294 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE. 
To see a gang of men cutting the bush on each side and burning 
it up— while the pools of putrid filth are respectfully left alone is a 
surprise to one but primarily acquainted with the rules of sanitary 
science.” He suggests the following remedy. “ This main sewer 
should be made into a proper concrete channel for its whole 
length commencing at the Belmont Bridge and doing a piece 
each year. In 10 years at £1,000 or £ 1,500 a year the work 
would be completed — or the money might be borrowed and the 
work done at once. All the gravel is there and the builder 
would only have to buy cement and fill it on the outside. 
3. — There is a spot between Woodbrook and the sea at the back 
of the Electric Light Works which so far as I know bears no dis- 
tinguishing name. It ought to be called the Blague Corner. 
I shall attempt to give you an idea of the awful conditions which 
are collected at this one spot — First there is the heaped up 
refuse of the town dumped there by the scavenging carts. With 
careful observation you will see that attempts have been made to 
destroy the rubbish by burning. Next to this seems to be a 
place, reserved for depositing the contents of the pails. Even 
as I stood there at 9. BO in the morning a covered cart brought 
its load : the pails were emptied, slightly washed and carted, 
away. Then came a coolie with a pail on his head. The pail had 
no cover. He went through the same process and went away. 
Just beyond the pail region the two main sewers of the town 
empty their contents into the shore to the apparent delight of 
scores of corbeaux which hover about the spot. At low tide 
there is a large tract of open shore; the sewers, however, empty 
their contents into the edge of the shore, the solid parts deposit 
and bask in the hot sun, and the liquid parts form sluggish 
streams to the sea. Between these two sewers is a large 
drain with foul stinking black contents. And' to end up the 
picture beyond all this is a mangrove .swamp. I do not know 
what the death-rate of Woodbrook is, but it ought to be very 
high. Why should these conditions be allowed to exist in the 
immediate vicinity of a large town like this ? Why can t the 
rubbish of the town be destroyed by an incinerator such as exists 
in the Colonial Hospital? The powder resulting has some value 
as a manure and might be made a source of profit. Why are 
these main sewers not prolonged into the sea so as to be below 
the level of the water at all states of the tide? Why isn’t there 
a propei system for the disposal of the refuse from the pails- 
was informed that pails are emptied there at all hours of the 
a } , that they are brought there with or without cover in carts 
or by coolies. 
, The large swamps to the south-east of the town are 
e Ctluse of a good deal of disease in the neighbourhood 
n must affect materially the health of Port-jf-Spain. 
