SANITATION IN AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12044, 14 August 1902, Page 6

SANITATION IN AUCKLAND.

DR. MAKGLLL'S REPORT. ~ ' V SEVERE CRITICISM. A GREATER AUCKLAND ADVOCATED. AMALGAMATION OF LOCAL BODIES. : [Bt telegraph.—special correspondent.] ■ Wellington, Wednesday. ■'. DEALINGS"with, enteric i fever in"; his annual "report on the Auckland public health district'to the chief health officer, Dr. Makgill 'says:— -

In the city, Mount Eden, Parnell and Thames county and borough, the number of cases is out of proportion to their population. In the | city, he remarks, this is perhaps not so marked, allowance being made for the. large area of dense population. The districts where the largest ; number of cases arose are perhaps not very well defined, but on the whole" the older portions of the city Hpbson-street, Cook-street, Queen-street and Freeman's suffered most. In these the drainage connections are old and faulty. The sewers themselves are probably defective. In making seme • alterations in the closets of the charitable aid buildings, where the district health officers were at first_ located, some very primitive house connections were unearthed, ; and the street sewer,. an old, brick structure, had partially collapsed. Towards the lower portion of the city, too, the tide washing up in the sewer causes flooding in the cellars, the traps being forced by the pressure. Further, the houses in these parts in many eases are'built on reclaimed land. One of the chief factors, however, is the non-removal of house refuse, the accumulated' filth in the back yards creating a. : malodourous condition, which has been shown ' experimentally to predispose to typhoid. " ■ Dr. Makgill says it is impossible to report in a, hopeful manner of the administration of the publio health at the hands of the local authorities. Even the largest of them—the Auckland City Council— scarcely to realise that it is responsible for the conditions which affect the lives of the people whom they control, while, with a few exceptions, the smaller bodies seem totally ignorant of the fact. He says the chief fault lies in the subdivision of the district into numberless small local bodies, in which the spirit of little Peddlington is the chief feature.'' -v. •>. • ' ' ' . .:::' To sum up the matter, remarks the doctor, the mechanism requires to be simplified by combining the small elements with the larger bodies, and thus avoiding to a great extent the petty questions which retard progress, local jealousies, want of funds and the councillor who■< represents a clique, even though by so doing one would merge those districts which'; have ■■ been' conspicuous for their advanced condition. They would leaven the. whole and their influence would be more widespread. _ ; Auckland city, I think, would be better in every way were it to include Parnell, -Newmarket, Mount Eden, Eden Terrace, Grey Lynn and Archhill. The 13 local bodies which represent the remainder of Eden County could well he combined under one county council. Country, road boards and town boards are absolutely useless as administrators of public health, and should be merged in' the counties of which they form part. The hopelessness of dealing with the 28 little road boards which comprise Manukau County would be avoided were the Counties Act to be enforced over this area. Petty boroughs, such as To Aroha and Birkenhead, would not suffer were they to have their sanitary affairs ; administered ;by the councils of the counties in which they are situated. Larger boroughs, such *, as Whangarei and the Thames, would be strengthened by including the populous parte of. the counties adjoining them. With this increase :in size, greater ix>wer of rating and borrowing and of executing works could safely be granted, and reforms: would lie possible, which at present, owing to sub-divisions and lack of cohesion, 'are out of the. question. . The statistics show that Auckland is behind hand in matters hygienic, ami inspection hoars out the fact. In every branch of sanitation ' there is evident room for improvement, from water supply to refuse removal. Fortunately, there is a forward tendency now, • thanks to the energy of His Worship the Mayor \ (Mr. Kidd). The movement is slow, ■ and relapses are frequent, but it exists, and only requires careful nursing. That there has been, neglect in the past is evident''' from * the large number of ruinous dwellings, hovels which would not be permitted in the East .'London slums. The older parts of the city have fallen into decay, and a clean Mveep should have been made years ago. The drainage in these parts is of that .primitive type which has long been abolished in : more energetic cities. Even the more modern parts show faults,' which indicate lack of system about the inspection jerry-built houses ; drain . connections which would not stand the slightest test, plumbing work; of a date 40 years back,, and. so forth. There is the most astonishing ignorance on the part of the Council as to modern sanitary requirements, f their idea of sanitary inspection, beginning and ending with the removal of rubbish when it has accumulated sufficiently to cause a bad smell. At a recent meeting, at which I was urging an increase in the staff of inspectors, I was. informed that it was not necessary, as all the backyards had been recently examined and cleaned up. As c a matter of fact, there are not many buildings where.serious faults do not exist, j It must be admitted that they have during ; the past year caused ;' a large amount of inspection ' to be done, but it appears to me to-have been misdirected, as on examining the premises immediately after the more serious faults remain unchanged. ; The appointment of a well-trained sanitary inspector within 1 ; thei last few weeks should, however, result in this error being rectified. !