The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1909. TYPHOID FEVER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2436, 26 February 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1909. TYPHOID FEVER.

There is at -present almost an epidemic of typhoid fever existent in this district, and no good purpose can be served by hiding the fact. Rather should the community be fully warned of the gravity of the situation, so that no effort, individually and collectively, may be spared that will prevent this dangerous disease from obtaining a stronger hold in the district. Fortunately knowledge with the medical profession has advanced so materially in recent years that a malady which would have been considered deadly a decade ago, does not, nowadays, give rise to so much apprehension, but‘typhoid is still one of the greatest enemies bo health, and of tho number actually attacked there is usually a percentage of fatalities. Typhoid is -practically a continuous fever, which keeps the patient at a high temperature, and simply wears down his vitality. Even when apparently on the road to recovery* it is not- possible to relax medical care one iota, for the danger of relapses is, ever present. There are at the present time no less than sixteen typhoid patients in the public hospital, and the fact should receive very much mere attention from our public authorities than it appears to be receiving at tho present time. It is generally recognised that defective sanitation lies at tho root of this disease, and we shall at once he told by those who- are more ready to criticise than to think, that in suffering from typhoid Gisborneites arc simply paying a legitimate penalty for having rejected a sewerage scheme at the polls the other day. As a matter of fact, a sewerage scheme will not of itself make a community healthy, and the fact that we desire to improve the health of the place is no reason for embarking on the , most costly system of sewerage that could be presented merely because at the moment it was tho only one before us. A sewerage scheme is a capital thing for any town, but far more important are cleanly habits among the people. It is only necessary to take a walk amongst the residential streets of the town and suburbs and investigate the homes of the people to realise that Gisborne is so far behind other Now Zealand towns in matters 'affecting sanitation that special lia•bility to infectious discses might bo expected to follow as a matter of •courso. A house with a bathroom is 'quite an exception, and there arc 'practically no facilities for dealing with household slops. In the case of a peoplo who do not wash themselves, 'wlio permit their household, slops to 'be thrown anywhere to breed fever ‘germs in the hot sun, who have the ■filthiest known method of disposing of night soil, and who live on tho edge of vile-smelling river banks, it ‘would indeed be contrary to. all human experience if they did not have an unduly large ehax’e of infectious diseases. We do not, of course, intend that all these accusations should be lrarled broadcast at the whole of tho community, but they will cortainly apply to a largo section. It is almost impossible to have strict cleanliness in any family which. is

compelled to» live in ;A house that .contains; no bath, yet; not . one residence in five ill: Gisborne is so fitted: Similarly it is unreasonable to expect that household work will be con- ( ducted cleanly and free from accoin- t panying smells unless a scullery with sink and trapped pipes for carrying off all waste water is provided. The mud flats on the river banks emit most disgusting stenches at times, and .it is evident that this objectionable feature of the town will be always more or less present until the water is banked up to a fixed height by a lock at the junction of the two. riveri; With regard to the disposal of liightsoil, a choice must quickly be- : made between a sewerage and a sealed pan system. The fact that tho ratepayers recently rejected the Shone system as too costly -does not by any means settle the question." We do not believe there is a single Fatepayer who voted against the Mestayer scheme at the recent poll but wttuld support a loan for sewerage if the expense was anywhere within reason. It is for the Borough Council to again givo attention to the matter, and ;;Soe if a cheaper, and yet effective scheme can be submitted. If it cannot, then the only alternative will be to go in for tho scaled pan system in the- meantime. If this were done, and other aspects of the sanitation question received similar attention, Gisborne would quickly free itself from the present liability to reproach in regard to sanitary methods. Pending some such changes, the best , that can be suggested at the moment is that the local auth*oritics should Impress upon householders the imperative necessity of taking special pains to deal properly with reiuse so as to keep down smells, and' urge them to make -a liberal use of disinfectants wherever unpleasant odors arise.