Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1897.

A KKCOMJiBNDATION of the Works j Committee of the Nelson Oity Council will come beforo the meating to-morrow evening, that wh6n money is available the dam at the Waterworks be laised to j'eimit of jbe storage of a larger volume of wattr. In view of the discussion periodically raised about the city water supply, some facts regarding wattr supply generally, and a warning against a possible result from the proposed action, may be of in* tereßt and use in guiding Councillors in their vote. There is the danger that Nelson municipal authorities may err from too much zeal, just aB the municipality of Maidßtone, in Kent, have erred from a false economy. In Maidatone the ont~ break of iho recent typhoid epidemic there has been traced direcily to the po lution of the water supply. The town is supplied with water by a private corporation, the higher I art of the district being served from a pumpiug reservoir, and the lower part from a source some distance from the town. The reservoir water was proved too late to be infected .by typhoid germs, traced to the drainage from a hoppicking camp which fell into epringß that fed the reservoir. Until 18U0 the water of the town supply was analysed weekly by the health officer, and as the work was oatstdo hia stipulated duties ho Bent the Town Council a bill for £80, for i wo years weekly analysis, 'iho economical mnjority of the Council objected to the expenditure, and carried a resolution that in future the water be analysed quarterly instead of weekly, and thjit has been the practice till now. It is held that had the weekly test been coutinued the pollution of tbo water would have been discovered in time to prevent the spread of the typhoid. But the period intervening between the quarterly analyses was just tho time during which the disease established itself aB an epidemic, no one knowing its source till too late. Subsequently, whon the contagion of the reservoir water had been proved, the supply was cut off j but by then the mischief bad been done, and the epidemic had a firm hold on the town. The Nelson City Council may orr in a direction the very opposite to Maidstono, and endanger tho health of a large section of the town by over-anxiety to improve that which is already good. At present, (whatever fault may be occasionally found wiib. our water supply chiefly in regard to the high levels of the city at certain periods of the summer), its purity and average abundance aro unquestionable. Coming as

t does from perpetually running itreams, there is no reed to filter it, md there is no probability of tho iources being contaminated by settlement, as they are higk on tho hills. The chief source of tho supply is tho Brook, which, after being iinpriFoneJi by the dam, overfl .W3 am! feeds tho Btrcatu which empties into tho Maiiai Letween Hardy mid Nile streets. This stream, almost, but never quite, ceases to rnn at coriain seasons, and it is the sole disinfectant of a long ditoh which forms tho rear" boundary of many dwellings a'ong a considerable district, some of tho localities being thickly populated. It may be a-sumed that, month in ond month out, the fu. plus of tho Urook stream, af!er me city'a water supply has been furnished, feeds thia ditdi with running water. That surplus is the chief, if not tho I only, running water that prevents the Brook within iho city from becoming a more or le3s stagnaut drain. We think this fact will be admitted by all observers, even allowing for the circumstance that sometimes, tor days or weeke, there is actuallj no overflow at the dam. j Now, writing with the limitations of laymen on on engineering question, it appears to us that if the dam be raised a certain number of feet, the additional cubic area of the Brook water so impiisined might absorb the surplus which at present flows over tho dam frc in time to time, 'i hns the principal feederof the city watercourse known as the Brook, tho only preventive aguinst that watercourse being a mere ditch, may be cut off, leaving an open atjd stagnant drain at the back of many scores of household properties. Now, ifc is a wellknown and Admitted fact that the drainage of the.* e properties passes into the Brook, and the residuum is prevented from becoming noisorue solely because of the running water. In the event of tho increased accommodation at the dam causing the Brook to go dry— a possibility if not a probability— who will be responsible if the open drain thus brought into existence causes an extensive nuisance and a danger to health, and thereby depreciates the value of property along the course of that open drain ? There is no need to discuss the question of riparian rights, which, however, certainly unttr into the iFsues involved, for the pnrcbasera of properties along the Brook since the erection cf the dam have naturally considered tho many uses of the stream nt tho rear of the dwe'liugs and paddocks '! he only point to hi borne in mind is the chance that by raising the dam the City Council may be the direct means of drying the Crook, and thus having on iv bunds an open drain. Is the Council prepared to undertake (he expense of closing in this probable drain, or of filling it up ? Has it legal opinion on the extent or limitation of the liability involved not f.o much iho responsibility for creating danger to public health, as the liability to property owners for damage and depreciation of values ? The Council may think it has a right to do what it likes with ifa own property at the Reservoir ; but how may that action aflect property not its own a mile or two away, and along that mile or two beyond tho municipal holdings ? The broader i.-sties of public health and general expediuicy may be left out of the question, a d tho matter may be narrowed down to tho purely commercial aspect of the scheme : flow much, or how little (if at all), will it cost the Corporation, should tho Brook run dry in consfquence of tho raising of the Jam, to compensate holders for the loss of hipnrian r'gbts, and owners of property for depreciation, or to do tho work of filling up or covering in the lirook, which may then be only a noisome open drain ? It may be safe.'y assumed that there is no present prospect of the dam being raised, as no money is available ; but. in view of a probable affirma- •• ion that the work isdesirablo, the Council should make every inquiry before it commits i'self, eveu thus far.