HARBOR POLLUTION.

Evening Star, Issue 9471, 16 August 1894, Page 1

HARBOR POLLUTION.

A special meeting of the West Borough Council was held last evening for the purpose of discussing the measures to be taken for the abolition of the nuisance caused by the present system of city drainage. There were present the Mayor (Mr Duke) and Crs Barclay, Broadbent, Sankey, Cray, Winton, and Hastings. As showing the attitude of the City Council in regard to this matter, a correspondence which passed between the Colonial Secretary and the town clerk of Dunedin two years ago was read. Replying to a suggestion of the Colonial Secretary, that a board of engineers should examine the system of drainage, the town clerk wrote that the City Council could not see its way to acquiesce in the proposal, as the results would be useless. In a further communication he gave reasons for thus declining the proposed investigation, the main points being as follow :

The sewage system in Dunedin at present is a series of reticulations utilising the old natural streams and conducting them into their natural watershed—mixed now, no doubt, with matter from the streets and sewage from the houses. The Harbor Board is not a Banitary body, ami the question, so far as it is concerned, is one of navigation and harbor Management. The City Council is, as you are aware, the local board of health. The present system of sewer drainage was in existence before the Harbor Board was created. The City Council considers the action of the Harbor Board, not only outside its legislative functions, but uncalled for on the following grounds:—(l) That no definite point in dispute has been arrived at as between the Otago Harbor Board and the City Council, as contemplated by section 281 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1886. (2) That when any. question, such as disposal of silt or refuse vertus navigation, does arise every effort should be made to narrow the matter of difference to its lowest limit before proceeding to appointment of arbitrator. (3) That the question involves [a much larger issue than a mere "differenceof opinion" between the Otago Harbor Board and the Council—namely, the initiation of an entirely new system of sewer drainage for Dunedin "and the surrounding suburbs," involving (in all probability) inter alia {a) the formation of a drainage board with rating powers; (o) the borrowing and expenditure of a sum of £150,000 to £200,000-in all probability much more. (4) That th« question is one therefore affecting other bodies than the Dunedin City Council, and that those bodies have also not been consulted in any way, or any point at issue between them and the Otago Harbor Board defined. (5) That if the City Council acquiesced in the proposal of the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, it would be barren of result. Assuming that the Corporation did not resist the making of an award, what practical effect could it have ? An arbitrator surely cannot command the making of a special rate or the raising of a loan; and even if this were so some mode of proceeding must be defined, which means that a scheme must 1)0 perfected and working specificatioca provided as to what is to bo done. To summarise briefly, I may say that the Council has never yet had pointed out to it any matter in which its powers and duties conflicted with, those* of the Board; that when such a position does arise the Council will not shirk its responsibilities ; that the action of the Board detailed in your letter of 11th April is ultra vires ; that no practical issue can possibly result from tLo specific action desired by the Board.

Cr Barclay said the correspondence which had just been read had arisen in consequence of his connection with another body, and as the consideration of it had been deferred by his request he regarded it as his duty to take the initiative in the matter that evening. He had just been able to bring together a few facts in opposition to thje wild statements contained in the correSmdence, and these might be of use to the unoil in forming their opinion, and would probably assist their clerk if the motion which he intended to move was carried. The matter complained of had been going on for seventeen or eighteen years, bat the resolution which gate rise U> the letters was passed four years ago. At that time the Board, pursuing the policy it had all along adopted, and;spurred on by the

inspector's reports, and by representations made from various quarters, intimated formally to the local bodies having sowers discharging into tho bay that any permission which might have been "given, or any sanction which might have been implied, was withdrawn, and twelve months was given in which to make arrangements of a more satisfactory character. The Board had then, as he believed it still had, every desire to assist any well-devised scheme; but instead of advantage beiag taken of this opportunity nothing but a series of denials and excuses had been vouchsafed, by which was created the new phase of the question. Relying on the Act, which provided that in the event of any difference of opinion the Colonial Secretary should decide, and that his decision should be final, the Board by resolution called on the Government to interfere, and had continued to call upon them ever since, little dreaming that at the back of this reluctance were these elaborate arguments, which there had been no opportunity of answering. Dealing with the correspondence, he asked: Was there any nuisance ? It was almost a waste of time to go over this ground, the evidence being so strong and having been so long before the public. As confirmation of the existence of a nuisance, he quoted from a report made five years ago by the inspector of works to the Harbor Board, which mentioned that the channel which was cut to allow punts to get to Stuart street wharf had been entirely filled up with filth from the High street sewer. The quantity deposited was very large and highly offensive. Unless the evil were abated the spread of disease in the vicinity was inevitable. The seWer discharge had been going on continuously, and the deposit extended over the whole area of the large dock, and at low water when the sun shone upon the exposed filth the stench was intolerable. The Frederick street and Moray place sewers were also very objectionable, but in a lesser degree than that of High street. Further evidence was afforded by the requisition of Mr Gourley, on behalf of the South Dunedin Council, for the erection of a training wall to prevent the nuisance caused by refuse settling on the beach. Again, when a commission some few years ago was engaged in the consideration of a suitable site for the hospital the existing system of sewage was condemned in unmeasured terms. He objected to the City town clerk deducing any right from section 279, because the very next section plainly limited and qualified any such pretension. He asserted that the bay was not a tidal river, as could be proved any day. The nuisance had not got beyond Ravensbourne, and had scarcely reached Burkes. As to the locus staiuli of the Harbor Board, he proceeded to show from correspondence which had passed between the City Council and the former over a period from 1877 till now that the Board had power to control the sanitary arrangements affecting the harbor. Figures were given from a report of the. Board's engineer as to the amount of sewage discharged into the bay. During last flood the quantity of solid matter was 4,000 cubic yards; the average quantity deposited in ordinary flood wa5.2,500 cubic yards, the average daily deposit being 30 cubic yards. The late harbor-master had said twelve months ago that in spite of dredging in the Upper Harbor vessels were drawn into a bed of filth 6ft deep. He quoted a letter from Dr Ogston (referred to as one of the foremost sanitary experts in the colony) in which the opinion was expressed that genus of fever, such as typhoid aud others, finding access to tho water of the harbor through any of the drains of the City would probably be deposited on the foreshore in a condition sufficiently active to germinate under .a hot sun, and so spread disease through the district. Cold or salt water would not kill the germs. It was cheaper to prevent than to treat dissase. As a student of hygiene of over twenty years, and as a citizen of Dunedin, he was in full sympa'hy with the action taken by Cr Barclay. The speaker then remarked that he had shown both the quantity and quality of the nuisance. They had a right to insist on remedying this evil, and he was glad to see •that the citizens of Dunedin were becoming alive to it. He concluded by moving a resolution in favor of submitting a statement of the case once more to the Colonial Secretary, bub afterwards withdrew it, and Cr "Hastings moved—"That Cr Barclay be thanked for the trouble he had taken in laying before the Council a full report regarding the deposit of sewage in the harbor, and that the town clerk be instructed (in conjunction withCr Barclay) to draw up a precis of the correspondence and arguments submitted to the Council, and forward it to the Colonial Secretary, and again ask him to take action in the matter." —This was seconded by Cr Cray, who, like the previous speaker, expressed his indebtedness to Cr Barclay for the service he had rendered.—Cr Winton and the Mayor also commented in complimentary terms on the zeal shown by Cr Barclay, and on the motion being put it was carried unanimously.