H.—3l.

The remainder of the suburban districts scarcely demand comment, though one or two, such as Bemuera and Mount Albert, are becoming closely populated in parts, and in these the primitive methods of drainage and nightsoil-disposal are beginning to prove inadequate. The following is a brief summary of the sanitary conditions in the suburban districts : — Drainage. —With the exception of Grey Lynn, Devonport, and Parnell, the drainage is very inadequate. The Hobson Bay Sewage Act, providing for the sewage of Newmarket and parts of Mount Eden, Parnell, Bemuera, and the city, will remedy a very serious nuisance in the natural watercourses, the polluted streams being merely open sewers. The usual defect in providing for the ultimate disposal of the sewage exists, however, and a septic tank should certainly be constructed, as the flow is into a shallow bay, which will suffer if untreated sewage discharges therein. I have been endeavouring to combine the local bodies affected to deal with a similar open sewer running down what is known as the Arch Hill Gully, a very offensive state of affairs existing. Eden Terrace, Arch Hill, Mount Eden, Mount Albert, and a considerable part of the city and a portion of Grey Lynn will be benefited by the construction of a well-built sewer here. The bodies concerned are all anxious that the work should be done. There is some difficulty, however, in combining them under the Health Act so as to provide the funds for the building and upkeep of the work. A legal agreement form is at present being prepared. Water-supply. —Most of the suburbs, except Devonport and Onehunga, use the city watersupply. A few months ago, however, a new supply was obtained from one of the springs arising near Onehunga. It is in the hands of a body known as the Manukau Water Trust, and is intended to supply Mount Wellington, One-Tree Hill, Mount Eoskill, Epsom, and Bemuera districts. The position of the spring is more favourable than that supplying Onehunga, and it is better protected. However, careful supervision will be required of the premises on the slopes above the spring, and for this a drainage system for that part of Onehunga is required. Nightsoil-removal. —Except in Mount Eden, the method employed is of a primitive type, while in the more outlying districts it is absent altogether. An up-to-date service is being introduced in Grey Lynn. Befuse-disposal. —The larger suburbs have a more or less imperfect system of removal. The outlying districts have suffered in the past in being made the recipients of all the filth from the city and populous suburbs. Thus at Point Chevalier is the general nightsoil depot, the presence of which certainly is against the expansion of the district; in Grey Lynn is the refuse-tip. Another smaller one exists in the Mount Albert district, where the owner of the property feeds his pigs on the matter in the tips. He was prosecuted and convicted for creating a nuisance, but I believe the deposit of refuse continues in a small degree, though evidence is not strong enough yet for purposes of further prosecution. Deposits of fish manure in the suburbs have given me a lot of trouble, more especially in Mount Boskill. The matter is so very offensive that it seems quite impossible to deal with it, however carefully, without creating a nuisance ; while in the summer the flies, attracted by the smell, are an annoyance to the whole neighbourhood, and doubtless act as conveyers of disease. These defects should partly be remedied when the city destructor is built, but not entirely, unless the suburban boroughs unite with the city in order to get their rubbish destroyed also. It is unsatisfactory that this important question should be in the hands of careless contractors and their staffs, who require constant supervision, and are utterly regardless of all sanitary laws. The Abattoirs. —This properly is a city question, but as it seriously affects so many of the suburbs I deal with it here. The deadlock, caused by the City Council refusing to select any but the sites they know the Government will not sanction, is produced in the interests of certain small butchers, who object to the abattoir being shifted from its present position on account of the distance they would have to bring the meat. There is only one district possible for a permanent abattoir, and that is at Otahuhu or Penrose. This site being on the railway makes the conveyance of meat possible under proper sanitary conditions, instead of by open carts over dusty roads as at present. The railway also makes the site convenient for practically all the butchers in the city and suburbs. The increase of population in the districts between Auckland and Onehunga precludes the driving of cattle across that part of the country—at least, in the near future; and as practically all the cattle for market come from the south the abattoir must be south of this line, and Penrose to Otahuhu are the only places at which drainage can be well dealt with. All the sites chosen by the Council have been north of this line, and, though some might be made in a measure sanitary, they could never be permitted, no matter how well constructed, on account of the driving of cattle and the absence of means of communication except by road. Meanwhile the present slaughter-yard is becoming daily more dangerous, being utterly neglected and very dirty. The meat killed there can scarcely be considered fit for human consumption. The suburban butchers, too, being now shut off from the use of their own premises as slaughter-yards, are in somewhat of a difficulty. It is quite time the matter was settled. COUNTBY DISTEICTS. Boroughs. Thames Borough underwent a severe ordeal in the typhoid epidemic last winter; but, though a few improvements have been made, nothing in the shape of a far-reaching sanitary reform has been introduced. The water-supply is good, but drainage is very bad, largely owing to the low-lying parts being at sea-water level, and therefore frequently flooded, and the sewage is not carried away properly. The nightsoil service was most primitive, and lacked supervision, the contractor doing as he pleased.

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