The Daily Telegraph. SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1889.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5483, 23 March 1889, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1889.

;Me. R.Lamb, who formerly occupied the 'position here of .Municipal Engineer, in a ; leUer published some little time back, re■feired to the drainage system, of tbe: town as having been carefully designed ; and, he ■oc'dod with, perhaps, pardonable.pride, that it had been partially carried out by himself, To most mind■< a carefully desjirneddrainage scheme implies one that would answer its purpose.for a considerable period, hut it appears, to have been suddenly discovered by no less an authority than Mr. Lamb that it is now threatened with extinction.: And other people huvo found out that the deposit at the outfall of the main drain iB dangerous to health. By, some means or other not quite clear, the storm-w>,ter 'drainage,- the' house-drain outfall; the pan system, house refuse, and town ornamentation have got mixed- up,' and it has como to be thought that a panacea for all that the Several "cnrVespondents 'on the 1 pubject have ' complained of- can be foUnd "hy turning the Tutaeknri river so that it shall form tbe western' boundary ; of- the borough. Mr; Black, who has been a most energetic officer of tho Corporation for many years', -ie, we believe, the original author of scheme, and, apparently, has never had tiny faith in what Mr. Lamb has described as ai oarWully "designed drainage scheme'which-be had- the' horior'of partially carrying" oat.- Sinco Mr. Black first thought of the diversion of the river the Harbor Board ;has entered upon, certain workg having ,fpr their object, i-tbe.reelamaf lion of the Whare-Q-niaranui reserve by the silfcdeposits of the Tutaekuri. A:large amount of money is proposed to be;, borrowed by the Board to i-arry out thoso Works, which, indeed,, were undertaken to improve the value of the Board* endowment so as to obviate, the necessity of imposing rates to cover, interest on the loan for the harbor. Now, it is, pretty 'dear to feven . r.non-professional eye .that, if the river .is. cliverted according to. Mr. Black's scheme, the money intended to bo spent by the Harbor Board in reclamaiion works will be thron-n away.. It is sseried,, however, that the Board had no 1 right to commence those works without consulting, the 'Municipal Council, seeing |hat they menaced the storm- water drainage of the town., If; the. Harbor Board's works are successful, there will bs no lagoon into which to drain the storm-water; and if the river is diverted there will bono reclamation of the s'Weet-mnellinj iagoonl.-'But certain worthy citizens who pin their faith to the engineering skill of Mr. Lamb and Mr. Black have not taken tho position of the Harbor Board icto' consideration; nor does it seem to'have occurred fo' either of the two gentlemen'tamed • that thero are other ways of carryiilr off the storm-water than by bringing dawa a silt-bearing river to the edge of the town.' If they were to visit Holt's sawmill thty would see that for ii considerable dis'tanct the Htorm-water is provided for by an'opoi channel, 'apd the Same system carried out along the' western boundary of the town would answer all tho purposes for whic'i, it is proposed to turn 'no river. As 'for the olleged noxious silt deposited at tho outfall of the main sewer, surely the exten>ion of the dniin intothe"'"strong tidal' way of the Tutaekuri river Would get rid of. thae nuisance. The real soune of the* smells which kume 1 people think are the!cauWbf unhealthiiiess is the lagoon, and. until it is reclaimed as the Harbor Baird propbses.to do the towri'cdh never be freefrom übubxiqus odours. : But these smells, is D'£ Spencer asserts, are not;unwho!enome,ind our opinion is that Napier is us free from diseasehaving their origin from preventable causes as'any borouprh in th& colony. "A fubltc meeting: i«| to be held on Monduy night to : discuss the question of the diversion of tho river in relation to sanitation and ornamentation, but we hopothp 1 . expense nrd inoreased rHting will .not be lost' sight of, pnr the fact thrft the turning of the fiver will pro Feive the lagoonwith'its unsightly appear ance and its smells