THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1900.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11535, 21 November 1900, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1900.

Our citizens may read with profit a letter which we print in another column by Mr. Murdoch McLean, contractor, on our municipal affairs. He gives expression to a feeling of disappointment which we believe to be widespread, and he also points out the direction in which a remedy must be sought. Mr. McLean, in a brief historical retrospect, shows that with the advent of Mr. Goldie to the Mayoralty very great changes were made in the working of the municipal machine. The town clerk and the city engineer were discharged, with the view of inaugurating a better state of affairs. We were all aware that great changes were required. We all knew that a city water supply was urgent and imperative. We knew that a. drainage system had to be carried out on a definite plan. We knew that the streets were badly made and badly kept. There was a cry for new blood in the Council. The Ratepayers' Association was established so that an outside body should watch the action of the councillors. When Mr. Goldie was placed in the position of Mayor we all made up our minds that old things had passed away, and that all things were about to become new.

Well, during the two years he has been in office, Mr. Goldie has laboured hard in the public interest. He has not spared himself in any way, and has made sacrifices both in business and health. He has certainly cleared the ground for a better state of affairs. The first disappointment is respecting the water supply. None of us are likely

to forget the painful experience of last summer in regard to water. It was a serious injury to this community. That a city like Auckland, with a vast revenue from endowments, with a huge profit from the water supply we have been able to get along with, should have been for many weeks on a stinted supply of water, with lifts stopped, and manufactures hindered by imperfect supply, with a great danger to public health, was a disgrace to us all. We are not quite "safe this summer from a renewal of the inconvenience and peril. So far the season has been exceptionally wet. But there is time enough yet for the painful experiences of drought. Any day the weather may set in hot and dry, and continue so far into the winter months. And it must be remembered that in Auckland there is a continual increase in the demand for water from the extension of the supply. There are many more consumers since last year. We believe that the best plan would have been, when last season revealed the very dangerous position in which the city was placed, to have made arrangements for a temporary supply from the Onehunga springs, and then to have set about obtaining the best possible supply, whatever might be the cost. Surely it is absurd to talk about temporary supplies in connection with such a city as Auckland, as if it were a township which the process of time and untoward accidents might extinguish. A permanent supply ought to have been set about whenever the Western Springs supply was completed, because it must have been seen that was only for a time, and was dangerous seeing the imminent danger of contamination. As Mr. McLean remarks, we were in considerable danger quite lately of adopting another temporary scheme of a very doubtful character. The plan which is now being carried out will be much better, but we doubt whether even it is sufficient. At all events, we have "wobbled" considerably on this imperative subject. There are several other matters of importance on which we have not yet taken the right line. Our streets are not maintained as they should be. It was left for the cyclists to point out that stones were being placed which never could bind so as to make roads fit for traffic, and then the Council seemed to wake up, whereas it ought to have been part of the mere routine that suitable metal should be used.

The suggestion which Mr. McLean makes for a remedy is, that the Council should procure " a first-class municipal engineer." His opinion ought to have weight, considering his profession and his experience elsewhere. No man could have worked harder at the details of his office and in connection with all city affairs than Mr. Goldie, and the Council as at present constituted is a fairly good one. But the Mayor must in many matters be guided by skilled advice. It seems to us that what Auckland wants at the present time is a vigorous, practical man to whom could be entrusted ail the works of the city. Water supply, the public health, the maintenance of the streets in a condition fit for traffic—all these things depend upon a vigorous civic administration n a right direction, and that cannot be secured unless by having a thoroughly competent man at the head of the outdoor staff. The Council have lately obtained a considerable loan to expend mainly upon water supply and drainage. The expenditure ought to be carefully guarded. We commend this subject of the employment of a first-class municipal engineer to the consideration of the Council.