SANITARY ADMINISTRATION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1751, 27 September 1905, Page 50

SANITARY ADMINISTRATION.

BURN THE RUBBISH. In a paper read at the Medical Congress at Adelaide the chief medical officer at Sydney (Dr. Thompson) said We are gradually getting to recognise in Australia that the best and safest way of disposing of household refuse in a modem municipality is to burn it in a good garbage destructor. There are now three of such destructors in operation in Sydney and its suburbs. No doubt the principal objection to the introduction of garbage destruction by fire is one of expense, but as population in a town increases, and waste lands become occupied by buildings, suitable sites for tipping become rarer, and the cost of cartage to outlying sites tends to equalise expense to such a degree that there is but little difference in costliness between the two methods. As to their relative position from the pubEc health point of view there can be no argument. In the modem destructor the most foul and offensive garbage is converted in a few minutes into harmless gases and clinker aSh, which latter may he appEed. to many useful purposes connected with road making and the reclamation of low land. The waste heat from the combustion of the refuse may also he usefully employed. In Sydney we only use it for supplying steam to the disinfecting station and for working a small electric light plant to Hght the works themselves, but in some English towns it is much more largely made use of. In the system of destruction of refuse by fire there is always a considerable saving in the cost of cartage, as a good type of high temperature destructor may be placed in the most central position, no matter how closely populated, without giving rise to any nuisance. Where for pecuniary or other reasons it is necessary to dispose of refuse by “tipping” there are several precautions which if strictly observed will greatly minimise objectionable results. Hi© site selected should he as far as possible from dwellings, and the drainage of the site should be a matter of attention. The soil should be friable. Prospective streets and building areas should never be used for tipping refuse. The garbage should be spread out in a thm layer no*t exceeding 18 inches in depth, and covered with a few inches of soil on the same day as it is deposited. All raking and picking over of the* refuse for rags, etc., should;be prohibited. THE DUSTMAN’S WORK. I have for some years read with, interest the annual health reports of the City of Adelaide, and I gather from them that the problems you have to face in municipal sanitation are very

similar to those that beset us in Sydney. Among other difficulties are the passage of the municipal dust or garbage carts through the streets, and the collection of refuse from the houses in such a manner that nuisances shall not be created. Municipal garbage carts should be as low as possible, so as to prevent an undue expenditure of energy in loading, and to minimise the scattering of the dust, which is apt to occur when the house receptacles, etc., are discharged into the carts. A permanent solid cover should be attached to the carts, and so arranged that only one section need be opened at one* time. Otherwise in windy weather the lighter portion of the contents is very liable to he blown out of the cart. Moreover, the contents of the carts are less offensive when covered. Householders should he required to provide themselves with uniform metal garbage receptacles fitted with a suitable cover, and the receptacle should always be kept covered when not actually being filled or emptied. The placing of the receptacles at convenient places and hours for the dustman to remove should be a matter of municipal regulation. STREET REFUSE. In Australian cities —all of which are liable to long periods of dry weather with high winds—the dust problem is one of the most difficult which municipalities have to encounter. When we consider what are the component parts of street dust _we cannot avoid the conclusion that its inhalation, into the mouth, nose, and throat is most undesirable, and probably very harmful. On a priori ground I think one is pretty safe in holding that the dust of the street is responsible for a considerable proportion of the impaired conditions of health which are found in towns. The dust of macadamised roads principally consists of sharp gritty particles of flint and sand worn off the surface of the street by the heating of the iron-shod feet of the horse. A smaller proportion consists of pulverised horse droppings swarming with microorganisms. and when the road has been partially formed of garbage and refuse —as it unfortunately is in some towns, and even occasionally in the. suburbs of large cities—the variety of undesirable substances which may compose the dust is endless. On wood-paved and. asphalted streets nearly the whole of the dust is formed of dried and pulverised horse manure. This dust finds its way freely into our houses and contaminates our food. The problem is so complicated a one that it is impossible to do more than glance at it in the short time at my disposal. Briefly its solution appears to lie in the direction of the paving of main streets with wood or asphalt, the prompt removal from the surface of such paved streets of horse dung by the agency of scavenger boys, and the free flushing of such streets withjwater every night. The water supply should be unstinted and used freely. Macadamised roads are not susceptible of such treatment, but at least they may be constructed of the best and of such a shape that their surfaces will get the greatest benefit in the way of cleansing from any showers of rain that may fall on them. Replacing the ordinary macadam with tarred macadam or tar-dress-ing the macadam surface, accompanied by scavenging of manure by orderly boys, is a very great improvement, and in populous districts well worth the additional expense. Frequent sprinkling with the water cart in dry weather is important. I am inclined to think that within a few years the whole question will assume a very different aspect from that it now hears, owing to the increasing use of electric trams in large cities and the advance of the motor car. In Sydney we find that horse traffic in the principal streets has greatly diminished during the past five years in consequence of the growth of the electric.tram system; and partly in consequence of this, and partly as a result of better construction and better scavenging of the streets during recent years, the plague of dust during the summer months has considerably diminished.”