MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11535, 21 November 1900, Page 7

MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS.

TO THE EDITOR, Sir,—Two years ago there was a cry for froeh blood in our City Council; Mr. D. Goldie was elected amid a flourish of trumpets as Mayor of the city, and new blood wa. introduced • among the members until scarcely any of the members of two years ago remain. This-was done in the hopo that we would have some improvement in municipal matters, as during each, recurring summer we iiad boon threatened with water famine; typhoid fever was rampant on account of the wretched condition of our drains, and the general sanitary system of the oity was deplorable. Mr. Goldio and his colleagues have succeeded in pulling tilings to pieces generally by discharging the town clerk, the city engineer, and other officers, but what have they done as regards building up? We have the same fear of a water famine, with all its consequent danger to the lives of the citizens, Ihe same rotten system of drainage, the same suffering and loss to human life through typhoid, and, as far as wo can see, the samo stato of affairs is likely to continue until wo can get men on the Council who really understand why they are put there and what their duties are. On reading your account of the proceedings of _ last night's meeting of the Council I could not help noticing the confusion which prevailed concerning the complaint of the Cycling League as to the present state of the roads. What do a body of men, composed as they are, of chemists, blacksmiths. lawyers, drapers, grocers, shoemakers, sawmillers, etc., knowabout roadmaking and the hundred and one things incidental to the works necessary to keep a city of the magnitude of Auckland in a proper state to live in? Worthy citizens though they may be and are, thoy are incapable of such work. We have one of the most beautiful spots for a city on the face of the earth being spoilt through ehoer ignorance. I ma): be wrong, but my opinion is that the. main duty of a City Council is to provide the sinews of war and see that the rates are equitably and justly expended. As for their being expected, individually or collectively, to bo experts in road-making, drainage-work, scavenging, etc., I feel certain it was never intended.

What we have been suffering from over since Auckland lias been a city is the want of a 'thoroughly capable municipal engineer. I was hoping that Mr. Goldie had grasped tho position when he began to discharge the old officials, but as far as can now be seen things would have been just as well left alone. Look at the mess wo have got into with our water supply. Wo sent for Mr. Mestayer from Wellington for a few clays, to report on a water supply. What was it possible for him to do in the time at his disposal? Someone suggested an auxiliary supply from Henderson s Creek; no doubt it was quite feasible, but what was the state of the water with which they proposed to supply tho city? Fortunately the Council were diverted from their intention of supplying water which most people maintain was polluted, for one of our citizens camo forward with a scheme promising at least to give a supply of fairly pure water. But how do the Council handle it? They are simply playing with it, whereas if they had a competent engineer at the head of affairs we might bo able to get a cheap permanent supply of water in a reasonable time. Without an export at tho head of affairs they will drift into a chaotic state; each of the councillors considering himself an engineer, and. they will spend thousands of pounds of the ratepayers' money for very little permanent useful work. Our Premier once said that the curse of New Zealand has been incompetent engineering. This also applies to municipal engineering; Auckland is an object lesson in that direction. One of the first things that our civic fathers should do to save further bungling is to procure a first-class municipal engineer. .They can be bought, but not for a paltry four or five hundred a year, which is a mere pittance for an up-to-date man; a thousand or fifteen hundred a year might do it. Look at some of our large commercial companies. Do they pay their managers four or five hundred a year? No; fifteen hundred or two thousand is not considered an excessively high salary for a competent man. How much more do we want a thoroughly up-to-date man at the head of our civic affairs? The live:; of the whole population of the city aro at stake, and thousands of pounds are being wasted for the want of someone to manage m:\ttcrs in an efficient manner. Medical men state that for every death 'i- m typhoid fever someone should be hung, for it is an entirely - prevontible disease. When such an engineer is procured, and I maintain that such a one can bo procured, ikon the Mayor and councillors should be guided by him. Ho would save more than his *alarv each year, to say nothing of the lives that might 'ha saved by having a clean, well-watered and drained city, which, we will never have under existing oiroumstances.—l am etc, Murdoch McLean. Mount Albert, November 16, 1900.