PUBLIC HEALTH.

Southland Times, Issue 14580, 22 November 1910, Page 2

PUBLIC HEALTH.

SOUTHLAND DISTRICT. ANNUAL REPORT. _ Attached to the annual report of the Department of Health is the following report from Mr K. Cameron, Health Officer for Southland; —

Statistics. —Population. 57,500; area, 11,619 square miles—exclusive of the mountainous and sparsely populated county of Fiord: number of local authorities under Public Health Act, 19; number of hospital boards, 2. Infectious Diseases—The following figures focus general Information 1 for Southland alone (figures in parenthesis are the totals for the previous year):— Number of cases scarlet fever 163 (103); diphtheria 35 (41): enteric 25, (12); tuberculosis 39, (47): puerperal fever 4, (1). „ Deaths were—Scarlet fever 5, (S); diphtheria 2, (9); enteric 6, (2); tuberculosis 30, (32): puerperal fever 3. (0). The following number of cases were treated In hospitals:—Scarlet fever 36 (115); diphtheria 6. (3); enteric 14. (6): tuberculosis 14, (9). ACCOMMODATION FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES.

Invercargill.—The Southland Hospital Board towards the end of 1909 discarded the use for scarlet fever cases of the large rambling pile of. buildings In In* vercarglll, formerly occupied for many years as an Old Men's Home, and the new isolation hospital on 44 acres of land at Kew near Invercargill, was brought Into commission. Diphtheria and enteric cases are treated in small wards in the general hospital. An old isolation ward adjoining the latter Is being fitted up to accommodate eight Incurable tubercular patients. Arrangements are being made

to send all Southland curable 1 cases to / the Otago Hospital Board’s new sanatorium at Pleasant Valley, Palmerston (South,, accommodation being provided it this central institution for patients »f all the districts south of the North Canterbury Hospital Board’s territory. Gore.—A new hospital of 15 beds lias been opened at Gore, some 40 miles from the base hospital at Invercargill. The accommodation is for non-lnfectious cases only. Riverton. —A new hospital for scarlet lever, adjacent to the Wallace General Hospital, was completed during the year. The structure Is elaborate and highly finished. A better arrangement of the upstairs portion would have given more accommodation for nurses. Frankton and Arrowtown—Fairly suitable accommodation exists at both these hospitals for cases needing to be Isolated, but fortunately the available provision does not require to be used often. DISINFECTIONS. Schools, —Seven public schools and one Catholic school were disinfected after cases of Infectious disease had occurred , among children attending them. Disinfection of no one of them was absolutely necessary, but the local committees concerned being anxious to have it carried out, we got the local inspectors to comply, especially as even on only general grounds, all schools are the better of being disinfected at least once a year. Private Premises.—Every house in which a case of Infectious disease oCcur- • red was' disinfected to our satisfaction by a qualified officer of the local authority of the particular district concerned. Total disinfections for the year—26B; previous year—4o6. Foodstuffs Condemned and Destroyed. —Close attention was given during the year as usual to the wholesomeness of fresh foods and fruit. Without our having recourse to any legal formalities •whatsoever, the following food supplies were destroyed in various lots on our pointing out to the owners or agenfs that the goods were unfit for . human consumption:—

11 cases blue cod C96lbs 14 cases flounders 7841bs 2 sacks pigs’ heads 33Bibs Corned beef 2641bs 11 rolls bacon 2Sl)lbs 13 hams 1621bs 80 cases oranges ; 320 ibs 12 cases apples 4Solbs 14 cases cherries 2761bs 7 cases bananas 2Soibs Milk. —Forty-eight samples of milk, cadi sample representing from six to 10 cows, were taken on farms for analysis in order to assist in fixing a milk standard for the whole Dominion. A summary of the Southland standard is us follows: Highest butter-fat recorded .. 4.70 .Lowest butter-fat recorded .. 3.00 1 Highest total solids recorded.. 13.55 Lowest total solids recorded. . 12.09 Highest solids, not fat, recorded 9.26 Lowest solids, not fat, recorded 8.62

Only one sample of the 4S was as low as 3.00 butter-fat, only one -was under 3.25, two under 3.30, 3 under 3.40. and only 5 under 3.50. Seventeen were not leas than 4.00. Water Supply (Invercargill)—The present water supply la pumped, by steam, from a well 100 feet deep In one of the municipal reserves, up through aerating sprinklers emptying into reservoirs, .thence pumped again into a large tank on top of a tower 110 feet high, from which it Is reticulated to consumers in .the main borough only, the supply being insufficient for any of the suburbs. Bores are now about to be sunk near the present well, to see if a further supply can be obtained. If not, probably an effort will again be made to get the sanction of the ratepayers to borrow £IOO,OOO to bring in a first-class gravitation supply from the Oreti river at Dlpton—36 miles away. A poll on the question was defeated three years ago. This, however, was prior to the amalgamation •of Invercargill and suburbs, which took place.last year, making now the total population 14,000. Proposed New Sewerage System.-—The City Engineer is now giving nearly the whole of his time exclusively to the preparation of plans for a modern sewerage system. He' and 1 have frequently discussed various proposals. Briefly the scheme now being worked out is to leave ill the existing sewers for storm water only, and these sewers will gravitate into the Estuary as now. Comparatively small new sewers for solid and liquid sewage will be laid down the centre of sach street; branch sewers will run iorth and south or vice versa, but all will gravitate into main sewers gravitating from east to west into one main outfall sewer, running from north to south along the Estuary foreshore down to Kew —two and a-half to three miles south of the General Post-office. Mechanical power will be necessary to work this main outfall; so the Idea is to have in outfall station at Kew, the required oower being obtained from the tramways steam-electro station. The sowage will be raised Into septic tanka used for disintegrating purposes only, No alter beds will be Installed meantime, the effluent from the tanks being discharged straight Into the Estuary.

RIVERTON. Nlghtsoil Service.—After many clays the Borough Council at last has undertaken a nightsoil removal service for the more thickly populated portion of the Borough, and the service is proceeding lairly satisfactorily. The system, howeverever, la the primitive open pun method, which is only better than nothing at ail. BLUFF. Drainage Connections. —Drainage connections into the new sewers mostly for liquids only, are being enforced. Once the new by-laws are adopted, the work will be prosecuted systematically. Nlghtsoil Service. —The sealed pan system has been Instituted, and excellent work la being done. The nightsoil is emptied from the pans In a closed shed into a septic tank. The purification done Is not sufficiently effectual, owing to the tank capacity being rather large, and the filter beds too small. These defects are to be remedied. GORE. Sewerage Extensions, —The first-class sewerage system laid several years ago to serve all the then thickly built on streets, now needs to be extended to a number of other streets. The question Is to be faced shortly by the Borough Council. OTAUTAU. Nlghtsoil Service,—AH the arrangements necessary to start a sealed pan service are about completed. When this service commences, a service will then be in operation in every borough and town board district in all Southland. When the Department was inaugurated, only one borough hud a service. There are now 15 services. I wish to here express my appreciation of the way In which the various ocal authorities in the district have received my suggestions from time to time, and. to thank them for the willingness they have always shown to carry out ipccssary improvements so far as their sometimes limited opportunities al’ovved. '