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New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 9416, 5 October 1891, Page 2

A letter, signed “ Citizen,” which we publish this morning, refers to the sanitary condition of "certain portions of our city, or rather in almost ail quarters of the municipality, and appears to demand immediate notice. It is based on tho report of the Inspector of Nuisances, who in his peregrinations through tho streets, and his examination of tho premises of the many dwellers within the city, discovered no fewer than 11G0 tenements where tho sanitary regulations were plainly disregarded. These numerous broaches of bylaws bear on the disposal of nightsoil, and in tho premises of all these dwellingplaces the household oxuvia is illegally disposed of to the detriment not only of the occupiers themselves, but also to those in the immediate neighbourhoods, among whom these lawbreakers are interspersed. As our correspondent also hints, there has been an outcry on the part of a large section of tho public for extending our drainage system at, a great cost to the community, nothing less than the borrowing and expending of an enormous sum, a project in which at present, and for some time to come, judgiog from the votes, the majorhy of ratepayers will be disinclined to consul 1 -. Strong statements are made as to the danger which will environ the city if this great and expensive drainage scheme is not carried out. Granting that there is reason for this outcry, although a considerable section are disposed to discredit its urgency, there are meanwhile immediate and present and seen evils. These, as every sound sanitary dogma shows, are creating those miasmatic and epidemical dangers which arc somewhat extravagantly charged to imperfect drainage. If the systematic infringement of the rules referred to by our correspondent is winked at by the City Council, or any portion of its members, because of the desire to avoid offence to voters, then tho writer is far too gentle in his phraseology when he terms such conduct an “ amiable weakness.” But this, of course, is sarcasm, and as we read between the lines it is seen that he is, as we are, decidedly against the continuance or condonation of such weakness. The great drainage scheme is at present in the clouds and likely to remain there for soma time to come. But here is a clamant evil requiring instant action and a resort to legal compulsion in order to secure obedience to the by-laws passed for preserving cleanliness and the prevention of the spread of germs of disease. There are old councillors who should take the matter in hand at once, and if they fail then let remedial action bo taken by some of the youthful members (we cannot call them city fathers), who can win their spurs by making a crusade against all those who are breaking 1 tho ’sanitary regulations. Let these young aspirants do this, uncaring consequences, and regardless of possible votes, and they will gain the approbation of all who wish well to the health of the community.