INSANITARY DUNEDIN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11993, 16 March 1901, Page 8

INSANITARY DUNEDIN.

TO TIIE EDITOB. Sin,—ln to-day's paper I notice that his Worship the Mayor informs Dr Mason, of the Health department, that everything is being done to minimise the risk of the plague getting a foothold in Dunedin, and also that a special effort is being made to " keep down rats." If the Mayor would take a walk down Richardson street (reclaimed, land) I am sure tiiat ho would have to admit that his statement re " everything being done to minimise risks" is incorrect. The sewage from each house lies in stagnant patchcs on the side of the footpath, and the stench from it is anything but sweet. Such a condition of affairs is the cause of more disease than many people imagine. Talk about keeping down ratal Why, one odorous v/hiff from the gut ters of this particular street would'do more damage to life and health than all the rats in Dunedin. Leave the harmless rats alone, and set about exterminating smelts, or the causes of them, and in this manner wo will got nt the root of the evil. I have had two children laid up lately, and the doctors told mo that tho poisonous smells of the neighbourhood were the cause of the ill-health. A very slight expense will remove the cause of the trouble. Lay a concrete water-tablo to run off the sewage to the first sewer, and that is all that is required. ' Hoping that this will be attended to immediately,—l am, etc., A Resident.