BOARD OF HEALTH.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2353, 18 October 1881, Page 3

BOARD OF HEALTH.

The usual fortnightly meeting of this Board was held yesterday afternoon. Present—Mr H. J. Tancred (in the chair), Messrs J. V. Boss, W. White, jun., and E. Hobbs.

The following report by the medical offioer was read :

Ohristchurch, October 15th, 1881. The Chairman Board of Health. Sir,— I have the honour to inform you that I have visited Mr Hancock's fat-melting, soap and candle works, and have to report that the recommendation which I made some time ago with regard to a condenser for insuring that the offensive gases should be destroyed by fire has been carried out; but, as the tank in which the fat-melting is conducted is not air-tight, the effluvia still escape into the external air without passing through the condenser and without being destroyed in the furnace —in other words, Mr Hancock has erected a condenser which is useless because he has failed to supply himself with a proper tank. " Are Mr Hancock's soup and candle works, as now carried on, productive of a nuisance injurious to health P" " Can the work of tallow-melting be carried on in such a manner as to insure its not producing a nuisance injurious to health in the midst of a thickly populated neighborhood ?" "If the tallowmelting be discontinued is there anything in the business of Boap-making likely to produce a nuisance injurious to health ?" The above questions, sir, yon have submitted to me in your memorandum of this day's date, and I now beg to report upon them as follows :—lt can easily be answered that Mr Hancock's works, as at present conducted, are undoubtedly a public nuisance; but whether they are injurious to health is a question more difficult to reply to. Although it is the general opinion that such works are not directly injurious to health, they may cause such discomfort to those living in the immediate neighbourhood as to compel them to keep their windows and doors shut, and thus to deprive themselves of the fresh air which is nocesßary for health. It is very difficult to conduct a tallow melting establishment in a thickly populated place without causing a serious public nuisance, Means, however, have been devised to carry on this trade without creating a nuisance, but they entail a great deal of trouble and expense. The tallow is conveyed to the works in properly constructed tanks, and stored in close chambers which are ventilated into the furnace fires; the melting is then conducted in air-tight vats, the foul gases are made to pass through condensers to get rid of the watery vapour, and afterwards go to the fire, where they are consumed. If the tallow melting be discontinued, soap making, it appears, is not likely to produce a nuisance. 1 would take this opportunity of suggesting for your consideration the advisablenees of obtaining, with as little delay as possible, authority from the Governor in Council to make regulations for the conduct of dairies. A continuance for a short time of the warm weather which has existed during the week will again bring us face to face with typhoid fever, and some considerable time must elapse before the machinery can be introduced under which the Board will exercise control over those who supply milk. I forward for your information a copy of a notice which appeared in the "Lancet" of August 27th,! with regard to my report on tho sanitary condition of the Cbristchurch district for 1889. I have, &c, Cotjbtnet Nbdwill, M.D., Medical Officer. The following is taken from the " Lunoet" of August 27th, 1881 : Ohristchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand. Beading Dr. Nedwill's report on the sanitary conditions of this combined district in 1880, it is difficult to divest the mind of the belief that ho is dealing with a community and district of the old country. He shows to us a thriving community (population 45,000), which has established itself at the antipodes, retaining all the habits of thought and social practices which have called for the public health legislation and administration which now obtain in the old country, and which appear to be equally needed among English speaking communities, notwithstanding the more favorable circumstances under which they started at tho antipodes. We are confronted with the familiar terms of typhoid fever, diphtheria, and scarlet fever, as the prevalent infectious diseases. We find the

same blundering as to areas for administrative purposes, the registration area of Christchnrch not being conterminous with the sanitary area But we learn also, to the great credit of the community, that the householders themselves have begun to acquire the good habit of reporting to the sanitary authority the occurrenco ef cases of infectious diseases among their families. The death rate, and birth rate, and in'ant mortality in New Zealand, according to Dr Courtney Nedwill, compare most favorably with English rates ; but it would appear that Christchurch stands in regard to healthiness lowest but one among New Zealand towns, Wellington alone being more unhealthy. " Typhoid fever, dysentery, and diarrhoea are the complaints which swell our bills of mortality ; they deserve our clob9 attention; they are dirt diseases, and, consequently, most amenable to sanitary control. Typhoid fever I during the year was not confined to any particular part of the district; it is unquestionably

ondemic amongst us, and bb usual several cases of it came under notice during the year for which there did not exist any apparent canse. Dirb, most frequently excreioental, was generally present, and in a few cases pollution of water by sewage brought on the disease. Other cases were caused directly by persons suffering from typhoid fever using closets in common with healthy families. The chief interest, however, attached to typhoid fever during the > year was its connexion at Avoneide with a milk origin, and its apparent connexion in another outbreak with milk supplied from cows that had access to sewage water." Ihe sanitary authority, it Beems, is becoming alive to the health necessi-

ties of the place. A system of deep sewerage is being carried out under considerable topographical difficulties ; cesspits have been abolished in Christchnrch, are fast disappearing in Sydenham, and in all the populous suburbs pans are being adopted : but it would appear that the arrangements for cleansing these pan-closets and removing dirt and house refnse are very imperfect. It would seem, moreover, that there is. considerable want of foresight on the p.irt of the authority with regard both to the quantity and quality of their water Bupply. Christchnrch has its difficulties in regard to the regulation of the building of new houses as we have here, where by-laws as to new buildings are not in foroe. Dr. Courtney Nedwill raises the question with his authority of the notification ef infectious diseases and the provision of hospital accommodation for them and he remarks "that the district should ba withoat disinfecting apparatus seems almost incredible." The birth rate of the distriet was for 1880 nearly 45 per 1000 of the population; the death rate 17.88. We compliment Dr. Courtney Nedwill on his excellent report, and would regard it as an earnest ef a good sanitary future for Christchnrch. The consideration of the report was postponed for a week, and the Board adjourned until the following Monday, at 2 o'olook.