Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News TE AROHA TIMES & WAIORONGOMAL ADVOCATE. THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1900 SANITATION.

Te Aroha News, Volume XVI, Issue 22219, 29 March 1900, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News TE AROHA TIMES & WAIORONGOMAL ADVOCATE. THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1900 SANITATION.

We. hear: a lot and r.cad a great deal, more in these s'in-ing times concerning tlie ravages wrought by that dread disease—known ns tließubonic Plague —which has crossed. iMsor to the Australian i's spreading de ;tk in. its course on all side?.. Every precaution- is being taken, by those in authority in New Zealand to* prevent, if possible, the malady from visit ing our shores. It is n.fc our intention- to dwell at thus j uiacture on the plague that is now causing.such- alarmin our sister colony but to- look atouud oui own township, and see if there is not troublo brewing; almost at our very d'-ors. Te Aroha', for many years- past, has been looked' upon and sought out by suffering Humanly as a health, resort'of no moan ord'er.. Not only have our vast min ral springs proved most < fficacious in alleviating the many il’s that ffesh. is heir to ; but tjhe salubrious climate of the-district has also- called forth the approval of experienced and effluent medical men as a- place wherein to. recoup lost health.. At the present fcime there exists in Te Aroha—aud' we almost refrain from having to- mention the fact in these columns —what may bo appropriately termed an open cess-pool (about a quarter of an acre in extent) right in the heart of the township. We are not mentioning a matter that our City Fathers are ignorant of, for it was only at the last meeting of our Borough Council that the danger existent to the towm by the febrifacient mixture lying stagnant in- our midst, was brought before the members and our worthy Mayor by one of the Councillors. Several' meetings Back Cr Wallace was dejufed to- inspect the place complained of, and only returned more sanguine than* ever of the urgent necessity of at onee having the matter attended to. The nuF-umce complained of ia deplorable, the result of a partly-finished sewer emptying itself into* a- swamp- at the roar of the- township. Some time ago-one of the leading Brewers, who is interested in aspacious hotel in the district,, gave the munificent sum of £SO towards havinga proper syst< m of drainage carried out ;• the money wrs expended by the Borough Council, and the work only half-finished,, its further continuation to the river—as was anticipated -was never carried out; an-1 the result now is not as it should he. Should typhoid fever break out in our mldbt, with such a feeding ground for the disease close at hand, on whose shoulders will the onus of blame rest? Obce the reputation of Te Aroha, as a health resort, goes, and visitor and l tourists keep on the outside of bur district as they would' from a- plague-stricken eity r it will be a bad-day for our sanatorium... At the last meeting of the Borough Council' a motion to- have the sewer carried on to the river and the cess-pool removed, was defeated' by four to three. •We hope the Cou icil will' re-con aider their former decision and take such- s f eps as will remove the nuisance complained of, by every ratepayer, before any malignant diserse breaks out in our midst.