THE Otago Witness. DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1802.

Otago Witness, Issue 553, 5 July 1862, Page 4

THE Otago Witness. DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1802.

Pew things will more forcibly strike a person who, at intervals, visits a' rising colonial city, than the extremely rapid manner in which it grows and improves, not only in size, but in the appearance of its buildings, in the character of its trade, in the style of its public amusements, and in the general aspect of its population. Those of our readers who remember Melbourne in 1852, and who may, from time to time, have visited it since, will be able to appreciate our meaning. They will recall the dingy houses, the mucky streets, the ill-dressed crowds of people, the dirty hotels, the rude and boorish attendants, the coarse pleasures, and the' generally rough and uninviting character of the city and its inhabitants. They will be able to remember how, in the short space of three or four years, the city had begun to put on an appearance worthy of the capital of a great colony ; how the streets were paved, drained, and lighted ; how theatres had sprung iito existence; how fine hotels had been built, and how most of the appliances of luxury and convenience were to be had. although at no small cost. They will then, bringing their thoughts down to the present day, see with the mind's eye the clean, handsome streets; the noble public and private buildings; the luxurious hotels; the railways; 'he public conveyances; the brilliant gas-light-; tle never failing Van Yean water, wl ich brought from a distan<eo' twenty miles, is supplied to every house, Hows in every gutter, and is at any moment ready to extinguish fire; and comparing the present with the past of only ten years back, may well wonder that so much should have been done in so short a time. Melbourne is, it is true, an exceptional instance, the great attraction of the gold in Victoria having been the main instrument in forcing the development of the city. But Melbourne has, to a certain extent, and on a smaller scale, a parallel in Dunedin. Dunedin, like Melbourne, was before the gold-fields, a very quiet dingy little town. But a rush of people came, and the scenes of Melbourne in 1 8.52 were reproduced in Otago. Crowded hotels aad boarding houses, foul streets, thronged with eager, unwashed multitudes— the whole thing was re-enacted, only on a smaller stage. There was the pame hurry to provide accommodation of any kind ; the same eager struggle to obtain anything of a stand for business purposes ; the same sudden rise in the value of proj-erty, and the same general disorganisation of society. But Dunedin is now entering upon a fresh phase of its existence. Now that the first rush of population is over, and that there is a sort of lull in the excitement, people are \manimously turning their attention to the permanent improvement of their properties, and of the city generally-. On every side we see handsome shops, fine hotels, and substantial stores rising, where, only a few months ago, the flax grew wild— the ■ streets being cut through hills, cavities being filled, pavements laid, new jetties run out, street lamps erected, and a variety of other improvements being carried out, which, when completed, will go far . to make Dunedin what it should be— a city worthy of being the capital of a gold-produc-ing province, and the commercial metropolis of New Zealand. But it will not do to be satisfied with this measure of progress, great as it undoubtedly will be. There are other improvements to be brought about which are absolutely essential to a city of the pretensions of Dunedin. Of these the most obvious are a proper supply of water for domestic purposes, and for the extinction of fires; the laying "on of gas throughout the city; and the providing of a complete and systematic drainage. Without these Dunedin can never be more than a fifth-rate colonial town, it will never rise to the dignity of a metropolitan city. We are pleased to notice that one of these requirements, that of gas, is likely soon to be supplied by the enterprise of a private company, which is making a very business-like start. The other two, drainage and water supply, are so intimately connected that it is impossible to consider them separately. With many natural streams of water running through ' it, Dunedin is perhaps worse supplied with that necessary to health, pure water, than any other city of its sHze and population. With most of its streets on natural slopes, it is, perhaps, one of the worst drained cities in the world. In a salubrious climate, and exposed to ocean breezes, it is by no means a healthy city, All its natural advantages seem to go for nothing or worse than nothing ; and if its imputation had increased during the last four months at the same rate asinjthe four months immediately preceding, a pestilence of some kind would have been almost inevitable. Medical men have analyzed the water the people drink, and pointed out its umvholesomenes9, and have shown the danger arising from the accumulations of filth in various parts of the town. The press has taken up the subject from time to time, and endeavoured to get something practical undertaken, but without the slightest effect. The filth accumulates more and more, the noxious stenches become more and more offensive, the drinking water becomes daily more polluted/and nothing but the high winds which sweep through the town and carry off the accumulated vapors, saves Dunedin from an epidemic.

We are not unaware of the difficulties that must always exist in dealing with the drainage of a large city, and we know, also, that to drain Dunedin will be by no means so easy a task as might be thought by the casual observer, who, seeing the sloping hills, would be led to imagine that nothing could be easier than to drain them. We know, of course, that the difficulty of drainage only commences when the foot of the "hills is reached, and that it then b'ccomes a question, how to dispose of the offensive matter ? It will not do to let it flow into the Bay, for," as there is no current to take it out to sea, it would soon become an intolerable nuisance. Neither could it, we believe, be run off to the ocean beach, because, if we are not mistaken, there is no fall. It might perhaps be disposed of on the swamp and converted into manure, but we hesitate to express an opinion as to whether that would answer. But we submit that this is not a question for us to solve. As public journalists it is our duty to direct attention to public wants, leaving to others the duty of supplying them. The engineering difficulties of draining Dunedin may be considerable, but if there were no engineering difficulties there would be no occasion for en. gineers. Every man to his trade. In like manner with the question of watt r supply. We decidedly object to drink the polluted stuff which flows through the different gullies that intersect the town, and if hvmg on a hill side to have superadded the labor of carrying the worthless fluid up some steep acclivity; like the peasant who inhabited the cottage on the hill, of which Cowrer wrote;

" Its elevated site forbids the wretch To drink sweet waters of the crystal well ; He dips his bowl into the weedy ditch, And heavy laden, brings his beverage home, Farfetched and little worth." We object, we say, to this sort of thing, and on behalf of ourselves and others, we protest against it; but at the same time we are obiiged-to leave it to others more competent than ourselves to determine whether a supply of pure water may be best obtained by damming back those little mountain streamlets which now in their way through the town become so foul; or by erecting waterworks and stand pipes at the Water of Leith, at some point sufficiently removed from the town to ensure the purity of the stream; or lastly, whether there may not be some source more eligible than either. All we ask is that proper persons be employed to see after these things, and we have no doubt that their professional skill will find a way ofeffecting what is required. But no time ought to be lost, for every month increases the difficulty of dealing with the evil or supplying the want ; and, moreover, with the spring, a large inlinx of population may again be expected, and there is no telling what may be the result of a second season oi' crowding.