ARTESIAN WELLS in CANTERBURY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 11, Issue 839, 30 March 1867, Page 3

ARTESIAN WELLS in CANTERBURY.

(From the ' Press,' March 14.) It was a lucky day for Christchurch when some adventurous citizen, whose name should be recorded with honor in the municipal annals, first determined on boring for an artesian well, and so led to the discovery of the fact that at a moderate distance from the surface there extends under the whole town and its environs a natural reservoir, whence by means of artesian wells a practically inexhaustible supply can be. drawn of the necessary element of which above ground nature has been so unpleasantly chary. Without this easily-obtained supply, Christchurch would have needed waterworks on a very large and expensive scale, to save it from becoming one of the unbealthiest cities on this side of the line. The town labors under such disadvantages, in the flatness of the ground which renders drainage difficult, in the nature of the soil, in the extreme badness of the well water— every well in many parts of the town being in a certain season of the year a prolific cause of disease, that there was a great reason to fear lest in a few years, as population increased aud building grew denser, the city would become a very hotbed ot fever in its most aggravated form. The artesian wells have at last removed the danger, by providing an abundance of ;dear and wholesome water, the one thing necessary for the healthiness of the town, without which all ofcherianijtary arrangements would be unavailing^ There will always be a liability to malaria, for, the soil is of that sort wbich gives out under the heat of the summer sun all the poisonous matter it has absorbed when moistened by rain or standing water ; and attention must therefore be paid to the state of the drainage and to the removal of house slops ; but with proper sanitary precautions strictly enforced we see no reason why Christchurch should not be as healthy a place as almost any in the colonies. We must, however, remind our readers that the supply from the artesian wells is nofc, as many persons seem to imagine, absolutely exhausfcless. You cannot tap the reservoir at a hundred places afc once and expect the water to rise in all as bri-skiy as it did in the first. For instance, we have beard of two neighboring breweries in London being obliged to come to an agreement to let their wells run on alternate days, as it was found that when both were running together the yield of each was so diminished as to be insufficient for the brewers' wants. We should like as an experiment to know how many gallons per minute were discharged from the well near the City hotel, when it was first bored, and how many ifc discharges now. This remark will not apply to the majority of the present wells, which are kept closed, but there is a project for flushing the side channels by keeping all the public wells continually running, ancl we certainly think that to do so would be found after a while to lessen the flow from all. But. admirable as these artesian wells are for sanitary uses they should also be made to serve another end, which is being altogether neglected; we mean, to furnish a supply of water in all parts of the town, to be used in case of fire. We have written on this subject before, and recur to ifc because ifc is one which the City Council are bound to attend to, and which ifc seems to us quite unaccountable that they should so entirely overlook. At tbe present moment there is a considerable part of Christchurch which if a fire broke out must be left to be consumed, for the simple reason thafc there is no water within reach sufficient to feed ■the fire-engines. The utility of the Fire Brigade is limited to the distance their engine hose will reach from the river ; beyond thafc, they must confine their efforts to preventing the spread of the fire, for they can do nothins to extinguish ifc. Such a state of things ought surely not to be allowed to exist for a day longer than can be helped, and several ways of remedying it have been suggested. One plan is to place a tank at each well beyond a certain distance from the river, and where practicable, to connect two or more witb pipes. This would be simple and inexpensive, but it would be very useful, ancl might easily be made ornamental. Ifc was talked of afc a meeting of the Council soon after ths fire in Colombo street, but like too many useful proposals, ifc was only talked of, and nothing was done. The Fire Brigade have a more complete and comprehensive scheme. They propose to make several artesian wells with a six -inch bore, and to lay down from them large mains with fire plugs where the streets cross each other. Thafc is the plan adopted in London and most towns in England, and will probably be adopted here some time or other; but as yet our City councillors, having the fear of the Ratepayers' Society before their eyes, no doubt consider ifc too costly to venture upon. Yet something oueht to be done, and at once. If a fire were to break out in any of the quarters we have mentioned, and do a vast deal of mischief, every one would be eager enough with recommendation of measure., to prevent the recurrence of the calamity. But there is an old adage that prevention is better than cure, and we hold that provisoin against danger is best made before and not after it happens. On behalf pf our fellowcitizens who are unfortunate enough to live beyond the reach of the fire engine, we again commend their unprotected state to the notice ofthe City Council.