PUSH NELSON AHEAD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 14 October 1926, Page 7

PUSH NELSON AHEAD

A CLEAN-UP ADVOCATED

(To The Editor.) Sir, During the past several weeks much lias been written about "pushing Nelson ahead. ' ’I he subject has been approached from several viewpoints and discussed from various angles ol thought. Correspondents have come forward from both town and country. I lie discussion has been lively and interesting—and the various arguments have been ably advanced. Hut all this will be fruitless if it does not lead to definite ami. 1 may add. to almost immediate results. One of Nelson's chief failings is its dilatory character: it is given to procra.-M inal ion. delaying tlie peih'-i'lualii e of duties, tardy. slow, behindhand. We m.,1 only ate given to wasting our own lime, but in so doing we needlessly and inevitably waste the lime of other people as well. Like the old Maori we are firm adherents of ilie "Tailma." the "wait-a-bit doctrine. W'e take our duties, if not sadly, at all events leisurely and deliberately. W'e detest burry, and as a general rule abhor promptness- all of which lead to loss to ourselves and loss to others, too. 1 notice that in other parts of the Dominion they have been going in lor a "Health week.” What about a "health week” for Nelson? There are plenty of back-yards, both in the. business area ot the ci’ty and also in the residential quarters that would lie all the belter, lor a good spring cleaning. And do the job thoroughly whilst you are on it. 4 lie hoi, weather may burst, in upon ns now at anv moment. Now is the time to see to this. Stimulated by the gentle yet. firm promptings of the. sanitary inspector. our movements should be both brisk and thorough. There is enough stinking rubbish lying about in Nelson to poison many times its present population and it is all the more dangerous because usually it is not seen by i the ordinary passer-bv. But it s there all (lie same. It is only our City Council that lias its "midden at its trout, door! It surely borrowed that idea from Scotland? Or was it from Belgium? Our liovs at tile front tell me they fell in with the idea, too, in certain parts of France !

A midden is ;i pit for ;ill manner of unsightly refuse in tin- place. where every visitor approaching the home can lint lull help see. it—arid smell it, too. Wouldn't it he possible to shift this unsightly and smellful rubbish tip to some spot a little less conspicuous before the coming summer is on us? Is the idea, absolutely beyond the range of "practical polities? ' It so, 1 lor one would be glad to know who said so! (five reasons, tell us why it can't be done. This filthy rubbish tip has been written about, in The "Mail ’ for several years past. It has been caricatured in our street processions. Everybody in his or her heart knows the thing is obnoxious, hut yel nothing is done. Well, now is the time, to do something. There are —unfortunately for us—many men idle just now. Were they employed they would be earning money and would be of some use to themselves and to other people, too. In this general cleaning up, which the authorities should insist upon, it would give temporary employment to many men who are now daily forced to walk our streets. Home of them will soon be walking the. streets nightly, too—unless times brighten. And the sky is not very clear. In the cleaning up of the town —getting ready for the summer visitors and helping our own health—the Council should lead the way. It is the Council who should set the example. That is just what they are there for. That the new swimming baths will he ready for the coming season is not at all likely. They may he finished in time for next winter's skating—and that is all the more reason why the swimming resorts both in the Hirer Maitai and also at Tahunn. Beach should be made comfortable and attractive for everybody. There are fine pools in the Maitai, but a, few of them are dangerous to the inexperienced swimmer and the over-ven-turesome. 1 hero should be some lifesaving apparatus nt readiness, and it surely would not empty the city exchequer to put up a. few spring boards, too. "Small tilings,’ - you'll perhaps sav ; hut very often it is the small things that count the most in the sum total of the reckoning. I have intentionally left other vital points for others to “get going - ' on. It's only by persistent hammering away that we can hope to achieve anything in this peaceful little spot. —I am, etc., A LIVE CITIZEN. Nelson, loth Oc-t.