The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1876.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 239, 6 November 1876, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1876.

A jew days ago we drew the attention of our readers to the total absence of all precautions to preserve the health of the inhabitants of the town, and called upon all those who had its welfa% at heart to co-operate in insisting upon all regulations affecting its sanitary condition being strictly enforced. Since then we hare been frequently asked how an efficient system of disposing of stwage matter without nuisance can be carried out with the small available funds at the disposal of the Local Board. It is, therefore, with the intention of answering this question that the present article is penned. In offering a solution of the problem we lay claim to no originality, but simply suggest a method whose advantages have been fully pointed out by abler minds thanours. It is to a system of earth closets that we refer, which, if adopted, might be made, if not a source of direct profit, at least a means of paying expenses. Dr Buchanan, who has thoroughly investigated the subject, states that in a village of 1000 inhabitants the cost of working it would be £260 a year, "and that the value of the manure at IDs a ton would be £360 supposing that the earth had only been used once ; but if employed four times over the annual ! outlay would be reduced to £244, and I the product amounting to 200 tons a year would, at £3 per ton, the price at Dorchester, yield an annual income of 1 £600. It will thus be seen that the system, while furnishing a means of disposing of offensive matter without danger to health, should, if properly managed, pay all expenses, even with the rate of wages which prevails in the colonies. It also provides a manure which retains all the agricultural value of the excrement intact, and is capable ! of being carried about and applied to a great variety of soils. A good supply of a manure of this description should prove an inestimable boon in a hopgrowing district, such as the neighborhood of Nelson. Whether the Local Board adopt the course we have suggested or not, it will soon be necessary that something be done in the matter under the provisions of the "Public Health Act, 1876," the 41st and 42nd clauses of which run as follows:— "It shall not be lawful newly to erect any house, or to rebuild any house pulled down to or below the ground floor, without a sufficient watercloset, earthcloset, or pmy, and an ashpit. Any person who causes any house to be erected or rebuilt in contravention of this enactment shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds." "If a house within the district of a Local Board appears to such .Board, by the report of its Surveyor or Inspector of Nuisances, to be without a sufficient watercloset, earth- ■ closet, or priyy, and an ashpit furnished with proper doom and coverings, the Local Board shall, by written notice, require the owner or occupier of the house, within a reasonable time therein specified, to provide a sufficient watercloset, earthcloset, or privy, and an ashpit furnished as aforesaid, or either of thtm, as the case may require. If such, notice in not complied with, ;the Local Boa-d may, at th« expiration of the time specified in the notice, do the work thereby required to be done, and may racover in a sunioiary manner from the owner the expenses incurred by thtm in so doing." The Act from which we h,a_f e quoted was passed during the last session of the General Assembly to amend the law relating to public health. It repeala •'The Public Health Act, 1872," and "The Public Health Act Amendment Act, 1875," and came into operation on the Ist instant. It provides for the formation of a Central Board to take the place of the defunct Provincial Central Boards, as well as of Local Boards throughout the colony. The Central Board is to be composed of from four to seven persona with the Colonial Secretary as its President, and will have tl?e power to devise such rules and regulations as it may see fit, so long as they are not contrary to the Act. It also has the power to advance to any Local Board such moneys for the purposes of the Act as it may'deem fit from funds placed at ita dispoaal by the Governor from an appropriation by the General Assembly. The Local Boards are to consist of the City or Borough Couucil, Town Board, Board of Wardens, or Commissioners. After a careful perusal we are not altogether favorably impressed with this Act, many of its clauses being vague and unsatisfactory. ]n one respect, however, we commend it, for it provides that in the case of any Local Board having failed,, neglected, or refused to carry out any regulations of tl^e Central Board, the latter may issue an order declaring all the powers and

authorities vested in such Local Board to be. thenceforth, and for such period as shall be mentioned iu any such order, absolutely transferred to the Central Board of Health.