The Press. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1874.

The City Council have chosen their new Mayor with the pleasant unanimity that usually characterises municipal elections, and we are pleased to think that they have made a good selection,. As a Councillor, Mr Hobbs, has't)een steady in his attendance and : earnest in the discharge of the various duties devolved upon him. As Mayor, we have no doubt that he will continue in the same course. We trust

also, that in connection with one most important? question which is sure to engage a great deal of his attention, heTwill'take broadband liberal Views of -his duty, and notforget that the. ratepayers of; Christchnrch will be best served by a not. too slavish regard for the particular interests which seem Ttnost important for the moment, We have been so constantly repeating for ;.j3omfitime past, our views* upon the 7 Sanitary ' question, that- it is somewhatat the risk of wearying our readers that wo recur to this matter r before notice of them has been taken by the Council. But .constant dropping of water will in time wear I away the hardest stone; and as we ; appear to have been much misunder- ! stood, we venture once more, on the voldvground. AMbreover the. announcement by the late-Mayor of his intention to overprizes for essays on this subject is another incentive. Mr Hart has not .yet' A.stated '.the;' conditioos attached to his prizes, and we might therefore suggest to him one point r-whfch it will be ? necessary-for ;hiiri :> tp consider before publishing them. The" point we refer to is this : As we understand Mr Hart's remarks and his advertisement; it is merely proposed to "offer a premium for the two best essays on sanitary improve-ment-for the City of Ch'rUtchurch, Nothing is said about the suburbs, though we 1 should presume that the donor must understand how intimately these are connected with the city. M d i cQasepeatty, Botbing bag go for

the suggestion of any paihhoifjijjf 'who should carry out tlie [ by the successful essayhiatrl it may be answered that W*'practical " scheme will include "{Tie consideration of the requisite authority." So it probably would in most ..cases. , 35|t|v here, unless specially 'alluded that most competitors ought fo|get the absence of the chief desideratum. And this more especially for two reasons. First because in all probability the majority of the essayists would be found amongst those who have long held or put forth theoriesA on this' subject based upon existing arrangements: secondly because the City Council have not as yet shown that they are at all dissatisfied with these .arrangements faulty as they may be. 3?or ourselves, were we to attempt to propound any scheme, we should divide the questionfinto two parts. We should say, to begin with, sweep away the present absurd and confused system,- and bring) city and suburbs under the same sanitary control. Next, when you have got that done; proceed to consider *in what way the new authority may best work for the improvement of the whole district under its Government. If the City Council had so far shown any disposition to consider this way of dealing with the question we should feel a great deal more confidence tbat Mr Hart's proposal, really liberal as it is, would lead to a useful end. Not, indeed, should we have ventured to make these observations upon it, if Mr Hart himself, whilst Mayor, had thought it worth while to turn his attention to this point. But we greatly fear that the whole thing will end in nothing further than \ye have at present; that is, an energetjcAand well - meaning body presiding over sanitary- matters the town belt, and really anxious,, according to their lights, to work usefully, but perpetually cramped and thwarted by the fact that outside their boundaries are districts in a stateof sanitary anarchy. "Wei do riot mean to say that Mr Hart's proposal does not do that gentleman credit, nor do we think that it might not be made very useful if properly followed up. We take it for granted; moreover; that the various competitors will not be "expected to send in designs and plans of system of drainage, for in that case these would probably cpsfc much more than the premium offered. Drainage, too, as we have before observed, is not everything. There are many places high and dry, with capital drainage facilities, which are still hotbeds of disease. The mere carrying off of the storm or superfluous will not be sufficient. It is no doubb a great deal ; but regular sanitary"-- supervision must also be provided for if health is to be improved. We might, we believe, confidently appeal to the medical men of Christchurch to say whether there is riot more disease at any given time in the/ suburbs than in the city .itself, and this is due, as we think, to the fact that in the city, over and above the drainage, there is a system of sanitary r inspection, not perhaps perfect, but Existing, whereas in the suburbs ther*e is none. It is possible tbat this thought was present in the mind of the late Mayor when he announced his intention of '-offering his prizes j and it is for this reason that we again draw his attention and that of the City? iGouncil generally ta the points *we 'hafe *bo oftfen dwelt upon. New brooms are popularly supposed to sweep cleaner than old ones. A Mr Hobbs is a new/broom; let hi in set himself to work to sweep away those cumbrous and mischievous provisions of the Health Act whiefa /stani in the way of improvement! lie is understood take a great interest in drainage :rnatters. As Maypi-he may have greater influence than when acouncillor; and if he is backed, by the efforts of the rest* of the Council,/we may look forward to a time when Christchurch/ may be, riot one of tbe worst but one of the best towns in the colony for health.

There is only one phrase in the re. marks of. the\ new Mayor.at his election which we shall briefly notice, lie said that he ■* hoped the Provincial Council would pass a liberal vote for municipalities' at its next session. We are not inclined to find fault with the wish in itself. There is no doubt that the municipalities should, like other districts of the Province, receive their fairlshafe pf- publicreveiiue. Whether this fait? "share has or has riot hitherto been received by Christchurch, especially if the largesums spent on public buildings, tion on which be "Various opinions;: -Nor 1 are we going now to enter upon it. But the remark made at such a time brought to our recollection the speech on behalf of the deputation from the City Council, made by Dr Turnbujl some time ago. And we remember.that,°ri -that occasion, whilstjpressing•-- dn^the Grovetji.ment the sanitary claims of Chrbtchurqh, the deputation, through its spd&esman, urged these claims in such a way as to ignore entirely, the intimate connection between the city arid its suburbs. They put the question so that one might have thought that by giving a large sum of money to Christchurch for drainage and sanitary purposes, all that was necessary would be attained- ~Nbflr jt was in allusion to this matter that we said at the beginning of this article that we hopedithe new Mayor would take a broad and- liberal' view of his duty. By so doing he will reflect the greatest credit upon, himself .and upon the Council-during his term of office ; but he will produce-precisely- the-opposite effect if he follow out the narrow and selfish policy indicated by the deputation alluded to. So long, in fact, as the City Council confine their practice to gett'ng arid expending money solely for the present benefit of the city itself, they will never reach a satisfactory solution of the sanitary They wiU solve it far better, and serye the interests of their own. ratepayers far more, when they recognise the truth that tbey must include ""within their scheme the resident! iv the jmburbna yiU&gej,