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Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1626, 21 October 1873, Page 2

Readers of the public prints will recently have seen that, of the Public Health Act, some forty clauses have been proclaimed by the Governor as in force in the County of Westland. These are the provisions arid powers to which we refer, and what are they? The first neei not now be spoken of specifically, as it will not come into force until the Ist of June, 3875 ;. it may be sufficient to say that it relates to a mundane system — of the earth, earthy — the advantages of which were recognised by the Israelites in the desert, and which is practically carried out by the Chinese even unto this day. Others of the forty clauses are now in force, and by these considerable powers are given to tlie Local Board of Health, or, in other words, the Borough Council ; while in proportion to what :is given much is expected of them. To use the briefest formula, they are entrusted, for instance, with the management of sewers and drains, which means a good deal, and with the inspection of all private drains and an extensive "et cetera," which means much more With whatever is public they must themselves deal most strictly, and with whatever is private, yet a public nuisancp, they have power to deal as stringently, and to carry out any requisite works for its alteration, amen&ment, or abatement at the cost of the proprietor. In connection with private houses, they may not only abate nuisances, but are empowered to erect facilities f^r domestic drainage, &c, according to thdir ideas of sanitary perfection, and alwayjs at the cost of the builder or owner. "Again, in connection with schools, factories, or buildings in which moreithan fifteen in number are gathered — such as, we may say, every hotel in Greymouth— it is not the proprietor's ideas ; of sanitary measures that are to be adopted, but the Act's and the Board's, and sure enough there are— it may not be in Greymouth, but in some West Coast towns — hotels where the propriety of such a power is indisputable, and its necessity lamentably apparent. The internal cleanliness of domiciles is also a question for the Board to cleuide upon, and no Mrs M'Clarty dare say that she "canna be fashed," or, if she do, she must pay for whitewash and purification. Noxious trades of numerous kinds are subject to close ; supervision arid local . extinction wherever necessary, and the regulation of nuisances generally, or, rather, the rules for the preservation of public health, are amplified and intensified in a way which ought to make the cleanly rejoice and the careless cleanly. , But of the several clauses to which we refer, the one most applicable to Greymouth, and yet most difficult to apply, is one which has particular reference to such a physical feature as the Tidal Creek, with its sources, tributaries, and contiguous " deuk-dubs " This still so-called Tidal Creek may have been once a thing of beauty, amid its primitive sylvan surroundings, but in the march of civilization it ha 3 been so converted frpm its original condition as to leave no hope of its being a joy for ever. Where Pan dwelt, pan is still prevalent, but the situation in these degenerate times is devoted to the goddess Cloacina. Its offence is rank, and all that .the art of man disguisedfcin the name of engineer could do has been done to aggravate its condition as a nuisance. Even at the present, private persons are usurping it as building sites, contrary to all Admiralty or local law, and by their otherwise very creditable private enterprise enhancing the evils with which, in its upper parts, it abounds in the midst of an increasing population. Sooner or later, this magnificent nuisance will have to be dealt with by the Corporation, and here, in clause 30, is the power to do so : — -" The Local Board of Health shall cause to be drained cleansed covered or filled up all ponds pools open ditches sewers drains and places containing or used for the collection of any drainage filth water matter or thing of ah offensive nature or likely to be prejudicial to health. " And they shall cause written notice to be given to the person causing any such nuisance, or to the owner or occupier of any premises whereon the same exists, requiring him, within a time to be specified iv such notice, to drain cleanse cover or fill up any such pond pool ditch sewer drain or place, or to construct a proper

sewer or drain for the discharge thereof, us the case may require. "If the person to whom such notice is given fail to comply therewith, the said Local Board shall execute the works mentioned or referred to therein at the expense of the party to whom such notice was given. "The said Local Board may, however, if they see fit, order that the whole or a portion of the expenses incurred in respect of any such last-men-tioned work be defrayed out of the funds from which it is hereinbefore provided the expenses of this part of this Act are to be defrayed." Here is a very nice and knotty, if also nasty, point to be dealt with by the Corporation. They cannot gainsay that the Tidal Crgek, where least a crsek and least tidal, is a seething bed of disease, but whose' is it, or who is the "party at the expense of whom" it is to be "drained, cleansed, covered, or filled up ? " It is certainly not a legitimate site for town halls, or for stores, free or bond ! Is it a railway reserve 1 Is it a Native reserve? Is it Corporation property 1 Is it the sea, or part thereof, and within the so-called jurisdiction of the Admiralty? However it may be, it were well that, in more interests than that ot the abatement of nuisances, its proprietorship should be settled ; but in that interest especially it were Veil that it should be so, else it will involve others being ill and possibly " settled " in a sense which it is not pleasant to contemplate. On the general question of cleanliness, and consequent health, as far as cleanliness can contribute to health, we surely express the sentiment of every sane and sanitary citizen when we express a hope that no necessity will arise for the enforcement of this ris^id Act, much less a necessity for the assumption of the duties of the Borough Council by the Central Board, but that by individual action in one direction, for the general benefit, Greymouth will become a seat of the Communism of Cleanliness.