TARANAKI

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 350, 1 March 1861, Page 4

TARANAKI

(From the Taranahi Herald.)

UNHEALTHY STATE OF NEW PLYMOUTH. We referred briefly in last issue to the alarming state of the public health, and we now print below a memorial to his Honor the Superintendent having reference thereto. If it is open to question^ as it may be, to account definitely for the present startling sickness and mortality, there can be none that the nuisances complained of by the memorialists should be got rid of, or at least abated without delay. It is sufficient to know that our people attribute much of the illness to this source. The slaughtering of cattle in the town of New Plymouth is expressly forbidden by local ordinance; but although the public slaughterhouse was erected on land nearest to the town, and within a few hundred yards of Marsland hill, the meat contractors for the troops have considered it hazardous to make use' of the building since the war, and therefore, by arrangement with the military authorities, the building was removed to its present situation near the Huatoki and the beach. But we understand it was contemplated by the medical authorities, to whom the subject was referred,'that the building should be so placed that the tide would carry away the liquid matter which now drains into the ground and occasions such health-affecting nuisances. The premises (objectionable as they appear to be conducted) are now under the supervision of the police. Officially it is not known to civil authority that such a trade as butchering and carcase-dressing is being carried on in the town. Owing its existence to the present exceptionable state of affairs, it is rather winked a| than recognised, and, if noticed at all, it must be boldly got rid of by direct information for contravention of the ordinance. It is therefore clearly to the convenience and interest of the proprietors of the building that it should be kept in such a state as henceforth shall render complaint uncalled for. The locality in which fever has been most prevalent, and, we may add, fatal, points to the slaughterhouse as the source of the evil, and if the present complaints of the neighbors continue to be disregarded, the public have the course open to them of closing, the premises altogether. There are, besides, several predisposing causes of the present sickness incidental to our situation. The house accommodatiofi within the town lines of entrenchment is altogether inadequate, notwithstanding the many persons who reside outside the lines, or have quitted the province. We cannot exist in overcrowded and ill-ventilated dwellings without risk to health and life, as our columns too frequently of late testify. Nor are the consequences of the existence of common nuisances, such as the foul condition of cesspools, pigstys, and pits to be ignored, or disregarded in such a season as this. The local authorities have made arrangements for a general scavengering, and clearing out of the cesspools at a moderate fixed rate; but in all instances where this opportunity is not taken advantage of, the penalties provided by the Municipal Police Ordinance should be enforced.

The herding of the Commissariat bullocks in the heart of the town is equally incompatible with the state of cleanliness and health; and the interment of the dead within the lines is a subject that cannot too earl}' engage the consideration of the |ocal legislature with a view to. its prohibition. The practise is fast being discountenanced in all old communities, whilst its existence in ours has not even the excuse of custom or of vested interest. From returns kindly furnished by the Registrar of Deaths we .find that the registered deaths from natural causes of the whole population (including military) for the four years preceding the war varied from 12 to 23 annually, whilst in the year 1860 the mortality' of somewhere about half that population rose to 68, and for the period of the present year ended 14th .February already numbers 15. In less than 14 months, therefore, the deaths number 83, against 64 for the four years preceding, as will be seen from the following figures:— Year 1856 deaths M " 1857... " 23 •' 1858 " 15 " 1859.,.. » 12 " 1860.. " 68 " 18G1 to 14th Feb. " 15 Much of this mortality we must attribute to the causes we have briefly touched upon, which demand the most earnest attention and co-operation of the authorities and of every member of the community with a view to their removal or mitigation. Nor should the influence of the war on the mind be overlooked. The brutal assassinations of our people, and the unchecked devastation around —the sense of personal insecurity that meets us at every turn —the ''.'•' feeiitf that such things can be ** harass and dispirit, and pre^ o ; eto . I]nesß and decline.

To Geow*? Outfield, Esq., Superintendent of ths Province of Taranaki.

The memorial of the undersigned sheweth,— That your memorialists desire to draw your Honor's attention to the great nuisance occasioned by the slaughter-house, and to express their opinion that a great deal of illness now prevalent may be attributed to the stench arising therefrom. That many of your memorialists living in th c neighborhood of the said building are often compelled to close their doors and windows in consequence of the nuisance complained,of. That your memorialists believe that a much better locality for the said slaughter-house would be on a piece of land about 100 yards on the town Bide of Fort Stapp." Your memorial|ats therefore pray that your Honor will be pleased to take steps for the removal of the slaughter-house to some locality where it will not be so prejudicial to the health of the inhabitants of the town. That your memorialists do not believe that any system of flushing can.be adopted in the present locality that will keep the slaughter-house $«anu