MUNICIPAL MUDDLEMENT

NZ Truth, Issue 1191, 27 September 1928, Page 5

MUNICIPAL MUDDLEMENT

Polluted Thames Water Claims Twelve Typhoid Victims

■' ; •. (From "N.Z. Truth's" Thames Representative.) Death the reaper, with his customary broad grin, slid down the open flumes which feed the Thames ressrooir, to claim two victims to the dread scourge, typhoid, and to bring suffering and expense to others.

IN quoting this bureaucratic effusion on the matter of the outbreak of disease m the Thames, the following appeared m a northern daily: "In an endeavor to trace the cause, Dr. H. Chesson 'and the Mayor of Thames, W. Bongard, to-day made an inspection of the sources of the Thames municipal water .supply. ... Mr. Bongard stated this evening that no cause for alarm had been occasioned." A week or two later another daily, one of the staid and conventional mouthpieces of public opinion, 'quoted the following: "Dr. Chesson, medical Officer "of health, yesterday, m referring to the reported death of one of the twelve persons who had developed the disease recently , , , said that the outbreak had probably been caused by pollution of the water supply." It is not necessary to make any com' ment on this announcement of Dr, Chesson, or his deduotion as to the ppurce of the epidemic. But so far as the Mayor, W, Bongard, and his fellowcouncillors are concerned, there is much more which might be said. ' "N.Z. Truth" challenges those m whose hands rests the responsibility for the Thames water supply to deny that they have been repeatedly warned of the grave menace that has existed for several years. Can those gentlemen who administer the affairs of this old mining township honestly assert that they have pot known that the water supply has been known to be polluted for some years past? Somewhere about five years ago the Health Department notified the council to that effect, and since then it has allowed the supply to be used only on the condition that it was chlorinated, To make a gesture of some seeming import, a chlorinating • plant was installed, but it was only one of a kind, and those directly responsible were warned again that it was not by any means efficient or satisfactory, and that it would do but little to mitigate the menace. The system installed, that of chloride of, lime, was condemned as wasteful and unreliable by the recent Water Commission, w.hich strongly advised that such out-of-date plants be replaced by modern up-to-date' apparatus for the use of chloride gas. Was this . advice acted upon? No. Rather than expend money to. ensure a pure water supply, the council continued to let the people of Thames take a risk. , If. Dr. Chesson took any drastic action to compel the recpmmenciation of the Water Commission to

Wasteful System

be acted upon it has never been divulged. Dr. Ohesson should know only too well that the steps taken at Thames were not an adequate safeguard of the townsfolk's health, but it has to be shown that he took any decisive action. In the pigeon holes of •- the Health Department there are secrets which, Jif divulged, would cause the public to ask if the designation of the department were a misnomer. But Jhere are times when action would not be policy, or, more important, party politics. Let "N.Z. Truth" inform the ratepayers of Thames, for their - future guidance, that both the Health Department and the Thames Borough Council have known for years that the system used for purification was unreliable and unsafe, anfl that it was therefore always a potential source of epidemic. They should know, even If they do not, that the water could be rendered absolutely safe by the use of a proper, chlorinating plant. It can only be assumed that the Health Department saved itself trouble and unpopularity by not insisting on proper "measures being taken. '' * ■ ' ■ , ' Possibly the council were inspired with a wish to save the ratepayer s a few hundred poun ds, ~' '■■'".."■■ ' but are they able to say that they have taken the ratepayers into their confidence as to the reaL condition of things go far as their water supply was concerned? Was the question put to the ratepayers: "Which will you have —a little more added to your rates, and pure water, or the risk °f typhoid? About seven years ago the Mount Albert Borough Council practised An economy similar to that of Thames. They got away with it for some time, but it . may be remembered thai? the price paid was death m the long run. "What has- happened at : Thames is that the borough councillors took a chance, content with ■ the assumption that if anything did happen they would be whitewashed and the real facts underlying the condition of things be officially smothered or blanketed, ■ In this assumption they were not far wrong, for has not Dr. Chesson blandly stated. "The outbreak has probably been caused by pollution of .the water supply," and that "no cause for alarm had been occasioned."' Bufia it possible thai with the placid connivance of the Health Department, which stands beside the Borough Council, the people of Thames will again be soothed into a sense of false security, and the consumption of the water continue with its attendant dangers m spite of this severe lesson.