TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3205, 6 October 1881, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1881.

GviDBO no dijiibt by the medical knowledge and practical experience of Dγ de Lisle, the Municipal Council has resolved to adopt, and to enforce under penalty, one of the most offensive closet systems that it is possible to conceive. We are not in a position to paes an opinion upon the sanitary aspect of the question. The open pan system may be the healthiest that is known to science and to the medical profession. It ie certainly the nastiest. Everything that is pleasant is said to be either sinful or unwholesome ; and, perhaps, on that principle the most disgusting of closet systems may be the beet. But we are sumptuous enough to doubt it, and if Dr de Lisle and bid fellow councillors would be patriotic enough some oigbt to follow the night-cart in its rouodis they would understand wbat *c mea''. Those vthoM.business or pleasure it is; to be afiroad alter midnight dread to taeet the cart; the light of it« warning lamp is the signal for basty retreat, and a long detour is made to avoid the more than awful object. Is there nothing unhealthy in the escape of effluvia powerful enough to turn strong men sick ? But the smell that emanates from the cart merely represents a sample of the united effluvia that has been escaping all the week from several pan closets. The fragrance of the cart is the outward, and strong enough to be the almost visible sign of the unseen and unclean let loose in the atmosphere. Perhaps it is better to poison the air then to poison the ground,

\iu\ ! >ow ib it knov-u '.but the gnui.i! is j roi~-'>c<f '"-■ lit? :it'--' oi' r "i.i»o sutofrtr&iuai Iα not f-ill civ-. ji

p*"£ ; it is a loose '<v salt Kater that rise; cni f *lia wLu the tiue, and the old ceespua that are mufc well into that ehLigie rarely rjquhe to be emptied, and are never offensive. We rememember that on the initiation of municipal government in this town Mr Holder, in the Council, took the lead in this raatter, and finally succeeded in getting passed an excellent bye-law establishing the earth-closet system. The eystem was new to the town, and the householders did not fall readily into it. The bye-law was evaded in every direction, and through the supioeness of the Corporation it eventually became a dead-letter. Many of the better class of houses, however, abolished the cesspit, and to this day the earth closet is in use in them. There would have been some sense in it if the Council bad resolved to enforce the old bye-law, although, of course, the latest regulation on the subject doe? not abrogate it. We would point out, however, that the nuisance of the oan system may be altogether done away with by the use of earth or ashes. Dr. Buchanan, in bis report to the Imp-snal Government, says, " Earth closets used singly either outside or inside private houses have frequently come und»*r my notice, and have always beeu found free fromemell." Tbe first requirement 'or the proper wording of the ea r\ «■ j n: is of a loamy nM.nrti (pood garlic ..■a), TJerfiectly dry ".r>A 3nely - if bob the besf deuiioraut iinu itje "v'f *o»eve,. *;..< 3

is a ditHo-iity in oL'tftitiiug mr.tabU .-.i

sifted aches may, either wholly or in jv»n, be used. Sand most not be used, oe'.oy u°eles3 both as a deodorant and an a disinfectant. It is not necessary for the earth to be dried by artificial heat; the best method being to obtain and store during the summer a supply of dry earth enfficient for use in the winter. Wbere this cannot be done the earth may (for a small family) be dried on the hearth beneath the kitchen range, or, for a large family, a drying-stove can be purchased. The product of the earth closet may be deposited under cover, when, after it has lain six weeks, it may be either applied direct to the land as manure, or, if dry, used in the closet again after being sifted.