A DANGER TO WELLINGTON

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1514, 7 March 1901, Page 49

A DANGER TO WELLINGTON

CONTAGION FROM WITHOUT. MENACES IN SUBURBS AND COUNTRY TOWNS. WANTED—UP-TO-DATE SANITATION. SUGGESTIONS FOR CHEAP SEWAGE DISPOSAL. 0 - Notwithstanding the large amount of niioney which has been spent by the ratepayers of Wellington in establishing an admirable system of drainage and sanitation, it will avail the inhabitants of thi§ city nothing if the neglect of her suburban and country , neighbours to make some similar, if less expensive, provision, leads to recurrent outbreaks of contagious diseases in our midst. This fact has been brought under notice painfully and pointedly of late by the fact that several young people from Wellington who have visited Wanganui have been attacked by that fell scourge typhoid, with, alas! in one or two cases, fatal results. New Plymouth is also, as is well known, suffering from a severe outbreak of enteric; in fact, there are few country towns which at certain seasons, of the year have not trying endemic visitations. So far as,, the immediate suburbs of

Wellington are concerned, there does not seem to be a great deal of contagious sickness just now; but nobody who has his observant faculties about him will deny that despite ordinary precautions, the carelessness or parsimony of large numbers of our suburban dwellers is responsible for infractions of the natural laws regarding sanitation, for which a severe penalty will presently be exacted by Nature. The pity of .it is that Nature does not discriminate in her punishments, which frequently fall upon the innocent rather than upon the guilty. However, the people of Wellington have to protect themselves against a present and growing evil, and it is their duty, accordingly, to strongly influence the public health authorities to" take action in all cases where remissness is shown, not only by individuals, but also by local governing bodies. It was with some such thoughts as these in his mind that a “Times” reporter gladly embraced the . opportunity which offered for a chat with Dr S. W. Parkinson, the Health Officer of Forfarshire. Scotland, and a recognised expert in regard to matters sanitary, who is at present visiting this country. In the Borough of Brachan— as in many other of the smaller towns in the British isles—the authorities have laid down those comparatively cheap, yet eminently effective, disposers of sewerage known as "bacteriological beds."” These beds, which .vary in size, according to requirements, are made of concrete. They are coriiparatively shallow. In the bottom of the beds gravel is placed, and on the top of that a coating of several inches of coke cinders. The outflow is regulated by a stopcock at the bottom.

Science having discovered that the microbe is the microbe’s natural enemy, the practice is, first of all, -to lun a quantity of sewage into this bed, and allow it to remain there for a time before finally running it off. Then the bed is exposed to the operations of sun and air, and at once a myriad of cannibalistic microbes ar© born. Present 1 # the! inflow of sewage recommences, and. immediately these little beneficent destroyer's commence their work. No matter what the character of the feces, it is reduced to intangible quantities, everything disappears, arid presently what has come into the bed in the character of sewage leaves it, to all appearances, in the nature of almost pure wa-ter. After this the process is merely one of repetition. The outflow, ia hag been proved, may be conveyed away m any river or running stream without the slightest danger of pollution. The simplicity of the whole tiring is astounding. It is a tribute to enlightened science. Its cheapness, equally with its proved efficiency, is its recommendation to those who cannot afford to go into ; expensive schemes of sanitation.

For the suburbs of Wellington, as well as for country towns, it is evidently just the thing required. There is only one form of sewage which may not be run through these “ bacteriological beds,” and that is sewage containing acids and other chemical substances, which would, of course, prove fatal to the otherwise insatiable microbes. Special provision is therefore made in the Old Country, where the system has been established, to prevent the' discharges from dye and other chemical works from* finding a way into these beds. A nuisance is created in some localities by the presence of soap works, boiling-down establishments, tanneries etc., which discharge their evil-smolling refuse into the harbour, on the shore of which it is cast, to the offence of the nostrils of the general public. Where Dr Parkinson came from, the health} authorities would make those responsible for the carrying on of these industries provide either bacteriological beds, or, preferably, septic tallies-—dif-ferent in construction, but similar in operation—for the purpose of neutralising /these . noxious smells. A very, great advantage of the system of disposing of sewage by means of a “ bacteriological bed 55 is that there ie no necessity to carry the effluent long distances to be dischar ged', as is the case with the Shone system. Once through the bed the sewage is harmless, innocuous. All germs, those of disease or otherwise, are eaten up, and disposed of and, as has been said, the residuum disappears through the stop-cock in the form of a liquid like ordinary water slightly discoloured. No expensive pumping station or plant is required—the efilu* out can bo discharged into the nearest water-course or harbour .without danger of offence to the nostrils or of contagion to the human system. ' 1 : Dr Parkinson says the system js so simple that its efficacy can .be tested with any ordinary vessel partially filled with gravel and coke. The matter is one Which might Well be mad© the subject of thorough investigation by those charged with the administration of local affairs.