UNHEALTHY LONGBURN.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 1541, 15 April 1920, Page 4

UNHEALTHY LONGBURN.

SCHOOL CLOSi:i) DOWN. DRAINAGE SYSTEM NEEDED. The complaints .set out in a* re port to the Hairanga County Council on Tuesday with reference to the insanitary condition of -he township of Longbuni, were investigated yesterday by a committee consisting of Councillors I’. J. Small and D. P. i’l-ouse, with the county engined (Mr A. 11. M. Wright), and tlie health inspector (Mr M. O'Brien). The party traversed the course of the drains which were chiefly corn plained of in the report. accompanied by a "Times” representative. Even to the lay mind there can be no doubt that there is just cause for the complaints laid by the Department, and it is equally certain that some method must sooner or later, and the sooner the better, be adopted to cope with the menace to the health of the community represented by the drainage system of the township. Though there is ample reason to deplore the state of the drains in the township under the control of the <’ounty Council, the worst drain of the lot is outside their jurisdiction. This is the channel which runs along the back of the Railway Department’s cottages in the went end of the town. Prom it, even at this time of the year, arises a most offensive smell, nd it must be doubly bad with the hot lays of a summer sun beating down on its fetid and slimy surface. At present, the cottages drain their dirty water through pipes into this. The remedy suggested oy the Health Department is that these pipes should be removed and the water thrown on the ground This, however, is not regarded by the occupants or by any people who know the vicinity, as a practicable suggestion, a.s the land is low lying and would not absorb the water In the winter time.

Another complaint laid bv the Public Health Department is in reyard to the pipe system of drainage running under the water-table from the railway station to where the line crosses the road. Several sun.ps are placed at intervals along this section, and it is complained ny the townspeople that at certain times the.se befoul the air in their vicinity to a very considerable extent. The remedy suggested by the Department for this is to till in the sumps and replace them by water-sealed mudtraps. There is also a suggestion that the pipes laid down might have become blocked or broken through, so that Hi is work will involve eventual! v taking up and re -lav ing the

whole doc. The engineer has received instructions to fill in the sumps in the meantime, making provision for an outlet. All these measures, however, must of necessity be of temporary duration. The time must come, and that quickly, when the tdwnship will have to go in for an up-to-date svstem of sewerage. Tint*! that is done, the health of its townspeople will continue to be in danger. At present it i." a matter of cost, the question at issue being whether the money shall be raised out of rates or out of a special loan. Whatever the methyl, something must be done. The health ol the residents of the town is far from good and owing to this the school is at present closed down. There are 30 cases of influenz i m the vicinity of the school and 2 5 per cent, of the children were away before the school closed Several of the cases are pnenn onia, and one of the school children has died from the disease,, while oth irs have been ordered to the hospital. The school itself is old and dilapidated and considered by the parents of the scholars insanitary and altogether unfit for a school onilding. It was described by one householder as draughty and leaky and a home for birds and flies Next Monday night it is expected that there will bo a very large attendance of householders, and that they will register a most emphatic protest against existing conditions. The Health Department’s suggestions regarding the Mangaone are endorsed by the largo majority of the townspeople.