The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1908. DRAINAGE FOR GISBORNE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2184, 7 May 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1908. DRAINAGE FOR GISBORNE.

The members of the Gisborne (Borough Council have possibly only performed an obvious duty in deckling to submit to tho ratepayers Air Alestayor’s scheme for providing sewerage for Gisborne, bub wo shall bo very much surprised if the residents -vote in favor of the proposals therein contained. Tho advantages of the scheme are easily told. For the sum oi £55,000 it is hoped to provide sewerage for tho central area of tho town to pass through an outfall that will also suffice for subsequent extensions. On top of this must come another loan, of which tho amount is not specified, to cover the cost of connections from the houses to tho street. For the expenditure thus made Uio residents within the areas mentioned will be ablo to have nightsoil and household slops disposed of in the most convenient and sanitary manner possible. There are, however, disadvantages that must ho very seriously considered before the ratepayers decide to embark upon what is looked upon by many as a luxury for a town in its preliminary stages of development. To begin with, -tho cost of maintenance will bo fairly heavy, for besides the interest on tho large sum of money borrowed, there will also he heavy charges for 'upkeep that will in the aggregate constitute a substantial burden upon the taxpayers. It has been claimed that much of this will he regained in the saving of the cost of the present system of disposing of nightsoil, hut it must bo borne in mind that the existing arrangements will havo to he continued until tho very remote period when tho whole of the borough is brought within the scheme. Thus it will ho seen that very little saving on this head is likely to be affected by removing only one portion of the town from tho necessity of being served by the pan system. An aspect that needs moro careful consideration than the Council appears to-have giveu tho matter is tho troublesome one of connections. It is ouo thing to bring sewerage pipes along a street but it is another to compel the residents to undertake the heavy expense of connecting their premises with it. To get over this difficulty it is proposed to raiso a loau to be made repayable within 5 years. An estimate has been givon that the average cost of connection, which presumably includes tho provision of sanitary water closets, sinks, etc., and flushing pipes, will be about £2O. If these figures can he accepted as correct, the ratepayer within the favored area will bo asked to pay, not only an additional rate for tho sewerage scheme, but also, for five years, a special irate of £4 per year to pay for tho connections. Another viow of the case is the inequality of the cost of connections. One person may have his house situated within easy reach of the street and already fitted' with such sanitary conveniences that £lO might covor the cost of connection, whilst for his neighbor the cost might be more than double that amount. It would scarcely be just for each to pay an equal share of the loan in such a case. However, when further details are .made available as to how this loan is to be collected, it may be found that all these points have been equitably dealt with. Another unsatisfactory feature about the present discussion is the fact that the urgent necessity for arranging for tho disposal of storm ivater has almost been lost sight of. The Alestayer scheme, to our mind, is too expensive for the Borough at the present time, 'particularly in view of the fact that tho Harbor scheme lis also in the air and we shall await with interest- the details of the more modest scheme the new Mayor has promised to bring beforo the Council. - Sanitation we must havo, but it would be the height of folly to hastily accept a scheme, which, before it can be mado operative for tho - whole ’borough, will have cost over £125,000, involving an enormous annual outlay particularly when there is reason to believe that an entirely satisfactory scheme can lie obtained for considerably less than half the money.