THE CITY OF DUST.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 22, 26 January 1911, Page 6

THE CITY OF DUST.

According to Mr A. D. Dobson, City Surveyor, of Christchurch, no water carts in the world would nave been able to deal with the dust nuisance which raged through the streets of Christchurch on Friday. He returned to the- city on Friday from a visit to Australia, and ne states that as the steamer came towards Lyttelton early in the morning he could see an immense cloud, ot minute particles of dust 1000 feet high, extending ovor the Canterbury Plain, and setting on the lulls of Banks Peninsula. The particles made their presence felt even on board the steamer, and the 'sun in the east shone against the dust cloud, giving ii> the appearance of a peculiar grey haze. lie further states that the Waimakariri is the source of the immense clouds of dust that come with the hot north-west wind®. From the City Surveyor's point of view, indeed the great river is a dust' bed, four miles wide and thirty miles long—in other words, it is 100 square miles or dust-producing country, lying rightin the'route of the "nor'-wester," and he believed that the best street watering scheme that could be devised would be futile in attempting to deal, adequately with the nuisance. "Christchurch is so situated," he says, "that it must always be one of the dustiest places in the Southern Hemisphere." His1 recent visit to Sydney has confirmed his opinion that apart from the wood-blocked streats in the centre, the streets of Christchurch are superior to those of the Australian metropolis. " People there, however," he remarked, "don't grumble as much as people do here."