SANITARY CONDITION OF WESTPORT.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 495, 24 April 1869, Page 2

SANITARY CONDITION OF WESTPORT.

A meeting of the members of the Progress Committee was to have taken place yesterday, hut lapsed, there not heing a sufficient number of members present.

The following letter from Dr GHleg was to have been laid before the meeting, which we publish by permission of the chairm an. R. M. office, "Westport, 16th April 1869. Sir.—Permit me to bring tinder your notice and that of the Progress Committee, the subject of the sanitary condition of Westport. -with a view to the consideration of the question whether any means can be adopted for effecting an improvement therein.

It must be obvious to every one that there is at present no efficient machinery for keeping the town in even a tolerably clean and healthy condition. The operation of tho ordinary law upon the subject is almost entirely confined, with the exception of a few cases in which I presume the police would spontaneously act, to those cases in which complaint is made by private persons of a nuisance. Experience has shown how hopeless it is to expect that any systematic action will ever be originated in this manner, and I think no

better subject could engage a portion of the attention of the Progress Committee than the question whether some remedy for the sanitary evils of the town can be devised, either by special legislation, or by combined voluntary effort amongst the inhabitants. Should the former suggestion appear feasible, the present seems a fit time for its consideration, as the Provincial Council will shortly be in session, and perhaps an Act might bo passed for the furtherance of the object desired. I presume this course would only be thought expedient in the absence of any intention on the part of the peoplo of Westport to establish a municipality, which of course would provide the most coinprehensivo and effectual remedy.

Should it be deemed expedient to obtain an enactment of the Provincial Council, the most convenient course would seem to be that an Act should be passed which, like some other Provincial Acts, might be brought into operation by the Superintendent's proclamation in any town requiring it. Such Act might contain a code of bye-laws, and might provide for the appointment of an Inspector of Nuisances.

It scarcely appears possible to discover any means of keeping a town in a proper sanitary condition without a tax, or something equivalent, to be paid by the inhabitants, which is of course a matter for their own consideration.

With regard to the other alternative, that of combined voluntary action, I will make only one suggestion, and that is that perliaps the greater part of tho existing sanitary evils of the town might be removed if the public could be persuaded to adopt generally the earth closet system. It is very true that the sandy soil in this neighbourhood is not the best adapted for the purpose, but is quite certain that it is very much better than nothing, and that in an agricultural as well as a sanitary point of view, the utmost benefit might be derived from the adoption of the system in question. The owners of gardens in the neighbourhood would surely find it worth their while to supply earth to the residents in the town, and to remove the manure for their own use, an arrangement by which all parties would benefit, not only by tho abolition of a great nuisance, but by a cheaper and more plentiful supply of vegetables. There is moreover a great quantity of offal and refuse matter thrown about the back streets which would very much promote the fertility of tho soil if made use of for that purpose.

Now the question is whether the gardeners and some of the residents in the town could not be persuaded to try this plan, and whether some organisation could not bo devised for the purpose. At present, by a continued process of absorption and percolation, the whole soil is becoming more and more saturated by matters which by a proper use might be converted from elements of disease and pestilence to agents of fertility and productiveness. My own conviction of the importance of this subject, and my belief that some of the gentlemen of the Progress Committee, could, if they would interest themselves in the matter, obtain valuable information and make valuable suggestions in relation to it, must be my apology for troubling you with this letter. I am, 6ir, Yours faithfully.

Joseph Giles. To The Chairman of tho Progress Committee, Westport.