SANITATION IN GORE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 18

SANITATION IN GORE.

A REPLY AND A REJOINDER. Mr Frank Young, town clerk of Gore, writes, by direction of his, council, to draw , attention to two paragr*yp.hs jn our iesu-ea of last week, boih having reference to a house-to-house inspection of the borough made by the health inspector, Mr "W. E. Gladstone. Ha writes : ' ' As a number of very damaging etatemente have been circulated; to the detriment of the town of Gore's former good name, I have been instructed I 'to deny that the statements appearing in I your columns on the dates mentioned are correct. In one particular case mentioned — that of a family alleged to be in want, and to be living in a state of filfth — I have no-hesitation in saying that from inquiries instituted by the* iocal inspector, the [ police, and private individuals of standing ! in the town, the facts as published in | your Monday's paper are a gross exaggeration of the true state of affairs. I can give you my assurance that the family in question neither asked for nor received aid from the Charitable Aid Board, and the father does not drink. He is in somewhat straitened circumstances through being out of work for some time, but otherwise the family is thoroughly healthy and respectable. The report of the inspector has not -even yet been .officially handed to the council, end no doubt whe.n it reaches us ' we will bo able to dispose of many other cases in a similar manner. In the meantime. I would ask that the same amount of publicity should bo given through your public columns to this denial as has been given to" the paragraphs complained of." The above communication was cm the 2oth shown to Inspector Gladstone, of the Public Plealth Department, who candidly said that he had not the slightest hesitation in repeating what he had already stated to our reporter as the result of His house-to-house inspection of Gore. What he had stated was a true statement of what actually came under his personal observation. " I 'have had a good deal of experience in house-to-house . inspection all over Otago and Southland." said Inspector Gladstone, " and I cannot call to mind a single instance where in any particular have my statements been refuted by the local body concerned. In making inspection* of this nature, exaggeration js always carefully guarded against. The inspections are made for the benefit and in the interests of the public, and with no intention of causing trouble or friction. At times, of course, there is an unpleasant duty to perK-m, and ;that, I must say, has been thf ca^ with regard to Gore. ' A casual visitor to Gore would very probably como to the conclusion — and many do so — that the town was a very clean one. but a. close inspection 6uch as I have made would reveal many things the existence of which i 6 positively harmful and a source of danger to the public health. The case of the family, the inspection of the residence of which, J stated, brought to light a filthy state of affairs and apparent destitution, I have not in any way exaggerated, and I am quite prepared to repeat all I have said in regard to this particular case.. I reported this matter fully to the Mayor of the town on the occasion of my visit, informing him of the state the house was in and the impoverished condition of the family. After listening to what I-had to say, he promised that he would see the secretary of the local Sixpenny Clothing Club in order that the family would receive assistance. As to my statement that f he family was, in receipt of charitable aid. I was informed from a source which I had . no reason to doubt that the family was in receipt of aid in the shape 'of an order on a local store for groceries. Then, as to my statement that the husband was addicted to drink, that was given to me on most reliable authority and by a perfion whom I believed to be in the best position to know, and was not made with any malice, but merely to convey to th*> public an idea of how badly the family was situated." > Dr Ogston, District Health Officer, was also 6een by our reporter in regard to the above. He had carefully gone through the

\ i report handed to him by Inspector Glad* stone, and, he said, from • what was contained therein, the only conclusion, he could coniQ to was that the town was in a very neglected state, and that it thoroughlydeserved the strictures which hod been passed^ upon it. Inspector Cameron, "of the Inver-ca-rgill Health Department, had* on various occasions 'durinsr tho past two years reported on deficiencies of drainage and other nuisances m regard to both; shops and houses in Gore, and althoughthe council's attention had been- repeatedly drawn thereto some of those nuisances were found by Inspector Gladstone to be still in existence.