INSANITARY STATE OF DUNEDIN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10035, 28 April 1894, Page 4

INSANITARY STATE OF DUNEDIN.

, TO TEE EDITOB,

, Sib, —Dunedin cannot afford to lose its reputation for being the healthiest and most attractive town in New Zealand ; and, although it has not the number of cases of typhoid that Wellington has, it prpmises to eclipse that city before very long. Wellington is honeycombed with wooden sewers, more or less decayed. The drains and other sanitary appliances were of a primitive order. The rubbish was disposed of in the mast disgusting manner. This state of affairs is now undergoing a complete change. &ew sewers are being built; on modern principles, under the supervision of one of the ablest men in the colonies, with the house drainage on a level with such cities as London or Glasgow. House drains must be entirely disconnected from the sewers. They must be provided with Buchan disconnectors, ventilating pipes, and gully traps—all of which are laid under the eye of a qualified corporation, officer. : .'.■'■.:■'■

The sewage -of the city is to be pumped into Cook Strait. The whole rubbish oE the city is disposed of by means of fire in a destructor.

Note the different state of affairs prevalent in Dunedin. 'To a very large extent our 6ewers become vast gasometers through their being unventilated; The presence of sewer gas can easily be detected on a warm day at say upper High street, Messrs Scoullar and Chisholm's corner, or upper St. Andrew street. The sewsr in the latter street used to be noted for its accumulations of filth from butchers' shops, &c, which settled along the bottom of the sewer and became covered over with silt. This silt was, and probably is now, used extensively to gravel the footpaths of the city!

The severe outfall at High street speaks for itself and is unsurpassed in any city of the civilised world. Tho control of the house drainage is on a'par with the sewers;

Whereas the house drainage in Wellington Christchureb, Adelaide, Sydney, and Melbourne is considered of the greatest import as influencing the health of the citizens, and is guarded with the greatest care, the; authorities in Dunedin have entirely neglected the whole thing, with the result that we read in the mornl ing's paper, as a matter of course, and *itn a regulatity approaching the weather predictions of Mr Paulin—"Another case of typhoid reported." .

There is not the slightest attempt to regulate the house drainage whatever. Cesspits, which are entirely prohibited in all well-regulated cities, exist iv every quatter of the city.. House drains are as a general rule conduits for conveying sewer gas from the unventilated sewers to the dwtllings. A description of the w.c. system (?) is UDfifc for publication, as it would unveil too serious a state of affairs. Finally the rubbish from butchers' shops and the like is dumped on to the reclaimed land to fester and poison the atmosphere. Surely, the fact that a city of 40,000 inhabitants does not possess a certificated inspector, a code of modern sanitary by-laws, a medical officer of health, or a board of health is a grave scandal.

The thanks of the public are due to Mr Christie for drawing attention to such a serious state of affairs. It" it is not encroaching too much on Mr Christie's time—and your valuable space—would he be so kind as to give his experiences of Dunediu sanitation from the point of view of an expert ?

Apologising for taking up so much of your space.—l am, &3.,

April 27.

High Street.