THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1953, 9 November 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1874.

" The consideration of a letter from the Central Board of Health referring to the report of Dr Morice as to the sanitary state of the town was deferred ": — Such is a report in brief of one portion of the Borough Council's proceedings on Friday last. If we are rightly informed this report, the consideration of which is " deferred," is as about as important a document as could be presented to the Borough Council for its "consideration," and it may be hoped that when it comes to be dealt with the Council will approach it with a full sense of its gravity as applied to the sanitary condition of Greymouth. One of the first and most responsible duties of the representatives of the burgesses of a town is to provide for the protection of the public health ; thus we see the vast expenditure which some corporations incur for providing efficeni sewers and drains. But in the present instance the obligation is increased by the fact that the Borough Council is the Local Board of Health under the Public Health Act, and any neglect or erfunctory performance of its duties in this capacity would be a public crime. Greymouth is not unusually unhealthy, nor is it a town where the prevalence of preventible diseases is more conspicuous than in other places. It has also the exceptional advantages of great salubrity of climate and local atmospheric influences which help very considerably to preserve the public health. And when we have said this we have said all — Nature does everything and the inhabitants do nothing. But experience has shown that when ordinary sanitary precautions are neglected by the people natural advantages only palliate, and do not abolish the risks of disease to which every resideut in an undrained town, or in one where no precautions of any kind are taken to remove the causes of epidemics, is subjected. It is not necessary to quote the opinions of those who have devoted their time and knowledge to sanitary questions, it is sufficient to say that it has been indubitably established that some of the most formidable physical diseases are due to causes which are quite within human control. Cholera, tj and typhoid diseases generally; diptheria and other deadly complaints, invariably arise from the neglect of sanitary laws. The course of epidemics of these kinds can be traced as accurately as lines upon a map, by noting their progress and duration in various localities. Where sanitary precautions are neglected there the hand of death is laid, whilst it will pass over those where efforts have been made to prevent a locale for the germs of disease. It is not enough that people live well, that they are ordinarily cleanly in their habits, that their houses ate dry and weM ventilated, or that no exceptional nuisance ia allowed to remain on or about their premises. The late Prince Consort died of fever due to the existence of a defective drain under Windsor Castle ; his son, the Prince of Wales, narrowly escaped death from a similar cause at Sandringham, and to these illustrious instances could be adduced thousands of others whose lives have been sacrificed in spite of every apparent reason why they should have escaped the effects of epidemics, but whose deaths have been clearly traceable to some perhaps forgotten or unknown local cause — bad or defective drainage, unwholesome water or the presence of some disease-spreading agent. Greymouth is one of those towns in which it may be said without contradiction the agencies of zymotic diseases of all kinds exist uncontrolled to an extent that would bo- 'ti horrify tbe inhabitants should any epidemic break out. Absolutely devoid of drainage ; with water used for domestic purposes drawn from wells that cannot possibly escape contamination from the adj'iniug out-houses ; and with a general and reckless filthiness on the part of its inhabitants; this town offers about as fair a field for the ravages of disease as can be imagined. Take the back yards of any of oursteets and what do we see? — they are simply the receptacles of refuse of every description, pools of stagnant water, or saturated with filth which when it cannot accumulate on the surface percolates into the shingle beneath, and taints every well from which the supply of water is derived. It is something monstrous, and would certainly appear incredible to any one outside of this place that persons who ought to knoa> better permit the most flagrant neglect of thecommonesfcsaniiary rules. If the level of a street is raised, and the residents, have to raise their houses, what is the practice I—perhaps1 — perhaps a house is elevated on piles, leaving a disgusting pool of stagnant water charged with all sorts of abominations underneath the dwelling, which every shower of rain helps io keep going; or probably, as we have seen, a yard containing augean deposits is levelled up with its own refuse and Blightly covered with gravel. As to the methods ordinarily employed for the disposal of foecai matter, the less we say of them the better — they are absolutely abominable. In fact to sura up, the town is sanitarily in a disgraceful state, and we hope that now that the Central Board of Health has drawn the attention of the Borough Council to the subject, some practical steps will be taken without delay to apply a remedy. The first necessities of the town as are thorough system of drainage; the most rigid suppression of nuisances of all kinds, and the enforcement of proper regulations regarding outhouses. The duty of the Borough

Council is clear and easy, and needs little consideration if the members recognise their responsibility in the matter. No popular prejudices or private objections should be allowed to stand for an instant in the way of the preservation of the public health, and we may here remind the Council that the town is not free from the premonitory symptoms of some of the diseases which whilst being the most easily controllable by sanitary precautions deadly of human complaints are tho must.