.most salient statement, in Mr Don's letter—a statement which perfectly ■represents'the dangerous principle which it is our present purpose to comlm. We refer, of course, to the following pi?<-e of preposterous and paradoxical dogmatism :—"The recent plague scare was most Jidictilous!" How all the doctors and experts in Dunodin must have laughed or stared in dumb astonishment when thev read 'this superlatively cool assertion! Yes, the scare was ridiculous—not to sav inconvenient—from the standpoint of the Walkc* street Chinamen, who .thought that they could live as loathsomely as they liked, 'after years of practical inaction"' on the part of the authorities. [The phrase is Mr Don's, and-our readers will note the implication that evils which have been allowed for years must be allowed for ever.] It war ridiculous from the standpoint of the man who prates the old fallacious claptrap' about an Englishman's house being his castle, in justification of his protest against, being forced to live decently. It was ridiculous from the still more selfish standpoint,- of those too numerous owners of household property whosc'sole conception of " civic diitv ", is the duty of collecting their rents. But if medical and expert opinion counts for anything, the so-called " scare "—in cither" words, the. sanitary movement—was a most; welcome and necessary phenomenon from the'standpoint -of the" municipal reformer and the enlightened citizen. And, be it remembered, the danger of the actual plagua is not the only consideration, liven if it could now be shown that there never was the remotest likelihood- of the plague reaching Dunedin (and there has been a case of plague in Auckland this week!), we should still heartily rejoice that the " scare " came with full force upon the people of this City, seeing that one result has been the exposure of a state of matters which, plague or no plague, is a scandal to civic decency and safety. The danger of plague k not the only danger to be warded off, and the revelations of the last two or three months in Dunedin have caused the people to realise what a wonderful "fool's paradise" they have been inhabiting. " Cleanliness is a good thing, but it is not everything," sententious]}- ..bserves the Walker street apologist. No one ever said that it was everything, but "the best sense of the community " has come to the conclusion that it is the main necessity in Dunedin at, the present time. there is another old saying about cleanliness—that it is "next to godliness "—and we have heard of one old lady who "thanked God tnatthat was not m the BiHe." Mr Don is pleased to say that "we [Le., the people ol New || Zealand] went into fits because the plague "came within five days of us, and nearly "collapsed altogether when someone discovered bubonic bacilli in the stomachs "of some unfortunate fleas at our very "door." This is the mere impertinence of "irresponsible frivolity," and, reduced to logical practice, it means " A fig for saui- " tat-ion! live and herd as dirtily as you "please!"- We, at least, protest against this doctrine with all the strenuousness at. our command, bebeving it to be at once false in its general principle and-dangerous in its immediate tendency.

We countenance no harshness—let a reasonable concession of time be allowed where it appears necessary—bat we have not a shadow of sympaihy with those indignant offenders who w»ite to the newspapers, ing, not for a tiue-cojecsion, but for. total immunity from disturbance. The presumption of some of thaje oawplainants is marvellous. It is t? -y, forsooth, who are the. wrong-d parties, not " the best sense of the community" which they have been outraging w"ich impunity for years. "With impunity "—there is the point: " after y«ars of prrctical inactkra " the municipal authorities have a* last bestirred themselves, and the offenders piteously complain, on the strength ol their vested interests of dirt and danger! The £xt is that the conscisnee of tiiese people has yet to be instructed and quickened ; they have to realise the fact that they aTC, in. very sooth, offenders against law and o?der, decency and the public security. In these days there is a new commandment on the. civic list., and it is " Thou shalt live cleanly." Like other commandments, it. will be. broken : what the civic authorities have to see to is that it be not. always broken with impunity. There is one other aspect of this question to which we must refer in conclusion, and a very important aspect it is. We have a question to put to the Mayor and Civy Corporation. Is it true that certain houses,, condemned by the medical or sanitary inspectors, havo been removed from the list of doom? * If so, why? We shall not dis" ,£Mise oar meaning. It is rumored-per-sistenfcly and with circumstantial references —that a secret " landlord influence" ha* been brought to bear, with a view to arresting the good work of purging the City of its plague spots, a«d that this malign influence has been, in some measure, successful The citizens have a right to know whether this rumor has uny foundation in fact, and, if it has. who is responsible lor it. We invite the Mayor's attention to the matter. Last week ire gladly took occasion to pay Mr dnshorm a well-earned compliment ©a the way in which he has directed this sanitary movement, and we should be sorry to think that he could possibly cott»tenance any reactionary tendencies' Ko has earned an enviable popularity so far as l-egards " the best sense of the community " ; we hop© that he will not shrink from incurring unpopularity with "the worst sense of the community " by setting his face "sternly against the idea of any narfcialily <>r lukewarnmess in the matter of the veiuoval of insanitary dwellings. The ques-tion-which wc. have asked should .be answered, openly and at once And, as re* T ards the future conduct-of the movenrenfc, the principle that should be followed is—Au. IK3AKITABX DWOELUKCS JTCST GO.