ANNUAL HEALTH REPORT.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 7 November 1901, Page 3

ANNUAL HEALTH REPORT.

The Dangers of impure water and

Sewage

[oOR PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER ]

Wellington This Day,

The first annual report of the chief health orSear lias just been presented to Parliament by command of bis Excellency the Governor. It contains much in« information on hygenio mattors and pohnlon of streann. Strong exception is taken to the pollution of rivers and streams by waste products from factories, and sewage from towns being thrown Into them; and the adopt On is urged of sdnie ntethod o rfeptic tank irrigation or whatever modern science suggewisis best for tho treatment of all sewage before it is allowed to enter any of our rivers or streams. "Local authorities have been warned" remarks Dr Mason "chat no new scheme of drainage will be considered safe or allowed unless provision is made for the treatment of drainage and sewage before it enters the natural waterways. It is not unf requently urged' by local authorities that it is unfair to ask them to go to the expense of purifying the sewage while other ttfwns are allowed to Continue polluting the streams, but our dilswer is that while it might be unfair to require sewerage, schemes which have already been laid down to be taken Up and rearranged the samb objection does dot apply to those bodies which are introducing new systems of. drainage. In some however, it has been necessary to draw attention to the necessity of .remodelling in the near future some of. the systems already laid down, but I urge most strenuously that no new system be approved of unless provision be made for the treatment of the sewage before it enters the river.

" On the question of drainage, he says the absolute inutility of allowing suburban local bodies to act as Boards of Health is said to bo in no way emphasised so strongly a 3 in this all important department of public health. An area containing say a large cityand some half dozen satelites in the shape of suburban boroughs each With its Mayor and councillors all striving not so onich for the commonwealth as they consider will most benefit their own particular portion: Imagine such a picture and it takes " no seer of old '' to prognosticate what will happen. The greater part of their time is taken up by what they term " guarding the interests of their oonstitttsntSi" This is generally construed to mean seeing that the adjoining boroughs do not take advantage of them; and trying if possible to move their burdens on to the shoulders of someone else. Take any of the large cities, and what do you find : Important sanitary work 3 deUyed year after year, because of want of agreement arriong those intimately concerned. The remedy is simple, and its administration ought not to be delayed in order to decide what districts have a community of interests from a sanitary point of view. This done, place the administration of such districts into the hands of central Government bodies and require them to proceed with the work. Of this I feel sure, no real progress will take place until this is done. As it is at present if a city wants to put up a destructor, or arrange for a night soil depot, tho best site from a health and engineering point of viow is decided upon, but the body under whose control the area of land is placed objects, and this necessary work cannot be gone on with. Undoubtedly in many cases great hardships result from the selection of a site because, as a general rule, the part which is chosen for anyone of these sanitary pur-

poses is not infrequently the most convenient, for in regard to tho others tho depreciation of surrounding property in most cases, results from the concentration of such works in any ono particular district, and unless some one entirely outside a local prejudice decides the question, the best scheme infrequently gives place to another whose only claim is that it has roused less opposition. By another year I hope to present for your consideration a report in detail of these important matters, as it is mainly by the agency of water that such proventible diseases as enteric fever are conveyed, it is of tho utmost importance that all water supplies should bo like Cce3ars wife, "above suspicion." The permissive nature of past health laws is, in the main, responsible for the wants of progress in some parts of the Colony. Coupled to this is the apathy of tho general public in respect to sanitation. The larger towns which have installed a general water supply it may be accepted as a fact, the report says, that the great majority, of our population obtain this most necessary article of food from shallow wells. Now while this is unavoidable it cannot bo gainsaid that such a system of supply is fraught with the greatest danger. The popular superstition that because the pipe has boon sunk so-ne 10ft or 15ft that therefore tho water must be just as inaccurate as it is universal. The false sense of security which this error brings, has given rise to some most remarkable experiments being made by householders upon themselves. It could hardly be believed by those who have not investigated these matters that a man would be foolish onough to drink water obtained from a tube sunk only 12ft deep in a porous gravol soil surrounded on all sides by privies of the most ancient and dclapidated nature. In one instance there woro no less than six such sources of pollution within a radius of 16 feet and tho woll was in the contre of this. Of course it was an exceptional condition of things, but it serves to point the moral if it does not adorn the tale. Water from streams should not be drunk without previous Alteration as the eggs or ova of many of the parasites such as tapeworm, hydatids, etc. are deposited upon the surface of the water. Special attention has been given by the various Commissioners to water supplies for large citios. It js a woll recognised fact that more than anything else an adequate supply of pure wholesome water is an absolute necessity for any community. Tho supply must be generous and ample, or uncleauliness and ill health will result. It must bo frc-e from all contamination with sewage and surface water, or proventiblo diseases such as enteric fever, etc. will immediately begin to claim their victims.