ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERT EVENING. TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 1913. WATER AND SEWERAGE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVII, Issue 141, 17 June 1913, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERT EVENING. TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 1913. WATER AND SEWERAGE.

The- problem of providing Blenheim with a water-supply and drainage scheme has at last assumed a. phase that may be expected to permit of its' final determination one way or the other. For the fourth time the ratepayers are to. be-asked at the pollingbooth what they really want. On this occasion, they are to be invited to say whether they desire the Council to proceed with the pumping scheme in view of certain deviations from the responsibility that they originally accepted. The altered conditions have been brought about by the action of the State-Guaranteed Advances Board in raising the cost of the loan from 3J to 4J per cent-^r-an increase involving an additional annual charge of £406 on the minimum, estimated cost of £70,000 —and by the exclusion of the suburbs of Islington and Riversdale from the scope Mvthe enterprise. The whole question lias now1 been given the most definite. forjh in which it has yet been presented; and the burgesses will have only themselves to blame if it is not settled beyond all manner of doubt. Th© Council is acting wisely in again resorting to the referendum. The new circumstances are sufficiently weighty in themselves to demand this course; and when it is also considered that an underlying but unmistakable lessening of public enthusiasm for the project set in as the engineering data materialised, and that the ratepayers' original mandate falls £5000—or, more correctly, £7000—short of the maximum estimate of papital cost, the reasons why the Council should again consult the popular will axe considerably strengthened. Whether the general enthusiasm evidenced at the outset has diminished to the point of actual opposition, or 'whether the burgesses were affected by a temporary attack of nervousness that, has given placer to reassurance, no one can honestly claim, even after last night's meeting, to be able to judge; and it is just this uncertainty that should be cleared away. We attach a good deal of importance to the desirableness of having the undertaking based on the full willingness of the ratepayers, for we believe that a water i and drainage scheme at the present

! stage of the town's development would be dear at any price if not supported by a substantial' measure of public confidence, just as we believe that it could be successfully established and maintained without unduly straining the resources of the community or endangering the commercial fabric and ! property values of the town if it were . founded on the faith of the residents. We place enough reliance on the solidity and the prospects of the capital of Marlborough to be able to say that much at least. The best advice that can be tendered to the burgesses at the present juncture is to make up their minds conclusively and yofe one way or the other; The position requires but little further explanation.

A pumping scheme costing £70,000 would involve an'annual charge, for interest, working expenses, and de- | preciation, of £4716, instead of £4310, as calculated at, the outset, ( and two residential areas, the resij dents of which would still be called on |to pay the sewerage rate, would have Ito wait for some years, probably, beI. foro the direct advantages of the sys- | tern were extended- to them. The Borough Council does not present an j undivided front in the matter, the ! Mayor and five Councillors being advocates of the enterprise, . and four, apparently, considering that Blenheim will consult its best interests by hastening slowly. But it should be understood that the Council as a } whole is quite ready to carry the pro- | ject into effect if the ratepayers are ] agreeable, provided that a contract ! oan be secured which would not exceed ! the engineer's maximum estimate of | cost. ■ The consensus of opinion j among the promoters of the scheme is that up to this limit, but not beyond it, the resoiirces of the borough oan be safely taxed, so that in any case the fate of the proposal depends upon ] I the contingency of t the Council's re- i ceiving a practicable tender within a ■ fixed margin. The scheme has been | I attacked on. technical as well as finan- , | oial grounds, but we cannot hop© to I \ ns-sist the burgesses by any further ! ! into the confusing maze of ' en^JTioerinsc intricacies. In all likeli- ! linod the question that will present it- j solt to the general body of voters is i

as to whether the municipality can afford the scheme, with the correlative question of : Can the community afford to do without it? Probably enough the average ratepayer will form his conviction according to the circumstances of his own individual case, with due regard as a citizen to the common weal; and if the popular verdict is thus shaped it will be the proper and the most acceptable one, whichever way it goes.