WANGANUI HEALTH REPORT.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 11975, 19 September 1906, Page 7

WANGANUI HEALTH REPORT.

{Vtota Our Parliamentary Special.) (By Telegraph.) WELLINGTON, September 1&

The District Health Officer for Wanganui, in the course of his report on the town submitted with the full report of the Department of Public Health yesterday, states: "The unfortunate outbreak of typhoid in thi3 town was purely local, und there is no reason to believe that the water supply was in any way affected. Indeed, the analysis— both bacteriological and chemical' — of this supply showed satisfactory results. It must, however, be noted that there Is need for filtration or sedimentation of this water, since In heavy rain a large amount of clay is sometimes washed down, making the water unsightly, though not necessarily injurious to health. The system of drainage into the river cannot so far be said to have produced any obnoxious results, but it must be born in mind that with the growth of the town some method of treatment will be required before the effluent can be permitted to discharge into the tidal water. The lack of an adequate system of refuse removal has repeatedly been reported on, but so far without result. A good deal of correspondence took place last year on the subject of the necessary legal proceedings to secure the removal of ruinous houses condemned by the Department. It had been proposed that the Department should act for the Borough in such cases, but this was found to be impossible when referred to the Crown Solicitor. Finally, the Council undertook the work, a3 is done elsewhere, and a large number of unsatisfactory houses were pulled down, while others, where removal would cause hardship, are now awaiting the adjustment of financial arrangements of the owners before being demolished. The removal of the Maori hostelry must be recorded with satisfaction. Certain amendments in the drainage by-laws have been recommended by the Department, and it is hoped will shortly be adopted by the Council. These will chiefly be in the direction of securing a better class of plumbing. The suburbs of Durietown and Aramoho remain in the same unsatisfactory state as reported last year. The following statistics are also given : Population 8216, infectious diseases reported — scarlet fever 18, enteric fever 30, diphtheria 9, tuberculosis 2.