title: 'Armed with power for preventing the spread of infectious disease': The making of the Public Health Act 1872 and its implementation in Auckland Province, 1870-1876

authors: Anderson, Duncan Graham

abstract: This dissertation examines the first piece of comprehensive public health legislation in New Zealand, the 1872 Public Health Act. Previous historians of New Zealand public health have downplayed the significance of the Act, and nineteenth century public health measures in general, suggesting the Act was poorly implemented by Health Boards who had little interest in their duties. This dissertation tests these claims by examining the implementation of the Act in Auckland Province, focusing on Auckland City and its suburbs, where most of the Local Boards of Health were. To fully understand this topic, a number of aspects of public health at the time and of the Act itself are investigated. Wider aspects of public health covered include health conditions in Auckland during the period, and how far they changed, and beliefs and ideas about public health that were held. This dissertation also discusses how the Act was formed in the context of such ideas and conditions, which aspects of it were actively pursued, which were neglected, and by whom, and how far there was a will to act that was limited by factors such as lack of funding, resources and knowledge. These subjects are examined through the use of a range of sources, including official government records, Board of Health records, statistics and newspapers, paying attention to both the substantive information that can be gained from such sources, as well as their discursive elements. This dissertation examines the different levels of power and responsibility set up by the section of the Act which created the Boards of Health, recognising that while there were not always tangible results, there was often an expressed will to act by public health authorities. This dissertation concludes that the Act was an important development in New Zealand's public health history, providing the first legislative expression of the 'sanitary idea' and setting up structures of responsibility that placed much more power to define sanitary conditions with public health authorities than hitherto existed, reducing the ability of individuals to do so and creating a 'new politics of health' that represented a new era.

text: 'Armed with power for preventing the spread of infectious disease': The making of the Public Health Act 1872 and its implementation in Auckland Province, 1870-1876 This dissertation examines the first piece of comprehensive public health legislation in New Zealand, the 1872 Public Health Act. Previous historians of New Zealand public health have downplayed the significance of the Act, and nineteenth century public health measures in general, suggesting the Act was poorly implemented by Health Boards who had little interest in their duties. This dissertation tests these claims by examining the implementation of the Act in Auckland Province, focusing on Auckland City and its suburbs, where most of the Local Boards of Health were. To fully understand this topic, a number of aspects of public health at the time and of the Act itself are investigated. Wider aspects of public health covered include health conditions in Auckland during the period, and how far they changed, and beliefs and ideas about public health that were held. This dissertation also discusses how the Act was formed in the context of such ideas and conditions, which aspects of it were actively pursued, which were neglected, and by whom, and how far there was a will to act that was limited by factors such as lack of funding, resources and knowledge. These subjects are examined through the use of a range of sources, including official government records, Board of Health records, statistics and newspapers, paying attention to both the substantive information that can be gained from such sources, as well as their discursive elements. This dissertation examines the different levels of power and responsibility set up by the section of the Act which created the Boards of Health, recognising that while there were not always tangible results, there was often an expressed will to act by public health authorities. This dissertation concludes that the Act was an important development in New Zealand's public health history, providing the first legislative expression of the 'sanitary idea' and setting up structures of responsibility that placed much more power to define sanitary conditions with public health authorities than hitherto existed, reducing the ability of individuals to do so and creating a 'new politics of health' that represented a new era.

year: 2002

title: Nitrate removal from three different effluents using large-scale denitrification beds

authors: Schipper, Louis A.

subjects: denitrification

abstract: Simple technologies that remove nitrate from effluents and other point discharges need to be developed to reduce pollution of receiving waters. Denitrification beds are lined containers filled with organic carbon (typically wood chip or coarse sawdust) and are a technology that is proving promising. Water containing NO₃⁻ (treated effluent or agricultural drainage) is passed through the bed and the wood chips act as an energy source for denitrifying bacteria that convert NO₃⁻ to N gases. There are few data on the efficiency of NO₃ removal in large-scale beds. We report here NO₃⁻ removal results from three large denitrification beds with volumes of 83, 294, and 1320 m³ treating dairy shed effluent, treated domestic effluent and glasshouse effluent, respectively. Nitrate was nearly completely removed from the dairy shed effluent (annual load of 31 kg N) and domestic effluent (annual load 365 kg N). In these beds, NO₃ removal, presumably by denitrification, was limited by NO₃⁻ concentration. However, the bed treating glasshouse effluent was overwhelmed by very high NO₃⁻ concentration (about 250 g N m⁻³) and high flow rates (about 150 m³ d⁻¹) but still reduced NO₃⁻ concentration to about 150 g N m⁻³. For this bed, long-term NO₃⁻  removal was between 5 and 10 g N m⁻³ of bed material when NO₃⁻  was non-limiting and was similar to rates reported for other smaller denitrification beds. As expected, organic N, ammonium and phosphorus were not removed from any of the effluents following passage through the beds. Our results suggest that denitrification beds are a relatively inexpensive system to construct and operate, and are suitable for final treatment of a range of NO₃⁻-laden effluents.

text: Nitrate removal from three different effluents using large-scale denitrification beds Simple technologies that remove nitrate from effluents and other point discharges need to be developed to reduce pollution of receiving waters. Denitrification beds are lined containers filled with organic carbon (typically wood chip or coarse sawdust) and are a technology that is proving promising. Water containing NO₃⁻ (treated effluent or agricultural drainage) is passed through the bed and the wood chips act as an energy source for denitrifying bacteria that convert NO₃⁻ to N gases. There are few data on the efficiency of NO₃ removal in large-scale beds. We report here NO₃⁻ removal results from three large denitrification beds with volumes of 83, 294, and 1320 m³ treating dairy shed effluent, treated domestic effluent and glasshouse effluent, respectively. Nitrate was nearly completely removed from the dairy shed effluent (annual load of 31 kg N) and domestic effluent (annual load 365 kg N). In these beds, NO₃ removal, presumably by denitrification, was limited by NO₃⁻ concentration. However, the bed treating glasshouse effluent was overwhelmed by very high NO₃⁻ concentration (about 250 g N m⁻³) and high flow rates (about 150 m³ d⁻¹) but still reduced NO₃⁻ concentration to about 150 g N m⁻³. For this bed, long-term NO₃⁻  removal was between 5 and 10 g N m⁻³ of bed material when NO₃⁻  was non-limiting and was similar to rates reported for other smaller denitrification beds. As expected, organic N, ammonium and phosphorus were not removed from any of the effluents following passage through the beds. Our results suggest that denitrification beds are a relatively inexpensive system to construct and operate, and are suitable for final treatment of a range of NO₃⁻-laden effluents.

year: 2010

title: The alienation of the Opuatia block: A GIS case study report written for Counting our Tūpuna

authors: Whitehead, Jesse

abstract: This report provides an analysis and visualisation of the fragmentation and alienation of the Opuatia block (Opuatia hereafter), as well as changes in its ownership and geographic structure since 1866.
The three main aims are to quantify the amount of Opuatia remaining in Ngāti Tiipa ownership at the end of each decade, identifying critical moments in time, and highlighting the processes through which Opuatia was alienated and fragmented. These questions are addressed through a bespoke method that was developed to link data from several sources. These include (but are not limited to) historic records of land alienation, held by the Māori Land Court, and geospatial information available through Land Information New Zealand.
The key findings show that approximately 94% of the original Opuatia has been alienated, with only small parcles of land remaining in Ngāti Tiipa ownership. The late 1890s and early 1900s were a criticial period where over 80% of alienations were carried out. The results inidcate that the Crown was a key driver of this process, directly alienating more than 18,000 acres from Opuatia, much of which was taken on a single day in 1896. Individual settlers were responsible for most other alienations, and some of the same names appear several times in the historical record as settler families alienated clusters of land to build up significant stakes in the area. Finally, another result of this report is the method itself, which outlines an approach for tracing a defined block of land through the Native Land Court and linking this information to geospatial datasets.
The limitations of this report include the poor interoperability of key data sources, and the barriers that this presents to other hapū or organisations who may want to replicate this work. A more detailed investigation of archival records is required to examine the specific reasons behind why each parent block, and the subdivisions with them, was alienated from Ngāti Tiipa ownership.

text: The alienation of the Opuatia block: A GIS case study report written for Counting our Tūpuna This report provides an analysis and visualisation of the fragmentation and alienation of the Opuatia block (Opuatia hereafter), as well as changes in its ownership and geographic structure since 1866.
The three main aims are to quantify the amount of Opuatia remaining in Ngāti Tiipa ownership at the end of each decade, identifying critical moments in time, and highlighting the processes through which Opuatia was alienated and fragmented. These questions are addressed through a bespoke method that was developed to link data from several sources. These include (but are not limited to) historic records of land alienation, held by the Māori Land Court, and geospatial information available through Land Information New Zealand.
The key findings show that approximately 94% of the original Opuatia has been alienated, with only small parcles of land remaining in Ngāti Tiipa ownership. The late 1890s and early 1900s were a criticial period where over 80% of alienations were carried out. The results inidcate that the Crown was a key driver of this process, directly alienating more than 18,000 acres from Opuatia, much of which was taken on a single day in 1896. Individual settlers were responsible for most other alienations, and some of the same names appear several times in the historical record as settler families alienated clusters of land to build up significant stakes in the area. Finally, another result of this report is the method itself, which outlines an approach for tracing a defined block of land through the Native Land Court and linking this information to geospatial datasets.
The limitations of this report include the poor interoperability of key data sources, and the barriers that this presents to other hapū or organisations who may want to replicate this work. A more detailed investigation of archival records is required to examine the specific reasons behind why each parent block, and the subdivisions with them, was alienated from Ngāti Tiipa ownership.

year: 2021