CITY INSPECTION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 239, 3 July 1919, Page 7

CITY INSPECTION

? KEEPING WELLINGTON CLEAN

REPORT FOR THE YEAR

In his annual report, the Chief Sani- , Jary Inspector (Mr. J. Doyle) states that the number of inspections made during the year was 31,055, arising- out of which .- Mil notices wero served on bwners of ■ properties. Of those 3791 were complied ' with, and others wero being dealt with. 1 Complaints to the number of ?222 were

' received and attended to. Twenty-one f buildings.considered unfit for habitation , wore brought under tho notice of tho •: Health. Department and dealt v.ilh as follow:—Pulled down, 1; structural al-"-tcratious, -20. | \,Dogs to the-number of 2220 wero regis•ived. Tho streets wero relieved of 2-40 ' registered dogs, of which 113 wero rie'oyed. • ' .

•The Epidemic ■ Referring to tho epidemic in Novem,';r last, the report-says:-"Although it is 'shown that there was no relation •vitovcr between the epidemic and'local . ftions, the city came in for o-lto a •-,? adverse and in many instauces uucriticism; for example, it v-as dc- ,; od as a wh.ited sepulchre, abounding 'ilthy hovels and slums, worse than ;hing in tho civilised world. W'eb- ■•• 'defines a slum as 'a foul back street i city, oho filled with poor, dirty, de''ed, and often vicious population;' any r neighbourhood or dark back street; , ance, Westminster slums, haunts of (wes.' Wo have no such places ln ; this ill', and it is surprising that we find plo who probably havo actnal know- ■>.'??. of Old World slums affirming th*t ; ellington has slums worse than an'y- , ling they have seen. We have, what'is aevitablo in all large cities, mean . streets, relics of old Wellington, which are being surely, if slowly, eliminated; -I ho meanest house in the' Meanest street in this pity is effectually, drained, provid- | «d with up-to-date ■ sanitary • arrangements, and an abundant water supply. , But until landlords can see a i refit in keening their houses' in ?ood repair, and there is no power to compel them to do so, and until naturally careless and dirty people can' he made ciuin and careful in their houses, which is impossible, conditions such as were dwclosetf by the -vigilance committees -are unavoidable.-' Condemnation of Buildings. "The- figures dealing with condemna--1!°? °. f buildings for the years IffOG to I9IS, inclusive, are:— ■ No longer used as Pulled H* Dwell-' Year Reported down paired imrs t 1906 18 12 - 6 1907 29 ,' 10 -_ -in 1308 45 ' 3-8 34 1909 24 17 2 5. •1910 25 16 — ' 9 1911. 21 20 1 - _ 1912 ...... 65 58 4 3 ■1913- 19' 12 3 4 1914 ...... 6 5 1 . - 1915 ...... 26' 19 A 3 1916 6 '2 i — ■J»W ; ••26. 7 1 18 1918 ...... 15 -~6 2 ' 7 12years 325 ;' 187 30 - 108 - ■ ''There appears to be a-good deal of misapprehension as to the position with v regard to x this matter, and statements recently published to the effect that a committee appointed hy the council condemned some hundreds of houses in i the ■ ~ city, which are still standing and earning ' rent for the owners, are without foundation. ,No committee has power to con- , donin houses; the procedure is laid down -. in tho Public 'Health Amendment Act, 1918, section 7, and sub-section 2:- < 'Upon the certificate ofthe district health -officer that any building,or part of a building is in- a condition unfit for occu-' pil'tion or dangerous to public health, the ; local.authority shall give notice to tho .owner thereof to pull down the samo within the time named in the notice,-not - exceeding eight week's.-" In lieu of requiring the owner to pull down' any -'in-'sanitary-building,', the';- "district health .officer may, by. a like notice, require, the owner to make structural alterations or additions to tho- building or improvements to the Banitary conditions. The death rate for 1917 was 9.37. The epidemic; which caused ,5G6 deaths in the metropolitan area in tho latter part of 191 S. is, of course, responsible for the.abnormal rate, 15.71, otherwise the figures compare favourably 'with the other large contres. But with the inclusion of • Onslow, it is certainlj necessary that a larger staff and more offico accommodation Bhourd bo provided. Refuse Receptacles.

'The by-law 493 provides for a metal receptacle provided" with » cover, or keot under cover. ' This is not satisfactory, because a, kerosene tin or any old fin bath kept undac Oliver comes within this definition. - A cylindrical galvanise'd-iron receptacle, with close-fitting cover, should bo required in every case for containing household refuse. With roferenco to trade refuse, tHo -city, solicitor might bo asked to'adviso as to whether we hayo power to prevent people putting' their refuso out for collection- in open boxes or Una. With regard to statements recently inado in reference to accumulation of refuso, mostly tins, etc., in the city, it docs not appear to be generally known that wo have no power to deal with rei'uso unless it is offensive or dangerous (section 493), or under 'tho regulations for preventing or chocking the spread of infectious disease,' ft is, in the opinion of the district 'health officer, likely to be a harbourage for rats; in-this latter case it would depend to a great extent on cir-oumstances-for instance, tho position of Hie refuso and evidence of tho presence 01'- rats. " • • "Tho section 493 defines house refuse as aslies, cmdci;s, sweepings, dust, rubbish, > bones, peeiings. wisto food, and °,* ho ,r' clr £ refuS9 arisiu 2 from such dwelling-houses, for a period of seven days, but it does not inctudo old tins, discarded articles of clothing, etc., which tho rubbish collector will not take, hence tho accumulation so frequently spoken of. If tho section were widened to include., all refuse arising from dwellinghous.es it would bo better, see extract from annual report fov 1914.:—'With regard to tho-.romoval of rubbish, wo can only deal with rubbish that is, offensive, or,.in the opinion of tb district health officer, dangerous to health. House refuse is removed regularly by the council, and trade refuso is received at the destructor onjiaymcnt of u small fee,- but thero is no provision for dealing with rubbish which does not como within the definition of house or trade refuse, and tho result is that it is allowed to accumukto in yawls, vacant sections, and wasto spaces. It would he an advantage if the collectors were instructed to tnko all refuso from private houses, sven if it entailod additional cost.' It would mean that more carts would bo required, Mt.-it would go a long way ju the direction of preventing such accumulations. Infectious Diseases. _ "Thero were 487 cases of infectious aasasos reported during tho vear us under:— Scarlet fever ~.„ 57 Diphtheria .'„„,] 307 , Tuberculosis ~..;....:,..,'.„' 91 Blood poisoning „' 7. Ophthalmia neonatorum „. ' 3 f Cerebrospinal meningitis 22 - Total ; ; 487 "I havo no record of the notifications .of influenza.

Vehicular Traffic. "In my annual report for J9IG, under „ the heading 'Traffic,' I said :-'Tho whole ', ..question of traffic in the city is about .' .'ripo for consideration. The by-law .'.should bo revised to suit altored conditions, for instance, heavy traffic should ho excluded from, say, Willis, Manners, ■ and Cuba Streets.' With regard tu utimboring of vehicles, 1 bblievo it would bo an advantago if tho council'issued ' annually a small number-plate which could ho fastened to the sides or roar of tin vehicles, in tho oase of lorries which havo practically no sides the painted number soon gets rubbed oil o: becomes illegible, and the result is that in many cases it is impossible to tell whether tho vehicle is registered or not. ■ AVith tho number-plate, tho colour, of which might bs changed each, year, vioro would bo no difficulty in distinguishing licensed from unlicensed vehicles.

• ■ Hawkers' By-law. "A'new regulation fume into operation last year, Hie STi'iiditions undoi' which permits were issued Imve-lieen observed and the conduct of the holders has been satisfactory. The unction sales, October to •December, 1918,: realised £?i 10-;., and for the .following .threo months, Doivnber to March, JCI3I, making n total of .C21'7.105." . *