The Globe. WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 1876.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 655, 26 July 1876, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 1876.

The present condition of the streets and footpatliß of the city has now become such as to call for some immediate action on the part of the City Council. Not alone those in the more remote portions, but the main thoroughfares, are in such a state as to render traversing them anything but pleasant. Away from the streets which are asphalted, the side walks are simply so much liquid mud, diversified here and there with pools of water through which pedestrians have to wade. Such a state of things is we consider scarcely creditable to a city like Christchurch. The Council have at their disposal ample funds, far larger than any of their predecessors, and we are at a loss why they week after week allow the streets to remain in the disgraceful condition in which they now are. In some of the streets, notably Salisbury, Colombo, Manchester, and others that we could name, the footpaths are simply impassable for ladies and nearly so for any pedestrian. But not only is this the case with regard to those referred to, but the crossings of the main streets are allowed to remain mere lakes of liquid mud. In fact Christchurch at present bids fair to acquire the unenviable reputation of being the dirtiest city in New Zealand. Our City Councillors seem to shut their eyes persistently to a state of things which is patent even to a casual visitor, and allow the ratepayers to wade through mud and mire without any effort being made to alter or remedy the evil. It may be said that with the staff of men in their employ, they are unable to carry on works extending over a large area. Very possibly so, but then the remedy is easy. Let them increase the number of hands. Our contemporary the Lyttelton Times had a paragraph recently with regard to the number of unemployed here, which was telegraphed from one end of the colony to the other. There is therefore, if we accept the statements therein contained as true, no lack of men who would only be too glad of employment for a week or two Surely the funds of the city could not be put to better purpose than rendering the footpaths and streets tolerably passable. The mistake so far as we see has been in the carrying out on too large a scale, the concrete channelling of the various streets, without following it up with an equally vigorous prosecution of the work of reforming and gravelling the side paths. These have been cut about by the operation of channelling, hence the state of things to which we have called attention. Had the work of channelling and completing the foothpaths proceeded contemporaneously, there would have been little or no cause of complaint. But it has not been so. The footpaths have been left in an unfinished state, and the setting in of wet weather, which should have been contemplated, and duly provided has rendered them in the condition they now are. We trust the City Council will awake from the apathy which seems to have beset them in this matter, and that they will take some vigorous measures to remove what has now become a positive nuisance. There is another matter to which we desire to allude, and it is this—the Council possesses we believe a patent street sweeper or scraper. By means of this the crossings could easily be kept at any rate in passable condition. But its advent in the streets is but of rare occurrence, indeed the greater part of the time it remains snugly ensconced in the Council yard. We see no reason why during the wet weather this should not be used daily. It would at any rate be some small benefit to those whose avocations lead them to use the thoroughfares often. As we said if the present staff is insufficient by all means let it be increased. Surely with the ample funds at their disposal the least we can ask of the City Council is that the streets shall be in a condition to be used without the necessity of wading through slush and mud even in the centre of the city. Our Councillors would earn the thanks of the ratepayers far more if they achieved this than spending their time devising measures for the removal of itinerant salesmen from Cathedral Square. Had the sum spent in erecting fences with this object been utilised in the direction of cleansing the streets the expenditure would have been of far greater benefit to the general body of citizens.