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Otago Daily Times, Issue 3684, 25 November 1873, Page 2

In our advertisement columns there have appeared for some time past drafts of two proposed n&vf city bye-laws, numbered

respectively XT I. and XIII. We briefly alluded to them on their first appearance, but the former of the two, from:its nature and importance, demands more extended and particular notice than it then received^ in order that the object of its publication may be fully realised. Whether we have respect to the object sought to be achieved or the means whereby it is proposed to; accomplish it, it is seldom that it falls to the lot of a City Council to devise a byelaw of equal importance. The general health of the city, and the removal of whatever is, or is likely to be, detrimental to it, are matters in which every citizen must, or should, feel deeply interested., and these are matters with which the proposed bye-law is specially designed.~tq deal! As the object is a most important one, so the; means proposed to be-em-ployed, and authority proposed to be given for the purpose of carrying them into effect, are of a character which gives to the bye-law itself a personal interest to every householder and property holder in the City. The bje-law is to be brought Tip for the approval of the City Council at its meeting to-morrow, and, as it trenches somewhat upon the private rights of landlords and tenants, or at least upon some of their hitherto unrestricted personal rights, choice, and action in the management of their respective properties or holdings in the matters to which the proposed bye-law specially refers, no time should be lost in making acquaintance with its several provisions, aa should the bye-law be passed in its present form, there will be no excuse for persons who may deem themselves aggrieved by its after action, if they allow the opportunity of remonstrance to escape unimproved, which the publication of the proposed law is designed to afford. It will undoubtedly occur to most people that the power asked for by the City Council is pretty-con-siderable, and of a character very different irom that which in a usual way falls within the sphere of a City Council bye-law, at least among ourselves. This is undoubtedly true, but on the other hand it must be borne in mind that the object proposed to be accomplished is also a most important one, and one that can be achieved only by a moderate concession of individual right for the accomplishment of a great and general good. At the same time, the members of the Council will doubtless see at once the importance of making their draft upon the hitherto freely enjoyed private rights of the citizens as small as-possibly may be consistent with the attainment of ample power to enable them to accomplish their very laudable object. On this point we have just one suggestion to offer, specially in respect to section 4. It may seem to some to be but a trivial matter, but it may be a very serious one. The section, as it stands in the advertised draft, reads thus: • —" 4. The Inspector of Nuisances for the time being appointed by the Council, or any other person who may be employed by the Council for the purpose of this Bye-law, shall have power, at all reasonable hours in the day or night, to enter into, or upon, any building or land within the City for the purpose of effecting any such removal, as in the last preceding section specified ; or of: examining the condition of any privy, cesspool, drain, or closet pan, or of cleansing, constructing, altering, or repairing the same." It will be seen that the two words "day " and '** night," refer in common to the twd purpose "of effecting such removal," &c., and for the purpose of " examining the condition," &c. Now, while we are quite prepared to support the Council in their claim for authority to delegate to their servant the "right to enter during the night" the house or premises of any citizen who refuses himself to remove therefrom a dangerous nuisance, we fail to see why he should have the same right simply for the purpose "of examining the condition .. . constructing, al

tering, or repairing the same." All this could surely be done during some of the many of "all reasonable hours in the day," without placing in the hands of any man the arbitrary power to enter >t will any citizen's house or'.preniises in the^ dead of the night upon the sole pretence of his wanting to *• examine the ;condition," &c. All that is really wanted might easily be accomplished by dividing the two words, '* day "and "njght," and placing them so as to-to .give the right to enter by day simply .for the purposes. of * * examining;, ; altering, f repiiring,"i&c, and by night for that of the " removal,' &c. The question: is an important one in itself, and due that should not be lightly esteemed by the citizens. It also opens up the much wider questions of the general drainage and the mam sewerage of the city at large. But into these matters we cannot at present ga"