The Globe. MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 841, 5 March 1877, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1877.

One of the speakers at the meeting of Friday last touched upon what seems to us to be one of the most important points as regards sanitary measures. In the course of his remarks, Mr Alport, the speaker referred to, gave it as his opinion that a great deal of the disease, &c, prevalent in Christchurch, was due to the fact that the inspection of premises was not carried out to that extent it should be. Wow there can be no doubt of this, that from whatever cause arising, the most necessary duties of an Inspector of Nuisances, viz, constant and vigilant supervision of the cleanliness of premises, have, up to the present, been carried out in a somewhat lax manner. The absence, in many cases, of any means whereby the house slops can be got into the side channels, renders a house to house visitation almost imperative. The ground around the back doors becomes saturated with moisture of a most unwholesome kind, and fevers

are bred with surprising facility. We need only point to the case in Colombo road brought before the Board of Health at its last sitting to show the evil effects of this. But, we shall be told, this is the suburbs. Such is not the case. Let auyone take a walk in some of the streets of the city, and he will soon find that there the earth positively reeks with soapauds and other unhealthy slops. The houses are now beginning to get much closer, and as a consequence the open spaces attached to them become smaller. Hence the evil is multiplied, and therefore it is that we urge upon both the City Council and the Board of Health — for both have Inspectors the necessity of a rigid system of house to house visitation. It is not enough to suddenly break out into a vigorous crusade and then lie dormant again for mouths. The system of inspection must be continuous and rigid, the more so as it is probable some little time will elapse before the system of drainage is actually commenced.