THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1879.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1804, 2 December 1879, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1879.

The report read at the mooting of the Drainage Board yesterday from the City Health Officer, respecting Jackson’s Creek, is certainly exceedingly startling. That such a prolific source of disease should have existed for so long a time in our very midst, until it has become a perfect mass of corruption is somewhat strange. Now that it has boon discovered, however, there must bo no half measures. To simply clean away the accumulation and prohibit any further house drainage being taken into it is all very well as a start. But the Board must not, as it appears they intend to do, bo content with this only. Such a state of things as is revealed by the report of Dr. Nodwill requires prompt, vigorous, and decided action. If the creek is required for drainage purposes, then it should be covered in, and so tho spread of infection bo prevented. On the other band, if it can bo dispensed with as part of tho drainage system of tho city, then tho sooner it is filled right up the better. By this means the drainage from the houses along its banks would bo prevented from finding its way into the creek. To clean it out, and leave it still open, is only to perpetuate tho nuisance. It is all very well to say that notice will bo given to tho occupants of dwellings on the bank of tho creek not to allow house slops to flow into it. After a while tho terrors of tho Health Act will lose their effect, and then, with a denser population, we shall have a repetition of tho disgraceful state which has boon so graphically described by Dr. Nedwill in his report. Tho district through which this creek flows is in itself naturally an unhealthy one. It lies low, and therefore it is the more important that no further cause of nnhealthiness should bo allowed to exist. It must also be recollected that the danger of infection is not confined to tho district in which this abomination now exists. Every wind that blows from that quarter brings with it malaria and fever into tho city, so that it is a [matter of general importance to tho citizens at largo as well as locally. We hope, therefore, that the Board will not use only temporary measures in dealing with this important subject, but that they will take either one of tho courses we have indicated. To do otherwise would, to our mind, bo a mistake, and a very grave one. Now that tho evil has been brought to light, it must bo crushed, and that effectually.