RUBBISH IN LEITH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27091, 27 May 1949, Page 6

RUBBISH IN LEITH

ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY PROTESTS POLLUTION OF STREAM The practice of some people living near the water of the Leith of polluting the stream by casting household rubbish and rubble into it was decried at a meeting of the Otago Acclimatisation Society last night. The society decided to ask the Dunedin City Corporation to co-operate in a campaign to have the pollution stopped. Mr J. W. Smeaton said that he had made inquiries about five years ago regarding the legal position and there was nothing to stop people from leaving rubbish on the banks of the stream so that it could be washed away by flood waters. The position may have changed from that time, however. A member: That would make it legal for sawmillers to dump sawdust on the banks of a river? “No. Sawdust is specifically mentioned in the Act as a polluting agent,” said the chairman, Mr J. M. Paterson. “We should get the City Council to stop this business,” said Mr Smeaton He thought it wise to point out to the council that the Leith was full of old boots and tins and other debris. The' cleanliness of the stream was a matter of civic pride as well as a safeguard for the fish.