Correspondence

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 59, 5 November 1892, Page 2

Correspondence

DRAINAGE. [to the editor of the stab,] Sir, — Drains either for the purpose of sanitation, or production, instead of being made at lirst are very often postponed or left until the last. It is the nature of certain kindsjof soil to hold water, and during about halt of the year such soils become too wet, holes and pools of water being frequently found upon the surface. Now as stagnant water supplies the breeding beds for insect pests, or the microbe, my opinion is that drainage for Towns, where the land is open, should be decided upon immediately after the first survey by the surveyors employed, and adjusted so that a fair share of the surface water would be got rid oft by the different water courses as a safeguard against flooding. When Towns are laid off in the forest a certain time, when some clearing has taken place, should be fixed upon for ' the above purpose. It has been recorded that influenza, cholera, and other diseases, have been more fatal, and spread most, during the time or after very wet seasons followed by great heat. This is no doubt caused by there being so much stagnant •water to multiply germ production, and the necessary heat following to give that germ life. The back boundaries or the sides of town sections, are very often the only parts where a fall can be got to carry off surplus water on account of being lowor than the street drainage. When this is the case neighbours should agree among themselves to have the surplus carried off through their several properties before obstructions it; the shape of buildings, are erected in the way. I haye heard of cases where individuals objected to this arrangement, but those persona stand in their own light for two reasons : fir^t, that they, give desease a chance of spreading in the vicinity ; and, secondly, that their own sections are very often rendered unproductive except for weeds by the the surplus water in its attempt to filter its way through the soil from the neighbouring land. No doubt defective drainage has been the great cause of disease hanging about large cities such as Hamburg for instauce, through the recent cholera scare. Stagnant water aids putnfaction insomuch as many an obnoxious substance can be thrown out of sight m muddy water, which is liable to the infiueuce of the suu's heat and evaporation, which substances should be burnt, buried, or otherwise got nd of. I would farther point out that stagnant water ia not necessarily visible in holes or pools, but may be retained in undrained soil, and thus become a source of blight ou plants, and desease affecting mankind, such as what is commonly called low or swamp fever, and I believe also propagates diphtheria, and this may partly solve the question asked some time back when that complaint was spreading, how it was that in certain country districts that desease was more prevalent and fatal than in adjacent towns. I believe all those problems can be solved in time, therefore anything contributing to th.at end rrmy be useful. Those who intend to drain should do so at once before the subsoil or clay becomes almost unworkable and hard. I am, etc., A Colonist.