The Star. TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1891. The Health of the City,

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7067, 20 January 1891, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1891. The Health of the City,

Srs Worship the Mayor deserves the <j greatest credit for his extreme solicitude 8 :or the fair fame of the city over the q Council of which ho has the honour to a preside. At last night's meeting of the Council, it is reported, he resented the 1 mputations contained in an article which £ lad appeared in "one of the evening a )apers." His Worship was, we think, r omewhat over scrupulous in not mentionng the name of the paper, but we quite j appreciate his desire to screen us from . he wrath of the Councillors, whose "re- / entment" Councillor Humphreys was so .nxious to place on record. We must, i lowever, beg leave to suggest to his , Vorship and Councillors Patrick and , lumphreys, that their indignation is mislaced when bestowed upon this journal. ?he article to which they touk such objecion, and which we acknowledge appeared a the Slar, was simply a commentary on he rider of a coroner's jury, who had ome to their conclusion after hearing the worn evidence of a duly qualified medical lan. Dr De Eenzi deposed that the ilments of an infant who had died in Jucen street were " aggravated if not auaed by the filthy condition of the street, r here washing water, house slops, &c, •ere lying in the channels." The jurycenlred the City Council, and the Coroner who incurred with the jury, promised to commnicato with the authorities. This )inmunication the Coroner duly made, ad it formed the text for His Worship's

remarks. In his anxiety to place the sanitary condition of Christchurch in the most favourable light His Worship, wo fear, protested a little too much. He said that Queen street was better served in the way of flushing than many of the principal streets in the town. In the article he denounces we said: — "There are many channels elsewhere which are in just as bad a condition." His "Worship virtually proclaims that many of the principal streets are worse off than Queen street. There is a little of what may be called the raising of a false issue in his Worship's reference to a paragraph " in the same issue of the paper, stating what the state of affairs really was." That paragraph, founded on information received, as the police say, mentioned that his Worship and the Inspector of Nuisances visited Queen street the morning after the inquest had been held, and "no offensive odour was noticeable." The state of the channels on Thursday, we need hardly point out, is no evidence of their state on Wednesday, or for any number of days previously. The same paragraph went on to say, " These channels are supposed to be Bwept three '■ timea a week, but the sweeping appears to have been neglected for some days, as there were some obstructions caused by grass and dust blowing into the water. His Worship," the paragraph concluded, " gave orders for this matter to be attended to immediately, and also ordered the cutting of some grass and weeds growing along the edge of the channel." Now, grass and weeds do not Bpring up in a night like mushrooms, and their presence to such an extent as to impede the flow ' in the channels is a sufficient proof of long continued neglect. We have other i sources of information than that on which ■ the published paragraph was founded, and '• these assure us that the disgraceful state j of the Queen street channels — or one of them at least — fully justified a much more ] stringent rider than the Jury attached to i their verdict. Instead of censuring ub for ] calling attention to an evil in his fair city, I his Worship should have been grateful to us. We are, however, pleased to learn that the Council has now more men clearing the channels than was hitherto the case, and hope that, if necessary, the j number will be considerably inoreased, i for, as Councillor Patrick admits, and the j death noticeß fully prove, the quantity of infantile disease at this season of the year is vety large even in the healthiest parts of the city.