, 1893-03-25
THE AVIS
CAsisttansted, st. Cce;x
Saturday, 25th March 1898.

warm weather in the spring or early summer
may eventually prove TO be needless. At the
same time it is useless to conceal from our
selves that there is some reason for it. IN
Engl nj t3e newspapers boast about The ex-
cellent sanitary condition Of the large towns,
but as a writer on the subject recently re-
marked, every town Is in good order until 1t
is found out" We in the Danish West
Indies also praise the sanitary condition Of
our towns; let IN be on our guard lest
we too should be found out" 1t IS no: long
ago that Sanitary Committees we're appointed
to look into the con lition Of the towns IN
Santa Cruz, and although no reports from them
have been published, we have reasoh to be-
lieve that they did not find either town to
posses g. spotIess character in This respect.
1t should never be forgotten that one of fhe
chief ways in which some Of the worst dis
eases spread land cholera seems to be one Of
them is through an infected water supply.
Here our water supply is either from wells or
c~istelns. The water in cistefns is, peshaps,
not easily contaminated, but it is we'll known
that the water in wells is, and II is not diff
cult 10 understand how this comes about. Well
water.i is only rain water that has passed
through the ground, some Of it. perhaps, fIom
the near neighbourhood Of the well, the snme
ward, it may be, and some of it from q higher
level, from which it has passed. under the
ground to the we'll. In either case it is plain
that matters likely to convey disease should
not be put into the grounds where they
would be likely to spoil the water draining
into a we'll, The prevalence Of typhoid fever
in European countries has frequently been
traced to wells, ard it has sometimes been
possibleto trace exactly how the water OF the
we'll has become contaminated. The chol"rl
Hn;Aa,ni, -, landau IN 1874 waa IIafinptEV
traced to - well in Golden Square, in the
nejghbourhood Of which the epidemic was
very severe. The writer of these lines re-.
members seeing the streets in that neighbour
hood Marked by black flags, suspended across
them as warnings to passers-by to avoid those
streets, and he cannot remembe. seeing such
warning flags in any uther part Of the metro
polls. A lady residing at Highgate, sew raj
miles from Golden Square, had q special
fancy for the water of that particular veil,
which was brought to her daily in bottles;
SHE and another lady, who resided with her
AS companion, were both seized with cholera
and died, while no other case, either before or
after, occurred in the neighbourhood. by
evidence such rs this it has been shewn that
cholera is frequently spread by the %oontami"
nation Of the water supply. and though it may
not be the only way, it certainly seems to be
the chief way. II we seek to apply this
knowledge to our own case we may be told
that nobody here drinks we'll water, that even
poor people, who have no access to els erns,
can for the asking, and always do, procure a
little drinking water I, ON the ~cisterns of their
moro fortunate neighbours. We ar, by no
means SURF that this is correct. Much of the
we'll water here is pure enough to be pleas MT
drinking, and we think that q careful inquiry
would shew that it is not seldom uted In this
way. And even if it be admitted that only
ciStern water is used for drinking. we'll water
may he used for other purposes which would
give it, when contaminated, many chances OF
doing mischief, for instance in rinSing drink
ing vessels, washing fruits for the table &c.
There is then very good reason for trying to
keep our underground supply Of water free
from infection OF any Kind But are our
present arrangements calculated to do thisf
With the old fashioned pit system still preva-
lent in our towns we can scarcely give 8 ga
tisfactory answer to this question. And We
shall not be able to give q satisfactory answer
till the dry earth and removal system. which
a few householder now encourage. becomes
general in our towns. OF course. the ex-
tension OF the latter system would entail
expense on many property owners, the ex'
penss Of the first alterations and then the
running expense for removal but after all
l.