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Evening Star, Issue 16988, 10 March 1919, Page 4

An offer of £IOO for the purchase of the following animals for the Zoo from Adelaide have been accepted by tho Wellington City Council;— One tigress, one pair of leopards, one bin to rouge, on* Indian iynx, and one tiger cat..

There is reason to believe that our article on ‘ Poison in the Draincgfl and Leith ’ is fully supported Water. as to facts in the observations made by the civic authorities. They have scon the conditions, and find them as described. Cr Douglas, chairman of the .General Committee, points out that wo were wrong in supposing that the Leith water is held out of the City supply by only the sluice plug that wo mentioned. He says that the pipe is also plugged, and that at a point a little lower down it is disconnected, and he assures us that these stops have boon there for some considerable time. By Mr Douglas's permission wo verified this statement by asking Mx M'Ourdie, the city engineer, and that gentleman states that the Leith is not in use, and has not been in use since the last drought. Mr M'Curdie adds that if the present dry spell continues it may bo necessary to link up the Leith again, but in that case the public need have no fear, since the precautions as to purifying the water are much in excess of the precautions a.s laid down by the expert authorities. It is comforting to know that something is being done ’to protect the public. We are assured that the investigations as to piggeries were actually being made generally throughout the bounds when our article appeared. It is satisfactory to have that assurance. Maybe our disclosure did no more than stimulate the work already in hand. The ipain thing is that the public interest is served. Mo are told that this is being actively attended to. The inspectors liavo made a full report as to every piggery within the area of Greater Dunedin, including the one that wo named, and in every case where a nuisance is found the owner is being served with a notice to clean up. Further, the whole matter of the licensing of piggeries is before the General Oommiteo, and none will bo permitted to carry on excepting under a permit the conditions of which will amply secure the public. Special care is being exercised to keep out of watercourses the drainage from styes. "Wo believe the corporation officers are in earnest over this r abject, also the General Committee, and, resting in that ■ belief, we say no more about piggeries for the present. On the related subject of the want o- - ' drainage at the. eastern end of tho City boundary—Tainui and. its neighborhood—wo arc also agreeable to an armistice. In other words, we hold back our record of tho facts as to the ditches in this area, because tho city engineer is experimenting with a flushing system, and it is but fair to wait and sec if this gentleman’s plan will be effective. If it fails, money by the thousand must be spent to clean up and drain Tainui. The alternative is the risk of a pestilence. Many citizens, and we opine some councillors as well, fear that good results are not assured. We have no opinion on the subject. Mr M'Gurdie is tackling a big job, and it is a fair thing to wait and sea how ha gets on and wish him luck. Meanwhile, we hope that the dirty watercourses in this neighborhood—tho ones that Nature lias made—will bo straightened and lined or in some way cleaned and made safe. One that passes Mr M‘Lean’s house and runs down alongside the property just acquired by Mr D. W. Johnston is particularly unclean, and the occupiers named as well as their neighbors must foci greatly concerned as to its danger. Wo are told that the whole question is being actively inquired into, and that something satisfactory will bo done at once. In that assurance we refrain at present from saying all that we know.