'FLU.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16045, 9 February 1920, Page 9

'FLU.

A SUBSTANTIAL DECREASE. (Per United Press Association.) DUNEDIN, February 9. The Health Department’s official bulletin to-day record a substantial decrease in notifications of influenza cases. There are 46 cases in Dunedin Hospital, including nine pneumonia. epidemic precautions: SCHOOLS TO BE OLOSED TILL 16th. The secretary of the Education Board (Mr W. H. Swanger) has been advised by the Public Health Department that it is unlikely the schools will re-open before the 16th of February, but that it is impossible to foresee the developments of the epidemic. Parents and teachers should watch our columns for an announcement‘Regarding the date of ire opening. Ample notice will be given. HEALTHY DWELLING-HOUSES, Sir,—Before I continue my letter of the above subject, I should like to remind his Worship the Mayor and Councillors of their responsibility and duty to the citizens of Wanganui and district. Now that the ’flu has made its appearance here, duly qualified inspectors should be appointed to carry out sanitary arrangements for the well-being of Wanganui. Water being a prime necessity of life, a universal diluent, an agent of cleanliness, its supply and quality become objects of supreme importance to the comfort and health of man. An insufficient supply leads to impurities, and the latter to disease. Any community will be sickly where water is scarce and impure. The irony! Ye gods it makes one think what our City Fathers are doing when w<o see our streets saturated with disinfectant, and then we ask ourselves what are the Council doing in reference to the cleaning..up of filthy back yards and house-to-house inspection? To my mind the Mayor and Councillors has failed after the experience of the late epidemic. I should also like to draw attention to the insanitary and crude method adopted for the removal of house refuse. To my mind it is a standing disgrace to the Mayor and Councillors to allow the present state of affairs bo continue. Just, for an example, pots, pans, tins of all description at nearly every gate, and in many cases upon the footpaths, filled with rubbish in which germs and disease are germinating; or, in other words, the breeding of disease to the detriment of health of the citizens of Wanganui. The Council should adopt a specified sanitary dust bin, and the erection of a destructor should be immediately proceeded with. With these few remarks I will continue my subject. THE FEATURES OF A HEALTHY' SOIL OR SITE. A clean, natural soil, such as is free as possible from those organic changes or processes which cause unhealthy emanations, should be the prime object in changing the location of a dwelling. No effort should be sparred in improving the healthiness of a site. This may be. accomplished by keeping the soil clean through efficient drainage and the abolition of all sources of filth-impregna-tion, and an abundant source of water for maintaining cleanliness in all parts of the house; and, further, by making the ground floors and walls as far as possible impermeable to air. While touching upon water I am compelled to remind the Mayor and .Councillors of Wanganui of the disgraceful state of the water supply for Durie Hill.. For many hours during the day water’ is not available for flushing and household purposes. Now, Mr Mayor and Councillors, wake up and put your house in order, DANGERS OP MADE GROUND. Made ground is to be looked upon with the greatest suspicion. Such a soil, generally composed of the refuse of a town, is necessarily very impure, and a house built upon it is liable to he unhealthy. A process of purifications by oxidation and the influence of rain naturally takes place in the course of time, blit the uncertainty of the result should always be determined by an examination of the ground. It is, however, best to avoid such a location altogether. PORUS SOILS. Porous soils, such as those composed of gravel or rubble, are generally supposed to be healthy, but the assumption is not to be taken without qualification. The -great facility which they afford for the circulation of air and, through this medium, of conducting impurities for a long distance, aided by the suction power of the house-, makes it essential that such soils, in order to bo healthy, should be free from noxious effluvia and deposits of animal or vegetable matter. DANGER OF POROUS SOILS. Dry, porous soils otherwise unobjectionable may be a source of malarial exhalations. The ground -in inhabited places, and even about isolated dwellings, often becomes impregnated with filth from sewers, broken drains, and refuse heaps, which undergo decomposition and give rise to noxious gases, which are dangerous to health in pro--portion to the degree of .concentration, FERMENTS IN SOIL. Such a filth-sodden soil is, moreover, a convenient nidus for the production of those morbific ferments which seem to be connected with certain palpable organisms, which are looked upon as very important agents in the production of some of the common diseases that afflict humanity. Among the diseases which have been, attributed to emanations from the soil may be mentioned typhoid fever—that scourge of the country as well as the city—dysentry, and diphtheria, etc, TO PREVENT SOIL EMANATIONS. As it is impossible to prevent the circulation of the air in the ground, structural devices must be employed to keep the eoil exhalations from rising up into the house. This is best accomplished by covering the entire site of the house with a layer of concrete at least six inches deep, well rammed, and well grouted with liquid cement, and made smooth upon the surface makes a those satisfactory barrier to the ground air and dampness. Mr Editor, with your kind permission I shall continue this article or letter next week. The subject to be “Prevention of Soil Exhalations.”-—I am, etc., A. T. DEVBNPORT.