The Evening Mail. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1878.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 554, 9 February 1878, Page 2

The Evening Mail. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1878.

The residents in that portion of Humberstreefc near the Lagoon are treated just !,ow to such noiswne exhalations from that unsavoury sheet of water that they lay and dream that they are in the celebrated city of Cologne, surrounded by odours the only recommendation of which is their variety. This hallucination is probably due to the stagnant water on the one side, clad with verdure, and giving forth fumes of iodine and other

nauseous effluvia, and the gas works on the other, to vary the monotony. It lias been computed that a family that has lived for even a short period in the locality of the Lagoon would be proof against the baleful effects of Chinese "stink-pots," which are a terror during I warfare in which celestials are engaged. This may be something in favour of noninterference with the present state of things ; but then, on the other hand, it is urged that in the hardening process human nature might succumb, a conclusion which we think is full of wisdom. It might, therefore, be as well if those whose business it is to abate such nuisances were to concert some effective means to abate this intolerable nuisance, which is the only dark blot in the sanitary condition of Oamaru. We are aware that a scheme is under consideration for reclaiming the lagoon ; but, in the meanwhile, surely some of our engineers could point out means of temporarily purifying the putrid stream.