SANITARY MATTERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2764, 19 March 1910, Page 2

SANITARY MATTERS.

REPORTS TO THE COUNTY COUNCIL.

R IVER CONTAMINATION. At tlie meeting of the Cook County Council yesterday, the Sanitary 'inspector, Air It. Theiwali, submitted the following report upon the; condition of the Taruheru River :

‘•Numerous complaints have been made to myself, to the County clerk, the Borough Inspector, and to His Wor. ship the Mayor, concerning the insanitary condition of the Taruheru River and the unwholesome odour now arising therefrom. Upon receiving instructions 1 inspected the river from Makaraka to the Borough boundary. I was accompanied by the Borough Inspector, instructed by His Worship the Mayor. •‘On passing the cemetery I could find no trace of pollution of the river from this source. I am of opinion that one great source of the trouble arises from the gut factory. Upon inspection I found that the larger filter bed (constructed last summer) was not being used. A considerable quantity of putiTscablc matter must therefore have found its wav into the river. I have instructed the manager to discontinue the use of the smaller filter bed which was being used at the time of my visit, as, in my opinion, it is totally inadequate to cope with the colossal amount of offal treated daily, namolv. that from, approximately, 01100 sheep. I would ask the Council to instruct me to have the smaller filter bed removed altogether, as then they would he compelled to abide by the District Health Officer’s instructions to use the larger filter bed only.

‘•The real source of the trouble appears to me to arise from Nelson’s freezing works. Although the company seem to have gone to-considerable expense to prevent it, a large quantity of blood seems to find its way into the river during slaughtering. I think that if their filter beds were installed in triplicate they would he probably be sufficient to prevent any blocd entering the river from the works. ••The importance of this is to be seen from experiments made in the river with floats, which demonstrate that any foreign matter, such as blood, etc., entering the river at high water from Nelson’s freezing works will be carried no further seaward than Kaiti Bridge. Such substances entering the river from this place at low tide must necessarily he can led a considerable distance upstream, consequently it is quite apparent that any blood entering at this point must absolutely remain in and pollute the river until washed out in a fresh.

' "It ha;-, been brought under my not.ee that the* blocd, etc., has been entering the river through the groins at the river mouth from the sea. From the fact of the tests already /mentioned it would appear that tins blood is not e-ion Nelson Bros.’ works. "Theiv is also a wool- washing plant at Makauri, the refuse of which finds its way into the river, and which, 1 ihuik, should be removed. ••Another source of river .contamination is the presence of a number of septic tanks, several of which, to ray knowledge, are not supplied with filter beds. nuisance is to be found in the drainage from several houses adjacent draining into the river direct, instead of being intercepted by a septic tank in the manner adopted by the Borough Council. "In mv opinion, the contributing rafters to the insanitary and umvhole- • one state of the river are chiefly (1) wool washing plant, (2) gut factory freezing works. (4) septic tanks without •i’ters, { o') possibly the and (oi house drainage. . ••In conclusion, I may mention that 1 have been a resident on the bank of the Taruheru River for 44 years, and there, fore claim that I have had a very good onportunitv of comparing the state or the river at the present tune to what it was before anv industries were introduced.—R. Theiwull, Sanitary Inspector. Cook County Council. The report was adopted, and the ms’metor wa s instructed to serve notices in accordance with his recommendation. TYPHOID AT MAKARAKA.

The Sanitary Inspector also reported i r.s follows: ' “Three ,patients (two children and cue adult) have been removed to public, hospital.from ‘\Xewstcail,” -; }a - karaka. The medico in attendance diagonised the disease as suspected typhoid iever. Although the patients had been removed to the hospital three weeks hack no notification lias been received by your Council. 1 may point cut it is the’duty of both medical men.to report. '1 he information reached me through-; the Borough Inspector, who >vas m-v ,s Mulcted by His \\orship the Mayor tcu accompany me on an inspection of thes dwelling. ’ I found parts of the housed in absolute decay, especially the reran-.-dab, which is rotten .and falling to pieces, oarts of the flooring is decayed and has'given way. Although the house is built on piles 4ft. above ground. I understand hood water lias been in the house on two occasions, which probably accounts for its decay. and insanitary condition. There is no provision made for carrying away storm water, which, after rain, lodges underneath the house and is allowed to soak away. This in itself Is a source of danger. A piggerv on the premises is not. as it should ho/ 1 have instructed the. occupant what to do to avoid the danger presented. The immediate cause of the present trouble is without doubt, in my opinion, from the back water creek behind the dwelling, where the waste water and superfluous milk from the Ivm Ora factory is discharged. Owing to this creek being overgrown with bullrushes' and raupo there is absolutely no flow consequently the effluent discharged has formed a quagmire of putrid tilth which throws off the most offensive odour possible, which permeates the whole atmosphere for a considerable dis_ tnnee around the cause Of the trouble. The occupant of the. house is supplying milk to a factory. After consulting a medical man I deem it not necessary to interfere, there being .no danger of contamination to the milk as the patients were removed at once to the hospital. As a way to obviate this danger I would recommend the pine from the "via Ora factory be extended to the main stream (Taruheru River), or a quarter of a mile further than it at present discharges, and that only waste water be allowed to l>e discharged. Although this’ may ultimately prove to bo a further -menace to the already insanitary condition of the river, I am under the impression that when Dr DeLisle allowed the pipe to he laid he understood it was to ho carried to the main stream and not discharged into a stagnant swamp. I presume that the .Borough Inspector will report on this.: 'matter as complaints have been made about the polluted state of the Taruheru river'. I may mention that the occupants’ tenure of the house in question is a monthly one, therefore, if anything is done to make'the place sanitary, the owner is responsible. I respectfully ask for instructions in the matter.’ 1

DISCUSSION ON THE REPORTS. It was decided to give the inspector the requested permission, regarding the removal of the filter bed. It was also decided to refer portions of the report to the proprietors of both freezing companies, gut factories, and the woolwashing plant. Cr. Jex-Bluke moved that the Borough Council should be written to asking for its co-operation in an attempt to abate the nuisance in respect to the river, also to meet the Cook Council and discuss the-matter. The (motion was seconded by Cr. White and carried unanimously. Regarding the question of septic tanks it was decided to instruct- the. owners to supply filter beds. Cr. Lvsnar drew attention to what he termed the inconsistency of the two reports. One of them referred to the necessity for keeping refuse out of the river, and the other recommended that more filth should he poured in. Some discussion followed as to which was the lesser evn, letting the milk remain in the swamp or draining it into the river.—lt was decided to inform the Kia Ora Daily Company Ltd. of the subject of t’lio inspector’s report, and to request the company to abate the nui-c-anee.