The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1909. SANITATION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2441, 4 March 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, MARCH 4,1909. SANITATION.

The Borough Council has evidently realised the gravity of the situation in which the town is placed at present from a sanitary point of view, and yesterday a special meeting was held to confer with the District Health Officer - on the matter. Dr. DeLisle has been having a look round some of the local residences,, and lie.find's that in certain places the methods for the disposal of slops and other waste are simply “hoggish.” This brings us to the point upon which we have always laid stress, namely, that the most urgent need in Gisborne is not the provision of a sewerage systom—though that is very desirable —hut the inculcation of better haunts amongst the people. The duplicate system of pans for nightsoil should be carried into effect promptly,, and the Council should immediately undertake an educative propaganda amongst the people. Just- now when the community is frankly alarmed by the typhoid outbreak, more progress could be made in this direction than at any other time. Alany of the simplest facts which make for the health of the community are either not known to the majority of householders or are not observed. If the Council would circularise every householder in the district, giving intelligible dotails of the borough by-laws in regard to the keeping down of nuisances, and also in a. brief manner the recommendations of Dr. DeLisle and other authorities,, a vast amount of good could be done. If, in addition, the Councillors would themselves mako visits of inspection into the poorer parts of the town and suburbs, they would find in many instances a state of affairs that,

would come to them as#a revelation. They would then realise how .ineflectivo has been the inspection of the borough in the past, and would favor some stringent measures that would quickly bring about an improvement. Dr. DcLislo’s main plank appears to be that the people should make a constant fl r ght against smells and against flies. There is no question as to the importance of these ,two subjects, for if foul smells could be put down flics would be scarce and fever a rare complaint. Unfortunately the fact that a large proportion of the houses in the borough are not fitted with the necessary conveniences for carrying on domestic duties in a cleanly manner is a serious factor against tins result. It is a comparatively easy matter lor a housewife whose pantry, kitchen, scullery -and washhouse are all well arranged to dispose of all slops and refuse in -a fairly satisfactory manner even without a municipal drainage system, but where the woman in charge has to carry out her work under conditions of drudgery in a small antiquated kitchen and a poky, ill-lighted scullery, with possibly *no pantry at ally it is difficult to achieve the ideals that are very properly sot forth by the Health Officer. It is little short of heroic for a housewife under such circumstances to observe complete cleanliness, but it is for the local health authorities to see that the best that can be done is done. Every possible advantage should be taken of Dr. DeLisle’s presence to further the campaign against dirt and disease.