The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-10-27
TIE GARBAGE INTESTIG4 4TION.

| Last Tuesday, when the committee met
the Administrator of Improvements pre-
sented q letter asking to be represented b!
counsel because: (D he had importan
interests at stake in the matter; (2) con
trary to all precedents be had rep
resentative on the committee, (3) the commit
| tee cross examined witnesses, and allowed 81
| outsider DR.. Holt. to do the same, and (4) II
| was his firm conviction that the prediction
! of each member Of the committee was agaips 81
him.
| The members of the committee, hessrs
Cockburn, Bosworth and Howell, denied that
they were pref udioed and, stating that MI
McCsffreys letter was an insult to them, ad
journed sine die.
Mr.. McCstfrey having number of witnesses
present, secured the attendance of a short.
hand reporter and continued the examination
in lis own office. The general drift of the testi-
mony of the Witnesses is very briefly summed
up in that given by Administrator Cavanac
which WAS as follows:
l was the Superintendent of Streets during
Major Burke's administration of the Depart
ment of lmprov ements, in the Second District.
Applications were made to me from time TO
time TO have garbage dumped in the stree 3
by citizens residing in various portions Of this
district. made several stree out of the gar
bage. 1 made Cont bet weeu Toulouse and St
Philip, Customhouse beyond Broad, and other
streets in hat district Those streets are now
the best and clesnest in the whole district.
Streets made ont of garbage. in my opinion.
and from what expel ,ence have had, are the
best streets that can possibly be made from the
materials that we have in the city. l ind that
Torti, Miro and Gslvez, between Canal and
Cuetomhouse streets are made frou garbage.
/ have examined the streets made by Mr..
McC8ffcey-the streets made out of arbage-
and II nd them to be rhe best kind OF streets
now in the city. st. George street, Howard,
between First, Philip and Liberty ;Dorgenois
between Poydras and Gravier; Rocheblave be.
tween Canal and Gravier D1rgenos, between
Canal and Customhouse; Customb bouse, be-
tween Dorgenois and Broad and Broad ard
GalveZ, near Gasquet. l made iDq1iries of
citizens residing on those streets, ana fnd, in
every instance, that they we're all anxious and
glad that the streets were made from garbage,
and only regretted that they had not been con
tinued aud completed
WInter garbage is composed of ashes, both
coaj. ard wood ashes, and tie sweepiugs of
yards. The summer garbage is composed of
wood ashes, from stoves, and the materials
generally used IN kitchens, tie refuse from
kitchens.
1estion-Yon consider winter garbage in
no manner dangerous or detrimental TO the
public health
Auswer-No, sir in no manner.
q Iestion-Alwsys been acceptabel
Auswer-Alway sccer table, and he citizens
asking for Il short time ago con- plaiAt was
made at my til "a about the buryng of dogs
and cats on Liberty and Howard streets by a
citizen idinR in that district l went with
the complainant in buggy to point il out to
me. When we got there he hunted up to see
if he could find any of those dead dogs and
cats. None were to be seen-the street per
fectly clean and in good condition althoup ph
before starting, he had seen it with his own
eyes. When we got there aud couldn't fl ad it,
he said it was reported TO him that such was
the case, and he regretted very much that he
had been deceived by those parties Duripg
the filling up of Howard street aud St. George
street during the winter months, complaint
was made about the dumping OF dogs and cats
and other things in the streets / went in nv
buggy at once and found nothing of the kind
being dumped in those streets. Howard street
at that time was an impossible swamp, filled
with stagnant and green water. Being filed
up since with garbage, it is now an excellent
street.
Among other testimony gi"en was that of
DR.. Layton, visiting physician, and the Sister
of Mercy in charge of 81. Alphonsus Asylum.
The grounds around the asylum had been filed |
during the winter and spring with several
hundred loads of dirt from the dumping
ground, yet there was no sickness of any kind |
among the one hundred and ten inmates of the |
institution till September 30, When yellow |
fever was brought in by an orphan whose
parents had died of it. OaIy one death has
occurred in the asylum since the epidemic
After concluding the examination of the
witnesses MI McCsfftey made a statement
from which we take the annexed extract:
Had the committee continued the investiga.
ticn, l expected u introduce some fifty or
sixty witnesses, by whom l ir tended to estab.
lish t1e following points to the satisfaction of
he COMMITTEE:
| That the causes Of the prevailing epidemic |
are not attrib atable to the actions of my de-
partment but to other causes.
2. That the general health about the sections |
where dump was used, was 90 good ae in any |
other quarter, and the cases as mild,