The Press WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1937. Disposal of Refuse

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22108, 2 June 1937, Page 8

The Press WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1937. Disposal of Refuse

It will be regrettable if protests against the proposed new system of dealing with rubbish delays or prevents a change which will rid the city of the destructor and its nuisances and which will disembarrass the Christchurch City Council in checking similar nuisances that originate elsewhere. It will be equally regrettable if the scheme is forced on, against protest, without the clearest proof that no offence or injury will be caused. The president of the Spreydon Burgesses' Association, Mr L. Hollings, said enough in a statement printed yesterday to suggest that the method of dump-and-cover, as it has been practised, is in more than one respect objectionable; and many citizens have seen sufficiently disgusting evidence in city and suburban dumps to sympathise with him. But if the statement by the City Engineer, a few days ago, means anything it means that the method now proposed is considerably more thorough in its safeguards against noisome consequences. It is not a new or experimental one but has been fully tested and proved. The one question which is raised by the account of the process to be followed in Christchurch is whether the open surface during the day may not be offensive; once it is treated and,covered, if the treatment and covering are efficient, all risk seems to disappear. But it is at least worth while to ask whether the spraying could not be carried out as the dumping goes on, while the covering, of course, would follow at the end of the day's work. Nobody has yet challenged the result of using refuse to fill neglected hollows and raise low-lying flats, which have been converted into pleasant playgrounds and building areas. It is the process, simply, that is in question. If the safety and inoffensiveness of that can be fully guaranteed, as seems probable, it will be hard to sustain an objection which pleads the risk of depreciation in property values. Given the proper assurances, such a risk could only arise from prejudice; and the success of the scheme would meet it and fully compensate it.