HASTINGS SANITARY INSPECTION.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VIII, Issue 311, 4 December 1918, Page 3

HASTINGS SANITARY INSPECTION.

[TO THE EDITOE-1 Sir, —I noticed in your last even j ing’s issue the remarks of the; Borough Inspector regarding ) “Health’s” letter. I have no desire ■ to belittle Mr. Fawcett’s energies in' the cause* of public health, but at: the same time one cannot get away | from facts. 1 repeat what I stated) in my former letter that some of! the premises in Hastings are abso- ' lately a disgrace to the town, in fact, if I had my way I would see ' that some of them were burned to the ground. Mr. Fawcett says that ’ there is no cause for alarm, also 1 according to your report that the ■ conditions could not cause an epi- : demic, and that! he has five, men 1 inspecting the various places picking out the worst cases, which, he says, ’ are very few. The very fact that he ' has five inspectors does not suggest ’ to any common-sense person that ! the number of cases are few. On the contrary, to my mind, it seems 3 that there are a great many eases > to investigate. If I am wrong, well, why the necessity for these five in- ' spectors to inspect a very few cases. ’ 1 do not begrudge Mr. Fawcett five inspectors. If the work he has in ’ hand is beyond one man's capabilities then'by all means he should 1 have all the extra assistance re--3 quired on such important work, and, as I stated before, these inspectors 1 should have fuller power to act and ’ should be authorised to inspect the interior of dwellings as well as the 3 exterior and so get at the real living e conditions. I am confident that m = the near future this will have to be a done. It- is quite a fair proposition e and one that any right-thinking e person would not reject. For ine stance a familv may go into a new house with first class surroundings, ~ drainage etc., and everything up-to* r date and in twelve months’ time, d or less, the same premises may be e in a delanidated and filthy condition. Or, again, the outside n buildings mav be in good condition - l ' and everything in the garden lovely. n but what does that nrofit if the ini- terior of the dwelling is filthy. *•" This has been proved to be the. case 0 in other towns, and Hastings is no I OT, "«;; HEALTn; . i- Hastings, December 4tb. 1913.