A CLEAN TOWN

Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1915, Page 8

A CLEAN TOWN

NEW PLYMOUTH NOT INSANITARY. MAYOR REPLIES TO CRITICISM. HOSPITAL BOARD'S ATTITUDE. The sanitary condition of New Plymouth was discussed at the meeting of the Borough Council last night. The Mayor said he wished to refer to statements made at the last meeting of the Hospital Board in regard to the sanitation of New Plymouth., Reports of these remarks would, no doubt, have circulated in different parts of New Zealand, and people would think New Plymouth was a very unhealthy town. Mr. Halcombe had. brought up the matter at the Hospital Board, and he referred to the 'by-laws concerning the sale of meat. Mr. Halcombe said the matter .was brought before the Council years ago, and only recently the Council had moved in the matter.. This was incorrect-, for as soon as the matter was placed before the Council a by-law was prepared. Mr. Halcombe also said the onus was on the Borougli Council, and the sooner the Council woke up the better. He (the Mayor) said the Council had not at any time received a report from the Public Health Department with regard to butchery establishments locally, and therefore Mr. Halcombe made his charge on baseless grounds. If there was any necessity to inspect butchery shops in New Plymouth the responsibility for doing so rested witii the Hospital Board. If ■there had been neglect, that neglect was on the part of the Hospital Board, and the Borough Council had nothing to do with it whatever. The Mayor added that he had visited the premises ,which Mr. Halcombe had in mind and had found tliem scrupulously clean, and he had told Mr. Halcombe that he could go there and cat his meals in the shop •with comfort. Members of the Hospital Board also stated that the Council had taken no notice of reports from the Hospital Board, but the Mayor said the files would show that all the suggestions, with one exception, placed before the Council by the Hospital Board's inspector had been carried out. The Borough Council had 110 desire to refuse to carry out any recommendations made by the officer who represented 'the Hospital Board. After getting reports from this officer for some six months it was found they were of verv little use, and the . Council accordingly told the Board that further reports were not required. Then the Hospital Board took the Council to task. The Mayor thought the chairman of the Hospital Board was not warranted in saying that the conditions in the town could not be worse, and he was not justified in saying that the town was in an unsanitary state. There was 110 evidence of this, and he emphatically declared that the conditions existing in the town were not insanitary. It was regrettable that Cr. Sykes bad made statements that the town was insanitary. In conclusion, the Mayor said he wished to emphatically protest against the statements made at the Hospital Board meeting, and to emphatically deny that there was any truth whatever in the statement that the condition of the <town was insanitary. He deplored the fact that men occupying public positions should permit themselves to make euch statements. He would have ex•pected that at least the town members of the Board would have made sure of their ground before they decried their home, and that the chairman would, in a discussion adversely criticising the administration of another local body, bo scrupulously careful that members of his Board should not be allowed, through misapprehension of the facts, to make statements so contrary to fact and so calculated to harm the borough generally. RUBBISH NOT DEALT WITH. Cr. A. E. Sykes said iie wag quite prepared to prove that rubbish was still thrown into yards in the town, and that the Council took no steps to have this rubbish removed. There •should be a proper system for dealing with refuse. A casual glance at some of the back yards and private by-ways should convince anyone of their present condition. The burial of refuse in backyards was still going on, and Mr. Sykes contended that this was no proper sanitary system. The true position was. that for the last four years the borough i had been entirely without any man on jit 3 staff who was qualified to deal witli I the sanitary inspection of the town, j and entirely without any man with I more than a mere smattering oi sani- { tary knowledge as to how best to deal I with the inspection ;.f lia.-i.-y i>r,!s, i drainage, plumbing, and many other 'matters that ofi>e from time io_i!me. Personal! 1 ,. Mr. fykes was aX'soiiit.-ly dissatisfied with the present irs'iV.V.iV; cl* sanitary inspection. Mr. 6/k.vs then j quoted a. report on public heait'. preI sented by the town clerk on April stl of this year. The report was tn fel- ! lows:— ' "The unsanitary conditions disclosed • i>- the jv.vsecntion oi a local restaurant- ! keeper for burying refuse in !ii:t vacl;yard emphasised i'-e absolute necessity for a more rigid and systematic inspection than has obtained in the past. To bo of any real value such inspection mn=t lie made regularly at short inter-s-p.K It is u-elc-SB to rely upon the ! complaints being received from persons ■ suffering from nuisances, as experience '■:> };.'ovc(j that iiwvt people are reluctant, for obvious reasons, to call the 'attention of the inspector to the shortcomings of their neighbors, and the consequence is that under the present system nuisances remain for a long 'time undetected and unremedied. The general inspector, in addition to his ordinary duties us sanitary inspector, up ■to within the last few months also carried out the following duties: Inspector of dangerous goods, traffic inspector, inspector of lodging-homes, billiard rooms, public buildings, inspector of vehicles, dog tax collector, ranger and •pound-keeper, and various other subsidi-

ary duties. , Now, in a. town of 4040 acres, with a population of nearly 810®, it was manifestly impossible for one man to carry out the whole of these duties,, with any degree of satisfaction. The Council recently appointed an assistant inspector, and it is anticipated that it will now he possible • for the inspector to devote a considerable amount of time to this very important question of house-to-house inspection. Provision is nude in the new by-laws j to enable the Council to undertaike the | Semoval of house refuse, and I trust that this matter will receive early consideration. The. connection between i dirt and disease has been so thoroughly (established that there can be no doubt ttat it would be in the Ibest interests of all concerned if the Council were to undertake the daily removal and disposal of refuse from the central portion of the borough. Such a system, whilst perhaps being a little costly to the property owners, would remove all excuse for accumulation, and the beneficial results to be obtained would more than justify the expense." The Mayor: We cannot have a proper system until we have a destructor, and we are now ararnging to provide for one. Cr. Sykes declared that.it was not necessary to have a destructor to have a proper system of collecting rubbish. There was 110 need to wait for that. The Mayor said people had to keep . their premises tidy and clean, and if they did not comply with the Council's requirements they were liable to be prosecuted. But there was no evidence that people were refusing to do this. Mr. Sykes said he knew of a place in the town where there were piles and piles of rubbish which was not removed. It was time the whole question was gone into by the Council and s proper system of removing rubbish adopted. At present expressmen were employed to cart rubbish away, while in some eases rubbish was thrown into the streams which passed through the -town. It was impossible to have a town in a proper sanitary condition unless there was a systematic method of cpllccting rubbish, and at present there was 110 system in New Plymouth. The Mayor; That is not so. We have a system./ Mr. Sykes: Well, if we have a system we are not enforcing that system.', Mr. Sykes added that it was not his intention to decry the town, but he felt that if what he had said would lead to a proper system being introduced he had done some good. ' The Mayor: Such discussions as that which took place at the meeting of the Hospital Board are not going to assist ! the town. j Mr. Sykes: Any statement I have made I will verify. I don't, think I made any false statement. [ The Mayor said he did not think the discussion reflected any credit 011 the Hospital Board, and he hoped that the Hospital Board would now see that its strictures were not deserved. .Cr. W. A. Collis thought the trouble would largely be overcome if people would put out their rubbish boxes to be collected at stated times. At present the collectors had to be told when to come round. The matter then dropped.