THE COLONIST. Published Every Morning. Saturday, February 27. 1909. THE SEWERAGE SCHEME.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12475, 27 February 1909, Page 2

THE COLONIST. Published Every Morning. Saturday, February 27. 1909. THE SEWERAGE SCHEME.

The City Council took -the only proper and sensible step last night in deciding to raise the necessary money, by way of further loan, to complete the sewerage of the city as speedily as possible. A far seeing Legislature has made it possible, in cases where the Original loan- falls short of the amount required to complete' "a public work, for. the.' necessary additional sum to be raised without a poll of the ratepayers, provided it does not' exceed ten per cent of the amount of the original loan. The wisdom of this provision could not have, had better exemplification than in the present instance j'-»in which it is a matter of urgent necessity to continue the work with as little interruption as possible. The Council recognised that to discon,-; tinue the work at an incomplete stage would leave the city in no better position. ; froni a sanitary point of, view, than, before the scheme was undertaken, besides- entailing- a distinct ;breaoh of faith, with ;a large section of the community.' One of the prime 'arguments. which induced the ratepayers to sanction the project in the first iplace, was that efficient drainage on :the septic tank, system, the • effluent therefrom being discharged far out in ;deep water, would remove the constant :mcnace_ to health .offered by the exceedingly ■crude-system, which •is now to ; be, entirely superseded/ .Not .only was this danigerous in "that . it deposited ~ the filth ;ol the' city on the;miid flat in close •proximity to busy thoroughfares and ■populous residential areas, but the brick sewers-theniselvesfand the house iconnßctibnsj'Cdnstructed on antiquated "principles, are .insanitary and objectionable to a degree. The absence of ,'efiiciont drainage has in ,the past been■one of bur chief disadvantages, arid a system of which half wds modern and efficient and the other half obsolete and inefficient^ would not have proved moro satisfactory. ' l It-isnotto be exgectod that the Council's action; will be" -'universally... applauded, but the objectors 'must Tjeariri .mind that'ina case r pf r -this nature;ithe; be it ever : s6- small, is entitled to as. much -consideration/ as the majority, and. it, must- also be rememr. bered that' those who would possibly have negatived further borrowing had the matter gone to a poll, live for the

most part in the newly and well sewered areas of the city. The report of Mr Mestayer is an interesting docu--ment, but it is not of so much value as it would have been had Mr Mestayer's examination of the work been more, thorough. We contend that a thorough examination of an extensive sewerage system cannot be made in a couple of days. That Mr Mestayer's inspection was not more minute was not, of course, ' his fault ; he had merely to carry out the wishes of the Council, which he did. to the letter. Still, the defects in the work he points out, defects that will necessitate the re-opening of three streets at least, furnish ample justification for the vigorous protest made some months ago against the Council's methods. As far as the sewering of the other areas is concerned, Mr Mestayer is able to report that under the direction of the City Engineer, the work has been well and ...faithfully carried out, and the public will join with us in congratulations to the City Engineer upon this satisfactory- feature of the consulting engineer's report.