DISCUSSION AT THE CITY COUNCIL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6795, 15 May 1900, Page 4

DISCUSSION AT THE CITY COUNCIL.

&t the meeting of the City Council last evening' a" letter was read from Mr A. E. Ward, witi regard to the disposal of nighltsoil. Mr Ward wrote that he was prepared to go on with his machine for burn* ing nigtotsoil and rubbish. If requiredi he .would-. Jet- the—Council . have-. specifications send drawings and an explanation; and would ihow the machine at work in a small way.

The itaUks of tihie machine were air-tight,' and had a capacity of 70 tons, and lie wouldi have two cylinders erected at once, so that there -would be no danger <of delay at any time. He was prepared to put up the necessary buildings in a month or so if the Council would give him a guarantee for ten. years far thie sum of £1500 per year, payable monthly, and the lease of seven acres at Shirley fox ten years ; all nightsoil to be his when in the tanks, and all rubbish when j on his ground. He would erect aOl tie ma- | ohinery and buiMngs at his own cost, and he was so sure that his machine would do the work that he wouldi guarantee £1500. J ' Councillor Payling moved that a eommitj tee ' should be appointed to consider -.the letter and report to the Council. He said j that there appeared .to him to be something in Mr Wacd's proposal worthy of considera«- | tlian, and as the Sanitary Committee had j decided not to recommend it he moved the j appointment of another committee. He suggested the following as members of the committee: — Councillors Samuels, Gray, Sorensen, Morris^and Sandstein. : Councillor .Morris asked that has name might be token off the list of the proposed committee. He considered that Councillor Payling's motion was a slight on the Sanitary Committee. Councillor Sandstein seconded the motion pro forma., . Councillor Sorensen sadd [there must be some finality to their actions, and he would decline to serve on the committee. Councillor Gray moved, and; Councillor Kinoaid seconded, as an amendment—" That the letter be referred to the Sanitary Committee to consider and report upon." After a short discussion the amendment was carried. ' Mr J. Brightling wrote, stating that the work of carting rubbish out of *he city had increased of late, and in consequence he asked if the Council would grant him an- increase of £4' los per week on the present amount of has contract, until the "fever for clearing rubbish had abated somewhat." He thought that perhaps a month or six weeks would be sufficient. Councillor Sandstein moved! — "That the letter be referred to the Works Committee, to make the best arrangements pos- j sible." Councillor Gray, in seconding the motion, suggested that the Works Committee should take into consideration the question, of fixing the payment at so much per load. The motion was then put and carried. Dr Symes, Health Commissioner for Canterbury, attended the meeting, and said that hs wished to speak briefly en the disposal of rubbish. A properly-constructed destructor was a very expensive matter, and there were so many considerations to be taken into account that it was not well to do anything precipitately. At the same time, an acute state of things had come about, because the suburban bodies had made complalints, and he had been commissioned by the Government to endeavour to bring about :an understanding. There were, of course, only two ways of disposing of rubbish— burying it and burning it. There were, however, objections to burying rubbish, for fermentation must necessarily take place, and, moreover, heaps of rubbish would always attract rats. At fthe present time, as they were aware, ib was mofc only advisable to destroy rats, but to do away with places likely to harbour them. Then, again, i it was found in growing cities that houses built on places where there had 1 been heaps of rubbish were unhealthy. He contended that if they allowed heaps of rubbish .to accumulate near towns they were morally guilty of doing wrong to those who came after tihem. Within the last few years attention had been paid to the pollution of the soil, for it had teen found that, not only was it necessary to preserve the air and the drinking water from pollution, but the soil also.- He quoted the instances of Dublin and Munich in support of his remarks. He thought fchat he had said sufficient to convince them of the objections to burying Rubbish. The other method of clis- ' posal was to burn the rubbish, and until such time as they were able to erect an up-to-date destructor "they might erect a temporary furnace. Messrs Scott Bros, had informed him that they though* that a simple furnace, with a 60ft chimney, could be put up for about £150. He had, during the last day or two, visited the rubbislhheap at ..Bromley, and also questioned some of the residents, who assured him that an aflnoyance'Vas- caused by "the rubbish. In reply 'to questions, Dr Symes said that if the buildings were not too near other premises it might be possible to economically make use of -a smoke-stack in the city.^JEJiftjauesjtion. of..an»oj3nc6Lor_Qt'herr_. wis& from tibjef- smoke depended - upon- the cnmj ' tJ the combust^jn 3jhe temp-

erature necessary to prevent tihe gases from the chimcey being offensive was 125Qdeg Fahrenheit. In some of the latest destructors steam-jets were introduced into the furnace, and thus, by the creation of .water-, gas, the combustion, was improved* If the rubbish was deficient in carbon this could not be done, and a fan was used instead. . The Mayor thanked Di- Symes.for his suggestions, which*, 'he said, would be> carefully considered by the Council. ■