WATER AND DRAINAGE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVII, Issue 141, 17 June 1913, Page 3

WATER AND DRAINAGE.

! [TO THJE EDITOR.] I Sir,—Surely Blenheim people are ' not going to take the advice of these old residents who have always been against everything in the way of re- : form or improvements in Blenheim? It is time we were doing something to • improve our town, and I think this is , the best way to begin and have our town clean and with some conveni- ; ences. We cannot do everything at ' once, but this is badly wanted. I have gone into every detail, and find ! the extra expense is very little, and i all this talk or' expense is only a bogey '• to. frighten those who cannot see for 1 themselves. Then, if you cannot \ afford to have the conveniences con- .; nected to your house, the Council will : do it, for you, and I believe they give I you twenty years to pay it off. Surely ! ! that is good enough terms for any-' I ! body? Capital is made of the fact | ; that land agents, etc., are anxious $ ; for it. I think that is a good reason lin its favor. If it is going to im- ] prove property to such an extent as ! to cause a boom in the land market, it | is something worth trying to get. _ I j hope everybody who has a vote will I exercise it in the right way, and not ■ go against this reform, because I beI iieve if it is not passed this time we | will never get it. Do your best to 1 help the town on. Look at the hundreds of men who will be employed in the works; money will be spent in the town, and everything will be prosperous in spite of those who try !to keep things back. Vote for water ! and drainage and help improve our j town, which is the oldest town and j yet is the furthest. behind the times | j in New Zealand, just because a few J a 1 old draggers do their best to keep it I i back.

UP-TO-DATE,

[to the editor.] Sir, —I have read in your columns and heard' in the street 6ome great discussions on the above subject^ I i have been taking a keen interest in ! this matter, and have therefore [ talked to all kinds of people on the i subject, and what has struck me most ! has been the great difference in the ! two classes of people. The one lot ! who are battling against the water : and drainage system are what I will : call the "Stand Still Stagnation : Company." Give them ease and ; just let them slip along as quietly ■" as they can; so long as they have a i eovezing over their heads they do ' not care for the improvement of the i town. It is too much bother; the , present old slipshod system has done • them these forty, fifty, and perhaps '. sixty years; they have managed to ; exist through all fevers, etc., that ; have invaded the town of old; they I have managed all these years without ■ any conveniences for their wives and ■ daughters or servants, and have even ■ lived without the convenience of a : bath; and they tell the present_ in- , habitants of Blenheim that all this is : Rood enough for years to come (for- .■ over, as far as they are concerned).. ; And who are these people who advoi nate this go-as-you-please way of ■ living? The greater portion of them ! are people who have never lived outside of the world of Blenheim. _ They simply do not know what life is_ with ordinary conveniences; they simply i exist amid this pump your own I water, carry it out and throw it over the yard, etc., system. Blenheim :• people, arise and live! Throw these ' old-timers aside; they have had their day. Be up-to-date and make your town one of beauty and health; then our population will be enlarged and outsiders will come and live in _ it; but as it is vat present everyone shuns it. Are these people who oppose the drainage system up-to-date in any I way or in anything ? No ;we find them opposed to anything that is goahead, and they exaggerate in every wav to put people against it. Resi- j dents of Blenheim, look at what it j means to have sixty, to seventy thousand pounds spent in Blenheim! Why, everybody must get a share of j it. Our town will be more prosperous in every way : it has been dead long enough. It must improve our property, and Blenheim will see bright days again. Vote for water and drainage to-morrow. ■ i

A LIVE RESIDENT