Untitled

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume 1, Issue 1, 19 December 1891, Page 4

With the growth of a community and : the aggregation of population in -a centre, there invariably arises certain rsanitary problems which are bound to receive attention. Slowly but surely ■ this little township of ours is increasing -; in size, and the questions of water supply and drainage-must shortly bo studied. Hitherto for the former we have leiied upon the river, the rainfall and the apologies for wells which we have. Of the latter, with one or two exceptions, it may-be safely asserted that it is simply a flirtation with typhoid and dysentery to use the,water which accumulates in these waterholes, which are nothing but reservoirs for swamp drainage. The rainfall, too,as most precarious, and cannot be relied upon for a healthy water supply. .Thenthere is the 'river. Now say what • anyone likes, in the nature of things, tho river in anyeentre must eventually ■ become the main drain. Legislation : will-not stop it, and nioukwying with bye-laws is "no way ,to fight with the centre of gravity. All so.ts and conditions of refuse and debris -will find., their,way into.the river, and County Councils -can. no more -stop it than Canute could order back tho rising tide, or the American lady take chargo of the Atlantic with .her mop. 'The only way to get on with that obstinate creature Dame Nature isto'let her 1 have her own way. Therefore, we say,dfit so ordered that the river must act -as our scavenger, and othwr water supplies are inadequate, we must look elsewnere for the same. Here- we "have ©anro Nature, though • obstinate, -kindly playing right into our 'hands. _'Tke ' idea of conducting the Tararild and . iKomata creeks intoPaeroa for domestic and other purposes is no new one. ■ It has been in the air for some time, and . hus- been seriously talked of by sensible - men as a feasible and and likely proposal, and it is this that we should strongly advocate to'be done. Indeed, any one-horse prophet can see that it is a thing that is bound to come off sooner or later. The assurance of a first-class supply of pure water, the certain reduction of insurances and the establishment of a number of petites industries needing small power, would amply repay both in satisfaction.arid hard cash the trouble and expense of the work. Indeed the industries need not be small ones. The field is opea . to almost any manufacturing industry ie this district. With the cheap | freight to Auckland that is bound to ■obtain if there were sufficient goods to carry, .and with cheap water power, Paeroa could easily compete -with any place in the province for timberworking, fellinongery, brewing, bone crushing, woodworking, and the whole gamut of power-requiring industries. There are overwhelming arguments to be used on this matter, to which we hope again to revert. '