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has broken out, being a few cases of measles, which, I am happy to state, have been of an inoffensive and very mild character. I may remark, however, that it is deemed essential to maintain the present satisfactory sanitary state of the town that the surface of the lagoon should be kept covered with water, so as to prevent the exposure of offensive and decomposed vegetable matter ; and, to secure this, the dam at its mouth should be kept in an efficient state of repair. I have, &c, Thomas S. Peatt, His Honor the Superintendent, Dunedin. Mayor. The Town Clebk, Palmerston, to the Chairman, Central Board of Health, Dunedin. Sib, — Town Hall, Palmerston, 20th December, 1874. I have the honor, in reply to your letter referring to the sanitary state or condition of the municipal town of Palmerston, to inform you that the said town, from its geographical position, may at all times be considered in a healthy and satisfactory state ; that any nuisances that may at any time exist can only be the result of negligence, to obviate which every necessary precaution is being exercised by the Corporation from time to time by the appointment of Inspector of Nuisances, Sanitary Committees, &c. I have, &c, "Wm. Cobden, The Chairman, Central Board of Health, Dunedin. Town Clerk. The Town Cleek, Lawrence, to the Chaieman, Central Board of Health, Dunedin. Sic, — Lawrence, 17th December, 1874. In accordance with your request to the Mayor that you should be supplied with a report as to the sanitary state of this town, I herewith enclose a report thereon by Alexander Stewart, Esq., M.D., who has been for nearly twelve years a resident here as Surgeon to the Hospital. I may mention, in reference to Dr. Stewart's remarks about water supply, that the Council has recently contracted for a further extension of the water mains over the more populous part of the town, and that the sewerage question is also receiving their attention. I have, &c, J. Macandrow, Esq., M.H.R., M.P.C., L. C. Holmes, Chairman of the Board of Health, Dunedin. Town Clerk. Alexandeb Stewaet, Esq., M.D., to the Matoe and Town Council, Lawrence. Gentlemen, — Lawrence, 23rd November, 1874. According with your request that I should furnish you with a report as to the sanitary condition of your town, I have to state that during my experience of nearly twelve years no cases of sickness of an epidemic type have occurred that could be traced to any agencies otherwise than natural. A few isolated cases of peculiar diseases have been presented, but those, I believe, have been independent of one another, and not caused by the same train of circumstances. The health of your town, so far as it can be related with sanitary efforts to keep it healthy, should not have been of the best description. There is no drainage at all within your municipality. I will begin with the most important streets (popularly so called) —viz., Peel Street and Eoss Place. In the former, from the highest part from which anything is discharged, no matter of what nature, there are no proper means of their not offending the smell and sight of those resident below them in altitude. These offensive uncovered matters, emitting effluvia of a not odoriferous character, discharge themselves into Ross Place, or as far as the channel, and do not lose power by the action of sun, heat, and exposure ; so that, to me, it has been for some years a wonder how your town, in connection with what I will further mention, has not become the seat of pestilence of some order. About the outside of your town the hospital discharges quantities of effete matter in a drain outside its grounds, carried for a distance of 100 yards, probably more, till it reaches a water channel. This channel winds through a large part of the township, the contents of which percolate through the soil. Some wells are dug, and for aught I know the water may be used for domestic purposes. At its source on a calm evening the aroma is everything but good, although the outlets for water which directly connect with the race until its discharge outside the grounds are regularly sluiced with water. In Whitehaven Street the sides of the channel are seldom if ever cleaned, the long abundant grass in certain times of the season completely covering the side channel, and, during the decay of this vegetable matter, emitting deadly poisonous vapours, which, if confined in sufficient space, and inhaled by people closely packed together, would tend to cause any epidemic disease. On the south side of Ross Place, from the want of drainage and consequent sluggishness of water, stenches are there felt sufficient to create a plague anywhere —in fact, a disgrace to the town, as almost any day a man may be seen sweeping filthy liquid matter along that would not otherwise find its way to the engineering exit. On the north side of Ross Place an embankment has lately been erected for the benefit of its inhabitants, but they seemingly, in most instances, have forgotten to allow through the wall an exit for any debris that they may have to discharge from their houses, thus retaining disease-producing material at their very doors, without an opportunity of freeing itself. Nothing so much tends to cleanliness and health as an abundant supply of pure clean water. This we unfortunately do not as yet possess. The rain water runs through zinc pipes and tubes, and is collected in tanks ; it must therefore necessarily be devoid of the chemical elements that are thought to be most healthful to the system.