A CLEAN CITY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8196, 30 January 1907, Page 7

A CLEAN CITY.

The problem of how to keep down the dust and insure clean streets has been grappled with by the North Sydney Council in a very practical manner, and with a good deal of success, says the Daily Telegraph. The watering of the streets, with the exception of those along which the tramway runs, has been continued, and oil is now being used on the main thoroughfares. About three years ago the aldermen decided to make an experiment with it, and a couple of applications to the business end of "Walker Street proved so satisfactory that it has been used there periodically since. The process of oiling was also carried out in Mount, Junction and Berry Streets, and the step received the approval of those ratepayers immediately concerned, the business people warmly supporting the new departure. At first there were a few complaints as to the smell, but this has ceased to be regarded as disagreeable. The cost of oiling, including labour and material, works out at about |d per square yard, and a special watering rate of 3d in the £ on the properties along the streets treated was struck, the. proceeds being ample to cover the outlay. Formerly certain thoroughfares in the borough were watered four times a day, and a comparison of the cost of the two systems was in favour of the oil. The latter needs to be renewed every six weeks or two months. In addition to considerably lessening the dust nuisance, the local authorities claim that the use of oil is beneficial to the road, as it tends to bind the surface together and keeps the water out of the road. The North Sydney aldermen have, however, sanctioned the carrying out of experiments with chloride of calcium, and also with tar, but the opinion held by the officers is that the oil will prove the most effective and less costly material. The difficulty in the way of extending the system has been the necessity for levying a special rate, but as the new Act allows the Council to pay for such work out of the general account, a more general use of the oil will probably be resorted to. The Council have received numerous inquiries from the other States, including the Melbourne and Hobart Councils, as to the success of the system, and to each an encouraging reply was sent.