Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume 6, Issue 596, 10 January 1879, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1879.

We regret to learn that a severe type of low fever has laid prostrate many persons m Gisborne ; and that the medical men of the town are daily being called into fresh cases. "We believe the kind of fever now prevailing does not generally prove fatal, but an attack is always followed by a prolonged weakness and j|^roacity. Patients, suffering from tpW^esa, require careful treatmenj^tnU unremitting attention, wjan« frbin ; the extreme difficulty of Obtaining female help, cannot m all ; cases/ be given. Drinking impure wa^er, and the continued irritation caused by the fine particles of dust, which is at the present dry season, inhaled at every breath with the lungs, are alleged to be the caase of so much disease, which at present prevails m so many parts of the town. If health and life are to. Thejconsidered asrftefore all other

things, then we trust no opposition will be offered to any feasible scheme for obtaining au efficient and wholesome water supply. This cauuofc be expected unless the burgesses consent to a special rate being struck to meet the cosb. If we estimate rightly the feeling which exists, we think there will not be a dissentient voice raised to any good and practicable scheme which may be devised. A water supply, leaving out, for an instant, the question of health, comfort, and cleanliness, would pay its cost by the redu tions which would be made m the premiums charged for tire insurances, and by the several companies taking larger risks than they will now accept ; for there is not a store, hotel, or business house m town that is anything like covered from total loss should a destructive fire occur. Having been hit so heavily, and knowing that without a water supply the town of Gisborne may, m a few hours be laid m ashes, the local agents of insurauce companies receive very stringent and peremptory instructions to take only comparatively small risks on each block of buildings. These instructions would be considerably modified were it known that a fire would not be allowed to burn itself out because there was no water supply to subdue a conflagration or Iceep it m check. Summed up: The absence of a proper supply of water means much sickness, discomfort, uncleanness, and the cause of many domestic evils. It means high rates of insurance; and the refusal on the part of insurance companies to take risks that will cover losses. Want of water means injury to goods stored on shop shelves ; to furniture, pictures, and books, because che sand flat upon which Gisborne is built, upon every little breeze springing up, sends forth clouds of dust jvhich can only be kept down by au abundant supply of water. In importance, tramways, harbors, bridges, and other public works sink into insiguiflcance m comparison to the uecessity for water. People have ' been too long apathetic on the t.he matter. Torday. probably, any reasonable scheme would be accepted, but between this and next *-eek, should there be fo.ty eigh lours heavy rain, then it is likely tin test scheme would be 'ejected a; jausiug unnecessary expenditure, am V.uciug a taxing prewure on thf ate-payers, which would be resisted, ft is the towns people who have ti lecide whether Gisborne is to b< nhabitable during the summer months v- whether people w 11 leave the plac< V- -v>-~ »f-Viv?j^in >:\) fj.v^r^d |).u't o. ohe Island. 1