The Press. MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 1882.

Press, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5280, 7 August 1882, Page 2

The Press. MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 1882.

Wβ haxe frequently had occasion to express a • feeliag of strong disappointment irith the attitude assumed, by the city authorities; ia the matter o£ publlo heaUh/ It seemed ac if they hid made up their minds to absolutely close their eyee to anything bat the maintenance of wfiat they supposed to be their own par. tienlar dignify,'.'to ignore all questions whatever of public safety, to obstinately stiffen their uecke against any preesnro whatever, right or wrong; Bat we enter* tsiaed a hope, when a friendly conference" wmbronght about between the Board of Health sad the local governing bodies, that the whole of those present wouM put aside every £etfcy : feeling! and] disepss. the important question before them solely from the point of view oi the greatest good to the greatest number. It is true that some members of the Counril had, on various occasions when treating oi this matter, expressed somewhat strongly the opinion that any bending by the municipality would be undignified. J Still, we hoped that when the matter j came to be fairly argued with the Board all each miserable trifles would be laid aside in the endeavor to reach a great public advantage, The citizens of Christohurcb are to congratulated en the fact that their municipal representatives have shown a much stroager disposition t^"" 1 might have boen expected te dieouss co veiy important a question as that brooght before tha coaferenee, apart local eonaideratione. Wβ do not matt tossy that all the maaicipal repr©. aentatiTes were sMe to diveet thsir minis of a aaose of their own impofftaaco and dimity. Gβ this coairary, it was only tya evident that some of Ifcea looked upon the question entirely ftem that ] point of dew. This is to be einceiely

regretted; for wirile, on the one head, we have ourselves for years past signed this question of public badOt in the broad platform of the gsaenl jrood, •ad whilst Uμ Board itadi haa »tlsngtfe coma to eep thai what wo ham advocated is the only thing really desirable and necessary, it is found that the opponents to these Tiews continue to employ the same old arguments, the same old sasrow reasoniag that each local body ought to be supreme In matters of health withia its own boundaries. Until this pernieione and absurd idea is expelled from the minds of the corporations, it is hopeless to. expect a rational settlement ol the question. The fault of the whole thing, no doubt, rests .with .the original Public Health Act. * The system of ft Central Board of Health for the colony established in Wellington, with numberless little scattered, separate, local Boards mutually independent, composed of the Road Boards, municipalities, and so on, was bad enough in itself. Bnt when this was coupled with careful provisions specially designed to prevent the local Boards from possessing any definite funds for health parposes, the climax of mischievous absurdity was reached. Later on, when the Qhristehorch Drainage Board was established, it was made the Board of -Health for the whole district, city and suburbs. So far good. We will not now discuss the question whether the Drainage Board has worked well or ill; but tha idea of establishing a paramount body, independent of mere local feeling, was a good one in itself. Asd, writing on this matter about that period, we reiterated the argument that aueh a paramount authority was a necessity, whether it were the Drainage Board or any other. Bat we also went on to say that unless this, supreme authority were endewed with proper funds it might joit as well not exist at all; and, curiously enough, it was this very essential qualification which was entirely omitted. It very naturally resulted that, as a speaker at the conference remarked, the present Board el Health is a farce. Some members of the Board, wisely discerning the blot in the system, are now proposing the right remedy, namely, an amendment in the Health Act providing for a properly constituted supreme: Board, with proper means of finding .■ funds for its work; ITnlacMly they meet with grave obstacles. In a moment of weakness a former Board of Health delegated certain of its powers within - the city of Christchurch to the Corporation. The Cor. poration were thus rendered practically independent of the Board; the power of control by the central authority was thrown away; an element of discord, of weakness, of petty independence, of consequent danger to the public health, was at once introduced. And now, when wiser counsels prevail in the Board, and when it would willingly move in the direction of sensible reform of the law, it finds the £% Council, which has tasted the sweets of power and freedom, manifesting no disposition to come to terms for ihe good of its constituents aajfejjf-the whole distriot. not mean to say that, as the stands, it has been finally settiw. that the advocates of a proper eanjpigijjr system are sot to gain the day. The 3s£bal result of the conference 'on "Wednesday was the remitting of the whole question to a committee for consideration and report. Still, the very resolution which was carried, the remarks of several of the speakers, show that is point of fsot the opponents of reform merely wanted to shelve the question in the hope that they might still have their own, way. Had it been otherwise, nobody would have opposed the counter-resolution proposed, which affirmed the principle that t!» Central Board of Health of the district should be independent of local feeling. The very fact that such a principle, simple and sensible as it is, was opposed and negatived, shows that there was so real wish on the part of the majority of the members of the conference to consider the question on broad public grounds. That resolution expressly affirmed that the delegation of powers to local bodies by the Central Board ought to be allowed. Td this, provided that the Central Board reserves the, final control and right; of eondououe supervision, no sane man can, we should cay, object. As we have often observed, it matters not one jot who doss th 4 actual sanitary work, provided the authority of one central, supremo, indepebdent body be reoegnised over all. And, when the local bodiety having this offer, of delegation distinctly made to them* refuse to affirm the principle of uniform sanitary government, there is bo otier .conclusion possible than that they art obstinate in preferriog their own dignity to the generalgodd of their constituents. -' v ■'■■"'•' -

Tho noiot whioli to greatly exercise soma 'epoalratfl at tlie conf ereace, whether the membefi.of the Bdard of Health Bhoald 'Ibe'' w " Ity ■■'" fhe i people ■op delegates frora the local bciSiee,« Is? ■:. j»j s farther confirmation thp view which we have, taken. A board composed of delegates ivould, it appears to us, have been of Kttld Jresl value, as it Would have exercised no proper control and would have set district against dietricfr by perpetuating and 'enforcing local feelings. Wβ are pleased to find that his Worship the Mayor of Chrisfehtirol], who proposed the plan, had the good sense to withdraw it, ansj give his support to the proposal, already referred to, submitted Dr. Doylei. By so doing he made it evident that he was anxious to get, this question eettled on something like a broad arid satisfactory Baas. The fact thai his Worship had the courage to withdraw from the position he at first took op leads as to hope that he may perhaps after all succeed in persuading the Council over which he presides to adopt the same liberal views he has now accepted.