The Oamaru Mail. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1910.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10646, 21 December 1910, Page 3

The Oamaru Mail. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1910.

The existence of zymotic disease in^ our town, though it is Sanitation of the not serious in exTown. tout, is a warning that the strictest cleaulin. 1:■:i!If* observed ill the warm, il:\v won titer we are npw experiencing. There should bo no necessity to counsel people to cat and drink with discretion and to observe sanitary laws. They are no longer ignorant of the dangers which lurk in dirt of any description. Still wo all need reminding at times, and if tho Health Department is to be tho paternal and beneficent instrument it was intended to be when the promotjrs of tho Act under which it is supposed to operate so eloquently dealt with the evils it was to safeguard it should issue printed leaflets and instructions to attach to tho walls of home, as to what should be done to ensure the healthy conditions of their inmates. It should also insist that the street channels are kept clean. There is no excuse lor the existence of unsightly and dangerous matter in tii<3 gutters of our town, tor it is blessed with a drainage system and Water supply that should make us one of the pleasantest and most healthful communities in tho Dominion. And you there are, in. Thames street —tho chiei: thoroughfare of tho town channels in which liquid and offensive household refuse lias lain for several weeks. Where are tho guardians of the public health that such carelessness prevails I to tho disgust of .those who have some I regard for the. niceties of life and to the danger of tho public? Now that the attention of the authorities has been drawn to the matter it will probably be rectified, but there should be no necessity to arouse public officers to a sense of their duty in the public m'fss. They nvust be fullv aware of their responsibilities and they should attend to them without any such incitement.