The Star. MONDAY, MAY 7, 1883.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4686, 7 May 1883, Page 2

The Star. MONDAY, MAY 7, 1883.

Thbbb cannot be a moment's doubt, in the mind of any one who has given attention to the proceedings of the Distriot Board of Health, that en immense amount of good has been accomplished by the agonoy of that body, and that muoh of the aohievod sanitary progress has been due to the ability and energy of tho Board's Medioal Officer of Health. Everybcdy is aware thnt when Dr Nedwill began hio important wort, tho City and the suburbs alike were in a shameful condition. And everybody, we imagine, must be ready to admit that a remarkable chango for the better has beon brought about. It is not our intention — nor iB it in tbe slightest degree neoessary — to enter upon any details as to tbe old order of things ; they cannot yet havo faded from tho reoolleotion of tho publio. Now, the way in which attention has been specially called (o existing evils, has been by means of periodical reports. It i« because of the great value of auoh documents, whon thoy r?st upon a basis of incontrovertible facts, that we regret to find serious defeots in Dr Nedwill's last official letter to the Board of Health, in whioh he dealt with the sanitary condition of Sydenham. Some of the statements embodied in that report were of so startling a natura that we deemed it advisable to appoint a fully qualified medioal gentleman to go over precisely the Bame ground. If Dr Nedwill's statements wore strictly correct, then it was dearly our jour« nalistio duty to givo the utmost emphasis to his condemnation. If, on the other hand, the Health Officer had been mistaken or misinformed in any way, it was juet as incumbent upon us to remedy— -as far as lay in our power— the wrong that had been dono to a large Borough. Our Special Medical Commissioner was icstruoted to make his enquiry as complete as possible, and to prepare hiß report with the strictest impartiality. In how far thoso wishes woro oomplied with nvy be determined by our readers, to whom the report has been presented in full. We are catitfied that thiß special report ought to be produotivoof much general good ; though on this occasion spaco will not admit of our enlarging upon several points which call for comment. It will in the first place, we hope, have been made apparent to the Board of Health that they cannot reasonably ezpeot to see the sower system generally ÜBed by householders of moderate means, until the public is shown how the preliminary work — a costly and in some cases ruinous expenditure under existing circumstances— may be undertaken without undue financial embarrassment. In the second place, tho Board must be prepared to demonstrate, eomowhat moro effectually than at present, that a householder, in purchasing the privilege of connecting his premisoß with tho sewers, will not be paying far too dearly for the conoeßsion, and that, from the health standpoint, he will not bo making his lost sanitary condition infinitely worse than hia first. This conviotion will assuredly not be recoived by the average householder, so loDg as from overy sewer grating he is asaailed by a " etonoh " that is wowo by far than any " stinkß " of which he waa previously cognisant. The distinction in tho torms i-i just as well marked here as in tho case of Cologne. And/ in the third place, it may be hoped tbat the Health Officor will recognise the important truth that in tho preparation of hia Btatements for the Board he muet " be rulod and led by some discretion." We are forcod to the conclusion that in tho c_Be of the report whioh has bo disturbed the serenity of Bydenham, that Dr Nedwill's zeal has been of that sort which " None seconded, as out of season judged." There is, for example, the broad assertion bhat "it is quite unsafe to live " in many parts cf Sydenham; an assertion which is svorwhelmingly disproved by the hard, matter if fact statements of our Modioal Commislioner. Tho moment the official reports of a public officer are permitted to inolude statements that are unofficial, that display an abandoning of tho judicial line, and a Ua- ■

dency towards exaggeration— that moment the reports cease to have any value. They an powerless to fulfil their vastly important purpose. Nor will our Commissioner's remarks, if heeded at all, bo without benefit for the Bydenham household ere, ia whose speoial interest they huve been written. We wonld impress upon them his concluding sentence. Ho says : " Let them not overlook the fact that the advice he [Dr Nedwill] gives is good and sound, and that every gutter into whioh house refuse is cast, every overflowing cesspit, and every choked-up drain, contributes something to that poisoned stale of the atmosphore whioh has been indisputably proved to be one of the greatest causea of tho mortality of epidemic diseases."