THE NOTORIETY OF CROMWELL.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 247, 4 August 1874, Page 5

THE NOTORIETY OF CROMWELL.

Dr Coughtrey's report on the epidemic by which we were so recently visited has been forwarded to the Australasian, and they take notice of it in their issue of July 11, using it to point a moral with regard to Melbourne, and the strong possibility of an epidemic of a like nature arising amongst them-

selves. We propose to give extracts from the two-column article they publish on the subject, that our readers may see what a name we have made for ourselves "among the nations of the earth."

Before quoting from the report as to the cause of the fever, notice is taken of the population of Cromwell, aad the percentage of deaths which occurred ; and they say : "It assists our comprehension of the fell character of the visitation to remember that this proportion of persons who were affected or who died would, calculated on the population of Melbourne, amount to about 45,000 persons affected by sickness, and 9000 swept off by the disease."

Then we are "shown up" by the report and running comments : " Without touching on the disputed point whether fevers of this class are actually produced, or only fostered and assisted, by the conditions to which they are usually ascribed —whether these causes call the disease into existence, or only furnish the conditions for its propagation—it is evident, on reading this report, that the causes sought were found lying plainly visible on the surface. The inhabitants of Cromwell were living in open defiance of all sanitary laws. There was nothing, says Dr Coughtrey, in the situation of the place appreciably favourable to the production of zymotic diseases if due care had been exercised. So far from this being the case, ' the soil is of a loose and porous nature, composed of schistose sand and gravel for several feet in depth, and such as would favour oxidation and destruction of the organic matters of sewage as it filtered through it, were it not surcharged with too much.' The houses ' are not of the most commodious size,' and many of the, rooms are too crowded and deficient in light and ventilation. This, however, is so common a circumstance in regard to bush-built houses, where people rely for their full supply of oxygen on the day's labour out of doors in the open air, that it is not of much special importance. But the drainage of the place is absolutely neglected. Most of the houses have no provision whatever for drainage, and where any attempt had been made to supply any it was of a crude and unsatisfactory kind. An example is given in these words :—' Take the small drains which are connected with some of the houses on the northern side of Melmore-ter-race ; they consist simply of pipes, which conduct whatever is thrown into them from the backs of the houses to the nearest gutter, there to lie exposed on its way towards the low ground near the bridge, at which point it soaks into the ground. In other words, these dirty liquids are conveyed from the back of one row of houses to the fronts of two rows.' Everything corresponds with this state of affairs. No care was shown for the disposal of house refuse. The back-yard accommodation of many domioiles is scanty ; not a few are without closets of any description, and several of these have gardens attached to them, through which the open water-race runs which supplies the town with its water. Well may the writer of the report say, 'The reflective can draw their own inferences.' The closets, where there are any, are attached to cesspools, consisting merely of holes dug in the ground, and in many instances ' they are in dangerous proximity to the dwelling-houses and the water-race.' Few attempts are ever made at emptying these places, and, without going into particulars, the consequence is that the soil and sub-

soil of the place are saturated with sewage. As Dr Coughtrey pungcntly phrases it, ' the noil of tJje sloping bank behind most of the houses whose backs face the Kawarau River is in \ many places . sodden and discoloured with excrement, infiltrated with tilth, chiefly from these cesspools.' " By this time it is becoming clear that it is not necessary to invoke the wrath of the gods, or the vengeance of angry Apollo, to account for the outbreak of an epidemic in a place circumstanced in this way. But there are a number of other causes of ft kindred nature all operating in the same direction as those we have before indicated. Slaughteryards and piggeries existed in the town—in some instances too near to the dwellinghouses. Stable refuse is allowed to add its share to the poisonous influences around. The waste of butchers' shops contributes, also to contaminate the soil and the atmosphere. The water supplies are poisoned by flowing through a poisoned soil. '. The water-race of the town from beginning to end was in a filthy condition, and most strangely placed with reference to cesspools and other places.' 'The whole of the houses in Ballina-street were placed on a higher level than the open branch water-race from which the inhabitants of that street derived their supply of water.' Many other particulars of the condition of these water-races are given, but it is not necessary that we should pursue the subject into all its sickening details. It is sufficient to say that the condition was as bad as. it could be—bad to a degree that is incredible in a community supposed to be acquainted with, at. any rate,,the rudiments of sanitary science. It is shown that when any slight effort at improvement was made it was done in such a way as to be quite ineffectual for any good purpose. The house tanks were also bad, and dirty to the last degree. The result of all this was that ' the quality of the different waters is such as to utterty unfit them in their present state for domestic purposes,' an opinion amply supported by the analyses of the waters which are attached to the report. Every rcaler must agree with the observations of Dr Coughtrey :—' With such a state of matters it is no wonder Cromwell was visited with an attack of typhoid fever. Though there were a few apparent exceptions, the reciprocal connection between neglect of sanitary laws and the disease was boldly visible throughout the whole of this epidemic. Improperly constructed and neglected cesspools, polluted drinking water, and cramped sleeping rooois fed disease. The unusually dry and sultry summer and autumn, the absence of strong ozone carrying winds, and the small rainfall have appreciably played their part in favouring this epidemic' " The case is a most significant one. Hei'e was a small community of people, living in a healthy atmosphere, upon a good soil rtiA subsoil, and fairly supplied with wholesome water. There is no reason why they might not have been perfectly free from Such terrible visitations as epidemic fevers. But they chose to live in absolute defiance of the laws of health. They neglected them, and broke them as if there were no such prescriptions, instead of their being as well known and definite as the statutes in our criminal code, and infinitely more effective in their operation, inasmuch as the punish- . ment attached to their breach is enforced with all the inevitable necessity of a law of nature. These people sinned against these natural laws openly, wantonly. They were warned by the local medical men, and by the local paper, but took no heed till the visitation came."

The article concludes with a warning to Melbourne, and urges the importance of bearing in mind Lord Palme rston's reply to Edinburgh, when it asked him to proclaim a day of fasting as a means of averting the visitation of cholera. Ho said :

| "It dot's not appear to Lord Palmerston that a national fast would be suitable to the I circumstances of the present'moment. The Maker of the universe established certain laws,of nature for the planet in which we live ; and the yteal or woe of mankind deponds upon the observance or neglect of those iaws. One of those laws connects health with the absence of those gaseous exhalations which proceed from overcrowded human beings, or from decomposing substances, whether animal or vegetable ; and those same laws render sickness the almost inevitable consequence of exposure to those noxious influences. Put it has pleased Providence to place it within the power of man to make such arrangements as will prevent, or disperse, such exhalations, so as to render them harmless ; audit is the duty of man to attend to those laws of nature, and to exert the faculties which Providence has thus given to man for his own welfare. Lord Palmerston would, therefore, suggest, thatthe best course which the people of this country can pursue to deserve that the further progress of the cholera should be staved, will be to employ the interval that will elapse between the present time and the beginning of next spring in planning and executing measures by which t!ios n portions of their towns and cities which are inhabited by the poorer classes, and which, from the nature of things, must most need purification and improvement, may be freed from those causes and sources of contagion which, if allowed, will infallibly breed pestilence, and be fruitful in death, in spite of all the prayers and fastings of a united but inactive nation. When man has done hig utmost for his own s:>,fetv, then is the time to invoke the blessing of Heaven to give effect to his exertions."