The Press. THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 1871.

Press, Volume XVIII, Issue 2493, 27 April 1871, Page 2

The Press. THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 1871.

We called attention last week to the anomalous position of the suburban districts. For all practical purposes, they are equivalent to a part of the town ; yet, as they lie outside of the Town Belt, they fall within the jurisdiction of Road Boards. So that, as we pointed out, though their particular requirements are those of the city, their only public organisation is of a kind adapted solely to the country What they want is some provision for drainage and lighting, for the supply oi water, for the suppression of nuisances, and the like. But the Road Boards are not constituted for such objects. The Ordinance assume? that they will be busied about public works—the construction and maintenance of roads, the clearing out of watercourses, the draining ol swamps, and so forth ; it gives them no power to engage in municipal business. The consequence is that the suburbs of Ghristchurch, where population is increasing more rapidly thau in any part of the province, and is in places as thick as in the city itself, are falling into a very bad condition Their sanitary arrangements are of the most primitive order, far short of what is absolutely necessary for the public health. It would be more correct, indeed, to say that, in the absence of any competent local authority, sanitary measures are altogether neglected They are, in fact, both already infested with typhoid fever, and afford a ready nursery for all sorts of epidemics. With scarlet fever prevalent in Otago, and the danger that small-pox may be brought to the colonies by some vessel from London, it becomes of the utmost importance that no time should be lost in taking steps to improve their condition. We are glad to observe that a movement has already begun in one of the suburbs. The inhabitants of Sfc Alban's and the neighbourhood, which is all a part of the Avon Eoad district, have held a public meeting to express their dissatisfaction with the management of the Board, and with what they consider the injustice done to them. They propose that St. Alban's and the parts adjacent shall be separated from the Avon district, and formed into a new district under the Roads Ordinance, 1869. That is one course open to them, certainly ; but it scarcely meets the special difficulty of the case. For though the roads and cross-roads of the Sfc. Albans (or any similarly situated) district would no doubt be better looked after by a Board chosen from among the residents, still the Board would have no further power than is couferred by the Ordinance as it now stands; and would be no more able than the Avon Road Board has been to uudertake the other duties which are so urgently necessary. It would still be only a Road Board, aud would have no kind of municipal authority. It seems to us that the matter can be dealt with satisfactorily in two ways. Either the Roads Ordinance may be amended so as to give the Road Boards the power that is at present wanting; or the thickly populated districts near the city may, from time to time, as required, be formed into suburban municipalities, like those around Melbourne. Of the first plan—we will speak of the second afterwards—the chief merits are its simplicity and economy. It requires no new or additional machinery, being simply an adaptation to fresh circumstances of the institutions j we already have. It involves the least j possible disturbance of the pre- j sent order of things, and can be carried into effect with the minimum of trouble and expense. Moreover, the one change would be sufficient. The Ordinance, once amended, would meet all similar cases that might occur hereafter. It would be applicable alike to any of the localities near Christchurch or elsewhere in the province ; including the townships that may spring up with the extension of railways, before they grow of a size to come under the Municipal Act. The disadvantage of the plan is that the district would be divided into two parts, the country and the suburban, each having separate and independent interests. The special expenditure in the suburban portion would of course be defrayed by a separate rate, levied on that part only; and the ratepayers would probably want to keep the management of it entirely in their own bands. Questions too might be raised ac to the equity of exacting contribu-

tions towards the general expenses of the Board. We do not say that these difficulties are insuperable ; but they certain y contain materials for discontent and differences of opinion whic ■ might ultimately lead to the severance of the district. Supposing this course adopted, nothing more would be required to carry it out than a few additions and alterations in the Roads Ordinance. A clause or two would have to be inserted, empowering the Board to provide for the inspection and removal of nuisances, and other such matters, as in the | Municipal Act. The clause relative jto the sepirale rates would also require ! amendment, so as to comprise, besides I a special " work or improvement," such j purposes as we have referred to. Or '■ it would be better to leave the clause |as it stands, and to insert another, authorising the imposition of a rate on the suburban part of a district only, for the purposes assigned. In other sections, too, there are clauses in which more general terms might be employed, so as to include matter* beyond the construction and maintenance of roads, for which alone, according to the preamble, the Ordinance was passed These details however would be settled without any difficulty when the Ordinance came under revision. The general effect would be, that the country districts would remain as they are at present, but that where a district contained a Buburb of the capital city, or a rising township or large village, the Board would be in a position to attend to its local wants, until iv course of time it developed into a municipality. That will probably be the final end of the matter; but for the next few years, as an interim arrangement, some such plan as we have suggested, may perhaps be found sufficient.