THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 1875.

Grey River Argus, Volume XVI, Issue 2048, 2 March 1875, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY , MARCH 2, 1875.

We wonder when the members of the Borough Council of Greymouth will wake up to their responsibilities as guardians of the public health. We have on many former occasions endeavored to evoke some sort of recognition of their duties in this respect, but apparently without effect. They are content to spend a cer+ain number of hours on certain days in much talk about matters of the most simple character, but aB to venturing beyond the simple generalities of Municipal government, our civic representatives would as soon run " down a steep place into the sea." Some time ago we ventured to suggest that the time had come when the question of improving the sanitary state of the town could not longer be delayed, unless indeed the Council waß content to allow deadly but preventible diseases a fair field for their ravages. But beyond a barren resolution nothing has been done by the Council, and now they have to face the fact that already the foes of humanity have effected a lodgment in our midst. Are the members of the Borough Council aware that typhoid fever, diptheria, and measles exist in the town ? If not, we can tell them that such is the case, and that deaths from these diseases have already occurred in this community. Is it necessary for us once again to point out that two at least of the most fatal disorders — typhoid fever and diptheria — hwe been demonstrated by science to be clearly traceable to the neglect of sanitary precautions ; and that wherever the proper precautionary measures are taken these fell destroyers of human life pass harmlessly, as the Angel of Death did over the camp of the Israelites. What has the Borough Council done towards improving the sanitary condition of the town? Nothing, or worse than nothing, and now we have diseases amongst us which find a congenial home in this undrained, refuse-laden, and water poisoned town. We don't like to exaggerate, but wish simply to tell the truth — and that truth is that unless something effectual is done and done promptly, we may expect a3 great a calamity here aB befell the town of Darwen, in Lancashire, lately, when a large proportion of the inhabitants died from typhoid fever, contracted as subsequent investigation proved, through the poison caused by the reckless neglect of sanitary precautions. Let us glance for a moment at the state of Greymouth, as it really stands : — We have no drains worth the name ; the ordinary conveniences for the disposal of faecal matter, are of the most primitive and filthy character, for the most part

planted close to the dwellings, contaminating the air and their contents percolating fhe porous ground into the adjoining wells, the water from which is unhesitatingly used for drinking purposes. Refuse of all kinds — decayed and decaying vegetable and animal matter— is thrown out into the backyards, or swept into the streets there to ferment and breed the seeds of disease. Many houses are actually erected over stagnant pools of feculent matter, and apparently without any concern as to the consequences. Right along an artery of thu town — the Tidal Creek — the age of the adjacent premises is allowed to depesit itself therein, to be washed backwards and forwards by the flowingandebbing tide, but never being carried away. Let any one judge for himself what the condition of this Cloaca Maxima is by standing alongside the creek any night at low water when evaporation is active, and if he does not experience a sensation of disgust his olfactory organs must be completely disorganised. But this is not all. As if the ordinary pollutions were not sufficient, night scavengers deposit their fifth into it — a glaring case of which kind was recently brought under public notice. How is it that the Council conld not discover the culprit ? We are certain that if it had been n case of pocket picking, the offender would lone ago have been brought to justice. The fact is that the Borough Council fights shy of the sanitary question, and no doubt it is a difficult one. But it is one that must be tackled manfully, if all the resources of the Borough are to be applied to the task. We must have a scheme of drainage — not such drainage as we are informed has been contemplated— that of draining the higher parts of the town into the Tidal Creek — but a thorough and effectual system that will at any rate permit of the sewage of the town being carried out of the reach of its polluting influence 1 ?. And there must be a rigorous supervision of the outhouses, and the punishment of all who allow to be thrown, or who throw, refuse on the surface of yards or streets. The Borough Council will fail to do its duty if it does not at once take up the question, and we trust that the initiatory steps will be taken at the next meeting.