THE RESERVOIR WATER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5582, 18 February 1879, Page 3

THE RESERVOIR WATER.

TO THE EDITOR Off THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sib, —A groat deal has been said of late about the reservoir water, and all sorts of diseases have been attributed to its use. Now, although agreeing with the necessity of having filter beds for the water supplied to the town, —it being highly desirable that the water we use should be as pure as possible,—yet, I think we must look to other sources for the cause which has occasioned the sickness and mortality amongst the children, especially infants under twelve months; and which have formed the greater proportion of the deaths. Parents do not generally feed infants under twelve months old on reservoir water; nor do I think they thrive on cold water, however pure it might be. No, we must look to another cause for the malady that is now afflicting the children.

It has become the fashion with many mothers *to bring’ up their infants on the bottle. The children thus lose their natural nourishment (the mother’s milk), and are fed with food of a deleterious and unwholesome character. If the utmost cleanliness is not observed, the gutta percha tubes through which the food passes to the child from the bottle becomes foul, and is a great cause of disease. The secretion in the tube gets sour, disorders the stomach, and-causes diarrhoea and other complaints. The maizena, cornflour, and other substances supplied to infants is also frequently the cause of disease and death. Medical men can testify to the accuracy of these statements, as they have hod to prohibit their use in many families. But there is another source of disease which generally escapes notice—the impurity of the milk. Two years ago an epidemic broke out at Eagley, a small village near Bolton, Lancashire, which embraced no less than two hundred and five cases from typhoid fever, twentytwo of which cases terminated fatally. The Government inspector investigated the matter, and it wan proved beyond a doubt that the sickness had been caused by the supply of impure milk from one particular dairy. It was found on close examination of the farm itself that the only water used for dairy purposes was taken from a brook into which organic matter and filth drained, rendering it exceedingly foul.

Now what has occurred in England may also occur here. Has anyone analysed the milk supplied to the citizens of Wellington ? Who knows but that water obtained from as impure a source as that used by the dairy in Eagley may be used by dairies which supply this city with milk 1 There are no regulations or supervision over the circumstances of dairy farms here, but it is highly desirable that there should be, as it is quite possible that a.whole community might be poisoned without being aware of the cause.

I am led to believe from the mortality that has occurred amongst infants in other places than Wellington (i.e., Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin) where the reservoir water is not used, that impure milk, unwholesome food, dirty tubes of bottles, and the heat of the weather has had more to do with the disease amongst infants than the supply of water from the reservoir.—l am, &c., Kakori.