The Evening Star. TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4083, 28 March 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star. TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 1876.

CotjNtjtiiLOß WoodlAnid utßuds to move “ fc tat a brick sewer be laid down under Frederick street to the Bay.” do not doubt his good intention, but we trust that his proposal will be negatived, and the result will be the opening up of the larger question of drainage oi the City. Piece-meal drainage, based upon no definite plan, or upon one that is calculated to do more harm than good, can, at best, be only waste of the money of the ratepayers. The drainage difficulty *® # one that cannot too soon be grappled with. In the present state of knowledge as applied to agriculture, money invested in City drainage cannot recoup itself It is not on a similar footing with gas ancT water supply, for its necessity and advantages are not so obvious. Every one has an idea that dwease is generated by bad drainage,

yet thousands court the evils they profess to fear. They build houses on swamps rather than incur the cost of draining or filling them up, or they invite invasion by miasmata rather than permit their neighbor to put a culvert for his premises through their properties. We doubt very much if even an annual heavy doctor’s bill, in most cases, ever suggests an inquiry into the , causes that have led to the cold or fever that has rendered professional services a necessity. There is far too much of that sort of fatalism lingering among us, that leads to the notion that sickness is a providential dispensation, for society to be prepared to sacrifice something for the sake of health. This pernicious doctrine still determines the conduct of men in the affairs of life, and behind it they try to shelter themselves against responsibility, and excuse themselves for their unwillingness to make a slight pecuniary contribution for the public good. Our police reports so frequently disclose instances of moral obliquity on the part of occupiers of premises, who do not recognise their liability to prevent or remove nuisances, that we are justified in assuming the majority of our population imagine themselves badly • treated in being compelled to clear away substances that, if allowed to remain and putrify, might tyring disease or death upon themselves or their neighbors. We do not know that Dunedin, in this respect, is more blamable than other large and increasing cities. But every year adds to the necessity for dealing comprehensively bhe matter, and. we shall he glad if Woodland’s motion induces the City Council to give attention to it as a whole—not as a piecemeal scheme. We doubt very much whether they are competent to deal with it unaided by scientific men. It may not be very flattering to them, but in such a matter truth is of too much consequence to justify complimentary silence. Were it merely a question of levels and of comparative cost between one scheme and another, men trained to business Would be quite competent to decide. The City Surveyor could easily adjust his levels so that water would not be asked to run up-hill, and the rough test of contractors’ tenders would very likely settle the other. But a far more important problem lies beyond which requires knowledge of a very different kind from pounds, shillings, or pence, or from arrangement of drains based upon the correct application of the theory of gravitation. One hundred thousand pounds may be spent Oti a , water supply, and its results known; fifty thousand pounds may be laid out on gasworks, and, if properly worked and well managed, the area that can be success fully lighted and the cost can be ascertained beforehand. But it is another I matter with drainage. One hundred thousand pounds may be easily mis-spent in that, as has been proved again and again at Home. It is not enough to get sewage out of sight and smell. A system to be perfect should place it where its deposit can- do no harm. Councillor Woodland proposes to discharge the Frederick street sewer into the Bay, although the ablest scientific authorities, both medical and engineering, have shown the evils that. are almost certain to result from such a plan. It would seem enough in his vie w to get rid of our filth, no matter who may have to suffer for our sakes. Only let Dunedin be sweetened, the tide may carry the nuisance to the shores of the bay, deposit the sewage near Portobello, or between the City and the Heads: Dunedin property is well rid of it—anybody else is welcome to it. We dare say Councillor Woodland would be very indignant if the Imperial Government were to propose making Hew Zealand a convict Colony. We have no doubt we should have his earnest and sincere aid In resisting pour the moral filth of Great Britain into our midst 3 yet this motion of his, measuring small things by great, is a similar effort. We grant it Would be better to endure the physical danger than the moral, |but in principle it is the same \ it is assumed that duty is fulfilled by removing a nuisance on to someone else’s shoulders, It is time .to supersede such vague and ill defined notions of public duty by clearer and sounder views. The drainage of the City is becoming imperatively necessary, hut it can only be efficacious by preserving the waters of the Bay from pollution, T;