New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4985, 15 March 1877, Page 2

New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1877.

. —— '♦' " " —^-—~." Much has been said in . these columns. during the last few.months on the subject' of sewage and drainage, which, we flattor ourselves, has contributed not a little todirect public attention to theimattet, and! enlighten the public mind upon it. We have '• all along considered the question as one involving the health and longevity of the; inhabitants of this city, and hence as being, a matter withwhich all, mere questions of expense sink into utteri insignificance. , It appears to us the. matter,has .now arrived at, a.climax—a' climax iindeed - the. importance of which! abundantly transcends ; all. other subjects; of public interest that ever occupied our attention; -We are either to have sanitary reform, or we are not to have it. We

are either about to inaugurate a complete, comprehensive, and. scientific sanitary scheme, which will remove the seeds of disease and death from ourmidst, orweareto •icontinue a system of muddling, which is worse than useless, which in the spirit of a false economy continues to tamper with the evil while it does not remove the causes of mortality. Be the result what it may, we have discharged our duty to the public* honestly arid faithfully," arid we take our readers to record that we are free from responsibility in the matter. We do not appear as the advocates of any particular person or scheme; what we are anxious to-see is that the sanitary requirements of the city shall be proceeded with on some well-defined plan, and not indefinitely postponed. We have recently, at considerable trouble, consulted the highest authorities on sanitary reform, both in England and' America, with a view to obtain an insight into the various schemes and their relative merits, which are in operation in Great Britain, Europe,, and America, and , we now lay before our ' reader's the result of our inquiries. We pasa no opinion, but leavei the matter * in the hands of a discerning public. We may here remark that in: all l 'questions of ■anitary science Great Britain stands preeminent, and the various sewage and drainage schemes in force on the Continent and elsewhere, are merely copies, with various modifications, of the system in use in England. These schemes are the results of a series of experiments, conducted at great cost, to ascertain the best means of effectually draining the towns and great centres of population. The Corporation of London alone spent various sums in these experiments amounting to something like £IOO,OOO, and they at last adopted the water: system, as being the best, and the results in the diminution of • the death-rate have been simply marvellous. The several systems in use are as follows:—The old-fashioned "pail" system ; the "dry earth;" the "ash;" the " pneumatic,'.' and the " water." The pail system, still in force in a few towns in England, consists of a tub, or vessel of any shape, for the reception of excreta and other refuse, which is, or rather ought to bo, removed at stated periods in covered carts. In practice this system is most objectionable, and it is only tolerated where the authorities have not the, public spirit to attempt any thing more decent, thorough, and comprehensive. The inhabitants are exposed to the obnoxious effluvia arising from decomposing organic substances. It is found to be practically impossible to secure the removal at regular intervals; the process of removal is in itself highly offensive, and the expense necesarily great. "Under this system contractors are employed to remove the deleterious matter at stated prices, ' paid either by the city authorities or the, inhabitants. The refuse i 3 taken to sheds which are under the direction of the authorities, where it is mixed with earth, ashesj &c, and sold by the contractor for manure. There are now only two towns of any pretensions in England, viz., Rochdale and Leeds, where this system still lingers, and in the latter it is said to be very unsuccessful from the impossi-' bility of .regular removal. The next we shall mention is that known as the "pneumatic." In this case the foul deposit is kept in the vicinity of the dwellings, in cemented and air tight vaults, and the contents are emptied by a portable pneumatic apparatus into covered carts, and disposed of as in the former, case. Engineers agree that this system is open to grave objections, as in practice it is found very difficult to keep the vaults airtight, and the people are thus exposed to the influence of offensive exhalations from the masses of-filth in a state of putrefaction in the vicinity of their houses. The "ash-closet" comes next under consideration. This has been in use for some years past in' the. town of Hull. On this subject we cannot do better than quote from the report of (Doctors Radcxiffe and Buchanan (1869), who were appointed Commissioners' to examine into the. practical working of the " ash" system in that town. These gentlemen say : "We propose, then, to regard the complete removal of all excrement within a day as practically constituting safety in cases where excrement is unmixed, or only mixed with ashes." Dr., Radcliffe in a later report oh the same" subject advocates "the frequency of removal of all deposit The next system. deserving attention is the "dry earth" system. Upon, this system Mr. Waring, C.E. (America), states that for its effectual working the' conditions are necessary:—" 1. That.the earth used must be dry. • 2. That it'must contain clay, organic- matter, or oxide of iron. 3. It must be sifted of its stones or coarser particles. 4. The mechanism of the closet must be such as to deposit, with certainty, a sufficient' quantity of earth after use. 5. In towns some system must be adopted for the supply of earth and the removal of deposits." On this subject it may be only just to. remark that in private houses, hospitals, &c, when under scientific management, it has been found to work well so far as solid excreta are concerned, but both it and the " ash" system are subject to this objection that they only provide for, removal of solid matter, and leave house-slops and other equally deleterious matter to be disposed of in some 'other way. Mr. Waring, a professed and ladmittedly interested advocate of the system, admits that in the only large town in America where it has been introduced, it has proved a failure. We need scarcely refer to the recent report of the English iCommissibnersj largely quoted in a late article in this j ournal, which was to this effect:: that the dry earth system has never been' tried on a scale sufficiently large to justify its adoption in large towns. The "water" system now.remains to be explained. We may remark that the superiority of this system above all.others is now accepted by the most eminent English engineers and sanitary reformers as a foregone conclusion, among whom we may mention Rawlinson, Latham, Bazeloette, Dempsey, Sir W. Cubitt, and Mr. Stevenson, C.E.'s, with Drs. Buchanan, Carpenter, Smith, Letheny, :Rochdale, and a host of others' too numerous to mention. The system may be briefly stated as follows :—All excremental and culinary refuse is received in a properly prepared receptacle known as a "pan." This is ; 'connected with ;the sewer, by means of a pipel All solid matter is then washed down the pipe by water from a tap placed over the." pan," where it finds ; its way to the tributary sower,, and. by that; xnoans to the- main, sewer,, and through that to the place of .destination. Considerable .misconception, appears to .exist;, as to, the cost of these. ," pan " arrangements, some ostimates - as to the probable cost having gone as high as £4.' ■! To; -dispel all doubtsi'oh this subject; we quote the following from a recently published work by-Mr. Demi'sisy, C.E. " The cost of a pan or basin, with a short length of pipe, together with the; cost of fixing, will not exceed 135." Wei conclude this article by two quotations

—Mr. Latham remarks: " A good watercloset is the only appliance fit to be used within a house, for by it all matters are conveyed** away * and cease to • have ; the power of producing evil; it is not so, •however, : witfi • those systems that conserve fsecal deposits within, or in close proximity to, our dwellings>. as there is always a danger in storing a dangerous article, however carefully we may tend and guard against its "evils;" ' Mr. "Dempsey says : " The sole purpose of all apparatus of water-closets, sinks, and drains, all tributary or main sewers, should be that of affording a passage for the conveyance of refuse waters and other matters produced in towns. This conveyance should be immediate, every particle committed to the entire ramification of passages .being preserved ceaseless motion until it arrives at ita firikldestination."