The Globe. TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 1876.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 536, 7 March 1876, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 1876.

A letter which came before the Christchurch District Drainage Board at its sitting on Monday last discloses a state of things in our midst which we are surprised should have been allowed to exist for one moment. The letter in question was one from the House Surgeon of the Hospital, addressed to the City Council, and forwarded by that body to the Drainage Board, The writer, after refering to the fact that the cause of his complaint —the filthy state of the Antigua street drain —had already been brought under the notice of the City Council by his predecessor in office, makes a statement which we fancy will somewhat alarm our readers. It is this, that owing to the pestiferous exhalations from this drain—which runs close by the Hospital—convalescent patients are unable to go out into the open air, one of the first essentials, be it remembered, for their complete recovery. It is a well known fact that at the present time there are numerous cases of typhoid fever in the Hospital, and there can be no doubt that this drain, which is allowed to poison the air in close proximity to the building, is one of the causes of it. Why so great an evil as this should have been allowed to exist without some steps being taken for its removal is a mystery. Here we have in a fairly thickly populated portion of the city a drain which is a seething mass of fever-breeding corruption allowed, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the authorities, to taint the air and implant the seeds of disease amongst the people. And this too when we have two or three local bodies—notably the City Council in its capacity as a Local Board of Health—with ample powers to deal with it. The Mayor who is also chairman of the Drainage Board gave it as his opinion that nothing would remove the nuisance but an underground drain, and that therefore for the present nothing could be done. When we consider that the probability of the construction of an underground drain is exceedingly remote, this seems very like allowing the nuisance complained of, as it has up to the present, continuing to send forth its death dealing exhalations for an indefinite period. We cannot for one moment think that this will be allowed. Surely some temporary measure can be devised which will at least partially, if not entirely remove the possibility of a decimating fever being bred in our midst, and this, if feasible, which we think it is, should be commenced without delay. Every hour that the drain is allowed to remain in its present disgraceful condition, adds to the danger of contagion and disease, and therefore some body, be it the Drainage Board or City Council, should at once go to work and have it removed. It is no time for red-tapeism or nice distinctions as to whose function it is to do the work; precious lives are at stake, and with this in view all such considerations as these should be put on one side. We urge this strongly upon those whose duty it is to take sanitary measures amongst us, and should the City Council or the Drainage Board not at once take steps in the matter, then the Provincial Government will have to step in, and thus save the city from what may be a scourge, and which may result in many households being rendered desolate. A heavy responsibility lies at the door of those in authority in this matter; our duty to the public is done when we urge the vital necessity of immediate action, and it remain* for the authorities now to do theirs.