THE COLONIST. Published Every Morning. Tuesday, February 8, 1910. THE SEWERAGE WORKS.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12767, 8 February 1910, Page 2

THE COLONIST. Published Every Morning. Tuesday, February 8, 1910. THE SEWERAGE WORKS.

The report of Mr Robert Hay, M.lnst. C.E., on the city sewerage scheme, finally absolves all those who in the early stages of the work repeatedly and emphatically protested against the manner in whioh it was being carried out, from tlie suspicion engendered in certain quarters that they wero actuated by other than proper motives. It has now been doubly proved by expert testimony that their fears for the efficiency of the system had good fcause, and that the Council in its contemptuous indifference to the opinions of tlie considerable body of ratepapeirs who constituted" tlie dissentients, was guilty of an error of judgment of the gravest nature. It is now obvious that had the Council conceded tho respect they deserved to the views of those whose commonsense revolted from the methods it was pursuing, instead of making the matter part and parcel of its absurd disputes with the designing engineer, the bad workmanship and loss to' . tlie city which havo now to be deplored, would have been avoided, and we should besides have had a complete and very suitable system, in place of the incomplete and defective one which has resulted in a -greater cost than the ' drain-v age of '■'' the city should properly have involved. Had the work been carried out as Mr Mesthe work been carried out as Mr'Mestayer contemplated, and under his supervision, we are confident that long ere this, the sanitation question would have ceased to trouble th© city. After the Health Department had reported unfavourably upon the work, the Council took a very proper course in calling for a report from an independent engineer, but it is to be regretted that the Council did not follow .the matter to a logical conclusion and require an actual examination of the pipes in places where thero .was any suspicion of faulty work. Mr Hay's inspection, superficial as it was, has resulted iv a vindication of the Health Dopartment's report, though he differs from tho Department in apportioning the responsibility for the mischief. We do not consider that the Department can be absolved from blame for the grave

defects which its inspection allowed to pass, but this does not improve the Council's position, as the extreme laxity of_ the inspection was repeatedly brought under the Council's attention with. mo better result' than to call down upon the devoted heads of those so offending further gibes and sneers. The Council is now faced with the task of making the defective sewers efficient, and it has been advised by Mr Hay upon tho best means to set about it. That work, whether the Council likes it or not, will be done under tho Hea'.tli Department's supervision, and it would be in the best interests of the city if tho two bodies worked together, and not at cross purposes. Li regard to the nuisance caused by sewage accumulating on the foreshore, for which MiHay reports that the -septic tank cannot be blamed, as it discharges far out in deep water, it may ho pointed out thn* no one suggested that such a state of things could arise from the, working of the tank under ordinary conditions. The nuisance was partly attributable no doubt to the discharge from the old sewer being diverted by tho currents instead of bciing conveyed directly into deep water, but it became insupportable when the officials, for reasons best known to themselves, opc-ned the by-pass valve at the corner of Halifax and Waimea streets, thus diverting a quantity of untreated sewage from the septic tank to the foreshore within a few feet of the high--1 way. It was to prevent a recurrence of this state of affairs that the Health Department recommended the sealing of the valve. When the necessary repairs to tha sewers have been effected, and tlie volume of water flowing through them is brought within reason, able compass, there will "of course be no shadow of excuse for ever using the by-pass under ordinary conditions. It is satisfactory to learn from his "report that Mr Hay is of opinion that the scheme as designed by Mr Mestayer is a very suitable one for the city, and that the septic tank with its present capacity should satisfy requirements for a considerable time to .come. On the latter "point especially some doubt has existed, which should be removed by Mr Hay's report.