TOWN EDITION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 67, 20 March 1911, Page 8

TOWN EDITION.

WATER AND DRAINAGE.

TO THB-EWTOtt,

Sir,-—Your correspondent "AntiStone Age" asserts that there were thirty oases of diphtheria here last year owing to bad drainage. Now, neither the health officer's nor the •sanitary inspector's reports support this wild statement. That there were * few cases is admitted, but there was nothing stated by either of the officers named to show that the cause was bad drainage. That part is tacked on. by "Anti-Stone AgV' to gratify his own elusive imagination and mislead the public. On the contrary, it was at the time, abundantly proved that in almost every instance the outbreak was attributable to the neglect, by individual property occupiers, •of the ordinary rules of cleanliness and sanitation; that fitth and disease germs of all sorts were allowed to accumulate and stagnate in backyards and. become veritable hotbeds of contagion and a dangerous menace- to the health of the whole surrounding community. Far be it from .me to impute any blame for this state of affairs to the health officers; they didtheir duties nobly and well. But I consider the blame rests upon the shoulders of our ever-vacillating Borough Council, who failed and still continue to fail in their duty by not putting the Public Health Act into full operation and so compel every resident within the Borough to adopt j proper sanitary conveniences and1 the regular removal of night-soil, instead of the 'fAnti-Stone Ao-e" x>lan «>r a backyard disposal. Out of 800 tenements there are 600 who do this. Is it, to be wondered at, then, if we naye occasional epidemics and: fatalities? What is required is that the nealth officers be given full powers, tinder the Health Act strictly to enforce, its provisions without fear and -without .favor to any one, whether i;hey be Councillors or the friends of Councillors. That these cesspools -x>f ■cisea&e still exist must be known* to «very one who has an eye to see and a nose to smell, for they pervade the very centre of our town and aTe "rampant on the outskirts. The pigsty, cowbail, fowlhouse, and rubbish-heap are as dominant and deadly as ever. By a little expense, which the owners can well afford, but which they, grudge and will not pay. unless compelled to do so, ordinary cleanliness could be readily established and maintained. Now, Mr " Anti-Stone Age, :> is it-because of these few delinquents i;hat you ask #ie large majority of ratepayers, who keep their homes -cleanly and free from microbes, to mortgage their properties up to the tune of £65,000. Would any water ■or drainage scheme which, we. may inaugurate ever voluntarily induce the -insanitary to become sanitary? Would anjr one of them connect with, the mams, even if they came within ten yards of their back "door, unless they were compelled to do so? I* fear my primitive knowledge of mathematics does not qualify me to fathom the depths of "Anti's" deductions that two deaths is a yearly loss of £1000 -each to the Borough estimated at S per cent, on the capitalised value of -frheir earning powers. Not to be utterly annihilated by such an abstruse puzzler, I enlisted the perspicacity of my boy who is now in the fifth standard at the "Borough," and he is cocksure that the question lias a dual solution—that the earning powers of each per annum must be £20,000, or that on the basis of £2 per week they were, under proper actuarial methodsj in honor bound to continue living and earning that sum 'from their birth till they were 120 years old. But as already modestly /indicated, I make no pretentious to "be a Wiffen or a Parker at finance! I think I must take more after the calibre of a Girling or a Birch, wno, when financial controversies are astir, are born oracles at drawing inferences; and, like Balaam's ass, Jhave ;"the instinct to stop when they see /dangers, in the shape of bogie figures, ahead of them i.

GIVES

TO THE EDITOR

Sir, —I have read all the letters -written on the water and .drainage question. I thank his Worship the Mayor for the courteous way he criti- ; cised my letter. A mistake of-4000 vconnections instead ©jr 1000 was transparent to me- whi>n I-read my paper, and the. words ''there will (probably aot be more than half that number" were my own, and his Worship was -quite correct in saying be never wrote "•it. I apologise for th© mistake. In Thursday's "letter he objects to my calling the £2000 required for the pumping stations a mortgage on the borough. W/ell, call it a permanent charge on the borough; it mattersnothing what you call it. The name does not matter, but the money will, have to be paid by the poor ratepayers of the borough all- the same. ■His Worship then, shows the absurdity of my argument; then he says the food we eat, the clothing wo wear, «tc., etc., may be stated at £100,000 per annum. Capitalise this and we are mortgaged for £2,000,000. 'With all respect, to his Worship, I think this is absurd, because the Council have no control over food; clothing, etc., and no connection with borough taxation. Now, I cannot explain my argument about the permanent charge of £2000 being capitalised and! making £50,000 any better than by telling an old Scotch, atory. Two nld farmers were going home from a market. One said to the other, "Man, .Jock, you have married the laziest, dirtiest woman in the parish. She is vraur than a mortgage on your farm." "How is that?" said Jock. "Well, because if you had twa or *three good seasons, you could pay the mortgage off, at least you could pay the half off; but you oarma. get rid of i;he wife, and you canna cut her in -fcwa." So it's nearly the same with the Council; they cannot get rid of -the permanent charge of £2000. Call it what you like, a rose by any other name would smell as-sweet. I have no time to reply to Mr E. Parker :and Mr Wiffen. The latter's remarks •about me were characteristic of Mr Wiffen; the noble, courteous, and gentlemanly eulogium was overwhelming. Away back mor© than 2000 years the Greeks were the noblest race in this world; and they honored their old men if they had lived pure, virtuous lives; and they had a drafting out of all the hoodlums and degenerates every three years. These were taken out of the city and extinguished in a quiet, respectable way.

R. ALLAN

TO THE EDITOR

Sir, — According to Councillor Parker, all suggested schemes other than-the one brought forward by the Borough Council are merely intended to "befog" the ratepayers. Of course that is only a matter of opinion. Tho befogging appears to me to bo on the part of some of our councillor.?. As

Mr Parker appears to me to be chief spokesman for the Council, I will ask him: '(!) Why we are not given the 'ultimate cost of the whole work? (2) Why provision has not been made for ro-layintf the streets and footpaths? (3) AVhat amount of money will be required to compensate propertyowners through whose holdings the pipes will be taken? (4) Also, whether any p-llowance has been made for an inspector of private connections with the mains, such official to be ia scientific and licensed plumber? Judging by what I have seen in other places, 1 am of the opinion that it will cost at least £2000 to put the streets into the same condiion as previously to cutting up. W. BRADDOCK.