[November 20, 1901 – Auckland Star] Alexander Leith was charged at the Police Court yesterday afternoon, under the Public Health Act, 1900, that he did allow an accumulation of offensive matter to exist on his premises at Mt. Albert, after notice had been given to remove the same, and that he did keep on the same premises pigs, so as to be injurious to health, after notice to abate the same had been given.
Mr J. C. Martin appeared for the prosecution, and Mr J. R. Lundon for the defence.
Henry Charles Hazleden, clerk of the Mt. Albert Road Board, deposed that he visited defendant’s premises in company with the Board’s sanitary inspector on November 1st. He found in the cowshed a heap of miscellaneous rubbish, and in the stable a quantity of decaying manure. Next the stable was a place for cutting up pigs. This was covered with a heavy deposit of fowl manure. Near this was a tub for scalding pigs, and in it was some very foul water and a quantity of hair and entrails. On the floor were small portions of entrails and a quantity of slush. Throughout there was a bad smell.
Another yard on the premises contained a quantity of slushy filth. In the pig paddocks were quantities of decaying vegetable matter, from which a very offensive smell arose. There were 15 or 16 pigs about the place rooting about among the refuse. He visited the place again on the 8th and found it in much the same condition, and again yesterday, when he found a very considerable improvement.
Dr. Makgill, district health officer, said he visited the premises on September 9th and found them in a filthy condition. He visited the premises again and found no abatement of the nuisance. He considered that the pigs fed on the rotten fruit would be dangerous to eat.
Mr Lundon, in outlining the case for the defence, said that the defendant had been residing on the property, which was his own, for some years, and that when an opportunity arose he accepted refuse from the city. This he used to fill up holes in a rocky scoria paddock. The defendant kept a number of cattle, on his premises, which were never in a filthy condition. The farmyard was in thorough order, and its condition was equal to any in the suburban localities. There existed often pools of rain water on and near defendant’s premises, which were occasioned by inadequate drainage, for which the Road Board was responsible. His client admitted that there was an unpleasant smell from the pools at different times. It was denied that pigs were allowed to feed from out of these pools, nor were they even permitted to wander in the water.
Dr. King, health officer, said that he had visited the defendant’s premises on several occasions. He found remnants of dried oranges and other refuse about the place, but no offensive smell arose from the rubbish. He had advised the defendant on one occasion to clean up refuse on his premises, and when he visited the premises a few days ago, he found that his instructions had been carried out.
A neighbour of the defendant’s also gave similar evidence, stating that no offensive smell or nuisance of any kind existed on the premises.
At half-past five o’clock the case was adjourned till Saturday next.
PUBLIC HEALTH PROSECUTIONS.
[December 6, 1901 – Auckland Star] At the Magistrate’s Court today Mr. H. W. Brabant, S.M., gave his decisions in several cases brought before him recently, under the Public Health Act. Alexander Leith, of Kingsland Road, charged with allowing an accumulation of rubbish to remain on his premises, was convicted and fined £5, with costs £2 13/.
In a second case, Haselden (clerk to the Mount Albert Road Board) v. Alexander Leith, the defendant was convicted of having kept pigs on his premises, so as to be an injury to public health. His Worship said the case was a gross one; the defendant appeared to have defied the local authority and to have broken his promise not to keep pigs. An order was made prohibiting the defendant from keeping pigs so as to be injurious to health.