[CIRCULAR.]

Downing Street, 19th February 1872.

SIR,—I transmit to you, for your information, a copy of a Circular Despatch on the subject of Public Nuisances, which I have this day addressed to the Governors of Colonies where the Local Government is not responsible to the Legislature.

I have, &c.,

KIMBERLEY.

The Officer Administering

the Government of New Zealand.

[CIRCULAR 1.]

Downing Street, 19th February 1872.

SIR,—I transmit to you, for your information, a copy of Instructions to Inspectors of Nuisances issued by Mr Des Vœux, the Administrator of St Lucia, in view of a threatened epidemic.

I also transmit to you a copy of some Observations by the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board, in this country, on these Instructions.

I wish you to consider whether, even without the immediate motive of a threatened epidemic, it would not be desirable to take similar steps with such variations as the local circumstances and law may require.

I have, &c.,

KIMBERLEY.

The Officer Administering
the Government of New Zealand.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR INSPECTORS OF NUISANCES APPOINTED UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF THE ORDINANCE No. 1, OF 27TH JANUARY, 1854.

I. Inspect carefully every street, house, and lot in the district, and report upon each (giving names of owner and occupier) as to its sanitary condition, taking note separately of all things likely to be injurious to health, especially—

1. Water stagnating under houses; or—
2. In the immediate neighborhood of houses.
3. Foul privies, stables, drains, and cesspools.
4. Dung-heaps.
5. Pigs.
6. Rank Vegetation.
7. General want of cleanliness, whether in houses or yards.

II. Inform owners and occupiers of the danger incurred from the above causes, and of the necessity of removing them.

In case of obstinate indisposition to see this necessity and to act accordingly, give notice as provided in the 6th section of (i.e. Ordinance) in respect of any of the various nuisances enumerated above, as follows:—In respect of (1), and (2), to remove either by filling up with earth or otherwise as may appear to the Inspector most feasible; in respect of (3), to cleanse or at least to disinfect with chloride of lime or carbolic acid; of (4), to remove entirely; (5), the same; (6), to clear; (7), to whitewash house, or to adopt such other means of cleansing as may appear to the Inspector most easily attainable.

III. Note in your report, or in urgent cases inform the Executive at once, on what premises the abatement or removal of nuisances is beyond the power or means of the owners or occupiers, and the probable cost of the work required.

IV. In any case of non-compliance with notice, arising from any other cause than want of power or means, proceed at once for the recovery of the penalty, or have the necessary work performed at the expense of the owner of the premises; adopting whichever course is likely to lead to the desired end in the shorter time.

V. Note any case where water in use for the purposes of drinking and cooking is liable to be contaminated by human excretions, not only directly, but by drainage through the earth, and suggest in your report the best preventive measures.

With regard to the importance of this duty, it may be well to mention that, according to the latest discoveries of sanitary science, water is perhaps the most powerful agent in the propagation of cholera virus; and it has been stated on high authority that the excretions of a person infected with the disease are capable of poisoning a large body of water, even after filtration through the earth.

VI. Warn all persons as to the peculiar danger incurred in time of epidemic from impure air and defective ventilation.

When a number of persons are in the habit of sleeping in a defectively ventilated apartment, and this is insufficiently large to contain at least 800 cubic feet of air for each person, they should be warned (unless the neighborhood is especially malarious) that they are liable to suffer far more injury from closed than from open windows, and especially in time of epidemic.

VII. Bear in mind throughout your inspection that though foul smells are always an indication of danger, danger may nevertheless exist without them, especially in the case of stagnant water that has not been recently disturbed.