The Globe. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 808, 24 January 1877, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1877.

At last there seems some probability of the drainage scheme for the City being brought out shortly before the public. The Drainage Board—very properly, we think, and not an instant too soon —passed, a few dayt. ago, what may in truth be called a vote of censure upon the consulting engineer, Mr Carmthers, for the extraordinary delay shofln by him in attending to the work entrusted to his care. Of course it is not our wish to say one word against Mr. Carruthers personally, or professionally ; far from it. But we cannot help feeling strongly that the appointment of that gentleman to the office he now holds under the Board was a mistake from the very beginning The Eugineer-in-Chief of the colony has perhaps had greater respoDsibditiss thrust upon him during the last few years than any other civil servant, and it is likely that the all-important cares of his high office will still continue. No one can well be astonished at the delay experienced by the Board in procuring from Mr. Carruthers those long and patiently expected drainage plans. As a matter of dry fact, the Engineer-in-Chief has scarcely had time to attend to the matter. It was placed in bis bands something like

twelve months ago, and the contours of his scheme have not even reached daylight yet. Something was said, several weeks ago, at a meeting of the Drainage Board, tending to show that the river Avon was likely to be utilised oy Mr. Carruthers for sewage purposes. A howl of. indignation at once arose, and no wonder. Taking for granted the correctness of the premises which thus leaked out, the local press, in some instances, remonstrated loudly against the proposed pollution of the brightest natural ornament Christchurch possesses. Sincet hen, we believe, it lias been authoritatively whispered that no such intention was included in the scheme. A few days, however, we hope, will now settle the question. At the last meeting of the Board, the chairman said that Mr. Carruthers had accidentally arrived in Christchurch, and that the drainage plans would be ready on the following Thursday. He suggested that, as Mr, Carruthers wished to return to Wellington as soon as possible, it would be well to call a special meeting of the Board to suit that gentleman’s convenience, and so it was arranged that a special meeting be held next Saturday. We are glad indeed that the convenience—let alone health and pockets —of the ratepayers has at last a chance of being also suited. Mr. Hobbs told us that Mr. Carruthers’ excuse for the serious delay by which the people of the city have lost another year, was that the drainage plans bad taken a longer time to complete than he anticipated, owing mainly to certain data, in the shape of local surveys and levels, having been required. Of course we are bound to believe Mr. Carruthers, even if inclined to smile. But if such be the case, that this unfortunate delay, by which thousands of people have been exposed to all the inconveniences and dangers arising from the existing infamous state of sewage, has originated through the want of subordinate assistance to Mr. Bell, we can only say that either the latter or the Drainage Board are greatly to blame. If such assistance was required and had been so signified by Mr. Carruthers, of course it was within the duties of the District Engineer to bring it before the Board, who would certainly have shown their anxiety to accelerate the execution of the work, instead of having it delayed by so trifling a matter of detail. Mr. Bell, together with his assistant, Mr. Webster, have had some eleven months wherein to take what levels were thought necessary. We believe that six or eight weeks would have been abundant time for one man to take the whole of these levels, and, adding another two months for plotting them and executing the necessary drawings, we cannot help thinking that half of the year —and the best half too, for the execution of the work—has been uselessly wasted. One of the hardest worked officials in the employ of the G-overnment, it is scarcely possible that Mr, Carruthers should have been able to do ample justice to what is required of him by two masters. Of course we take it for granted that whatever scheme will be placed next Saturday before the Board, is a pure emanation of Mr. Carruthers’ brain. It has been but too often the case of late years, that professional men in high repute have traded rather largely upon their reputation. A very good joke in point is that which happened to Sir Gilbert Scott, the distinguished architect, out of whose office yearly hundreds of, say, churches and cathedrals, are turned off. Sir Gilbert happening to be passing through a small continental village, took some notice of the local church, and said that there were certain points about it which were not at all bad. “Well,” remarked a bystander, “it ought to be somewhat good, as the great Sir Gilbert Scott designed it.” In the case of our city drainage scheme, the time alone which it has taken to conceive and digest, should be sufficient guarantee that the ratepayers will have something good in return for their patience and money.