ST. KILDA DITCHES.

Evening Star, Issue 14997, 3 October 1912, Page 4

ST. KILDA DITCHES.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—l, as one of the humblest ratepayers in this City, offer a thousand thanks to you for your able leader in Tuesday's 'Star.' More power to you, sir. Too long have that petticoat body*, the Drainage Board, used their bluff authority to flout and squeeze us, one and all. What manner of men are they who, when asked to give urgent relief, turn roundi and say "No, nothing can bo done. The only remedy is to wait until the nuisanoe creates a public menace, which was poor Tainui'a experience. Let- me see! Yes; hero are their names in front of me, and are these the men who tell me that I and mine, or even my unknouVi neighbors, must suffer some foul and death-carrying fever or disease before tlioir hearts will bo stirred to action ? What a prospect I have in front of me! Here am I trying to make a. homo for all I have and love. For what? To be gobbled up by a scourge. Isn't it disgusting? Do wo live in the 20th century only by permission of a body of men constituted as a drainage (and incidentally a health) board? Shades of JuliusCres&r ! Why not make it the Disease Board, for "by their words, and not their works, shall they be known " ? What a happy reference on your part, Mr Editor, to the temple-like edifice, which they (the Drainage Board) are pleased to call their pumping station ! Would it not bo an easy matter (not to say profitable to tho ratepayers) to pull down those huge concrete pillars, which raise their stately forms to nothingness? Pull them down, I say. and use the material to further their aims and objectc, which should be firstly the laying of sewers and drains, and not the causing of disease. Too long. has that building front stood there, a useless monument to a former engineer. May the St. Kilda Council always be made of thestutf like they are at present is the earnest wish of a heartily disgusted Tainuttk. October 2.