A DANGER TO WELLINGTON

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4296, 4 March 1901, Page 5

A DANGER TO WELLINGTON

CONTAGION FROM WITHOUT. ' MENACES IN SUBURBS AND r COUNTRY TOWNS. 1 WANTED—UP-TO-DATE SANITA- ; : TION, r SUGGESTIONS FOR CHEAP , ’ SEWAGE DISPOSAL. ! Notwithstanding the large amount of money which has been spent by the : ratepayers of Wellington m establishing . an admirable system of drainage and sanitation, it will avail the inhabitants of this city nothing if the neglect.or her : suburban and country neighbours to make , some similar, if less -expensive, provil sion, leads to , recurrent outbreaks ;of i contagious diseases in our midst. This fact has been brought under no--1 tice painfully and pointedly of late by the fact that several young people from 1 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 p. 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 tho innocent rather than upon the. guilty. . However, tho people of Wellington have to protect themselves against h present and growing evil, .and itis.fcheu.'. duty, to strongly influence the public health’ authorities ’ I takp action in all cases where remislUess’'is shown, not only by individuals,„but>; ajlsp by local governing • bodies. r ■ - I' , 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.,ex-5 pert 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 Brit-' ish isles—the authorities have laid down those 'comparatively cheap, yet ~ ominently effective, disposers pf sewerage known as “bacteriological beds.” . These beds, which vary in sizej/ according to requirements) 'are made of concrete. They, are comparatively shah ■ low. In the bottom of thobfeds gravel is placed, and on the top of, that a ©bating of several inches b£ coke cinders. The outflow is regulated by a stopcock at, the bottom. ~ Science having discovered that the microbe is the microbe’s natural, onimy, the practice is, first of all; tb ilni a quantity ' of sewage into ’this died, and allow it to remain there for a time before finally ; funning it! >bff- TheA "tie bed is exposed-to' the operafcioiis'nf sun and air, and at once a myriad of cannibalistic-; Microbes .arc born; l -"' Preseufly the inflow of sewage recommences, - 1 abd immediately those little beneficent destroyers , commence their, work. No maU ter what ’the character of thp fmoes, it is .reduced p.tjo,, intangible ' quantities, everything-.-disappears, and presently what lias come,i ,into the -bed in the character-of sewage leaves it, to all appearances, in the nature of almost pure water. After this thApfocasAik;'m?rcly one of repetition. The’. Outflow,’ lv has be<jn pxpyed, .may • bo‘ cbhveyed’ away in any ’nvter or running, stream without the slightest danger of..pollution. , , Iflie simplicity of tho whole tiihig is astounding. It is a tribute to dniight-' eued science. Its cheapness, equally with its proved' efficiency, is its recommendation to those who cannot afford to go into, expensive schemes of sanitation. ; , " . ■, " ' "."M’ - ' For the suburbs of Wellington, as well as. for country towns, it is evidently sjust-the thing ;required. There is only one form of sewage which may not be- run through these-f* bacteriological beds,” and that is Beifhge contauuug acids and other chemical substances, which would, of course, prove fatal to the otherwise insatiable microbes. Special provision 4s therefore made, f}}- tfip Old Countrywhere, thel system [ha.s„hcen/i established, , to, prevent; .the .discharges from dye and other chemical- works, from finding a, way into these beds, - -r A nuisance is created in some localities by th 6 presence of ' soap:; works', boiling-dowii' establishraeiitsp! etc., which dikchargA tlieir eVil-SmClling refuse into harbour, on the shore .. ofwhicH it is cast, to the offence (4 the' nostrils of the general public. Where Dr Parkinson oamc from, the health; authorities would make those responsible for the carrying on of these industries provide either bacteriological beds, or, preferably, septic tallies—different in construction,, but. similar in operation —for the purpose -of neutralising those noxious smells. A-very great advantage of the system of disposing of sewage ’ by means of a “bacteriological bed” is that there is no necessity to carry the effluent Jong distances to be discharged, 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, andi 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—tha effluent can ho discharged into the nearest water-course or harbour without danger of, offence to the nostrils or of contagion to the human,system’., . .. i,

Dr Parkinson says the system is 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 made the subject of thorough investigation by those charged with the administration •of local' affairs.