The Hawke's Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY, AND SATURDAY. THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1865. THE SWAMP.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 8, Issue 606, 4 May 1865, Page 2

The Hawke's Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY, AND SATURDAY. THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1865. THE SWAMP.

The subject of the swamp may be thougbt by some to be " used up," because it has . been brought under the notice of the public on more than one occasion. Nevertheless, we again revert to it, especially Bince we have heard that the hypothesis of its effects being noxious , and has been pooh-poohed to some extent in official circles— we refer more particularly to the Provincial Engineer, who, we have understood, does not share the popular feeling that the exhalations from those places are exceedingly detrimental to health, and would be much more so had we a denser population, W!e believe we are correct in saying " that Mr. Wright was strongly of opinion that -in those swamps lay the seeds of .disease and death ; and, to the casual observer; much Jess the man of science, the sights; that /.present themselves in. parts of t%e sW&rri,"^ ros" stagnant vegetable and animal matter in process of decay, cannot

fail, we think, to be ominous of futUiM evil. We are aware that the word "sttig riant" may be objected to as incorrect, ol the ground that the tide ebbs and flows it the swamp. And so it does to some extent, but very partially. Many corners are almost wholly beyond its iuflu'euce. the influx and efflux of the water being checked by the accumulated refuse oi years. To fill up tbe swamp would be a work of great magnitude, and one uot to be thought of iv these times of monetary tightness. The area to be filled up would be not less than 37g acres, at an average depth of 3 feet. This would require 181,500 cubic yards of stuff, the cost of which, iv Mr. Wright's time, was estimated at Is. 6d. The total expense would be £13,612 10s., iv addition to what might be paid for the rights of the proprietors ; and, putting a reasonable value on the laud, the cost per acre, when filled up, would be £388 ss. The work of reclaiming cau, therefore, be undertaken only in one way— by compelling each proprietor, should the General Assembly agree to this course, to fill up his own section — to abate his own nuisance. The expense jvou ld th ns-JalLupou fifty-one proprietors (supposing each to have purchased one section) instead of upon the government — the latter having to fill up, as its share, the coutiuuation of Munro, Thackeray, Owen, Raffles, and Dalton streets. We can see nothing unreasonable, on one haud, and much good, ou the other, in the matter being taken up with this end in view. Meanwhile, we understand that the Superintendent promised, some time since, that the hard labor men should be employed to widen, deepen, or clear, as the case may be, the channels of ingress and egiess to this (what we must persist in calliug) pestilential swamp, so that the tidal actiou may be more active, and be felt iv recesses which at present it does not reach. We should be glad, ou grounds of public safety, to see this promise fulfilled as early as possible.