The Globe. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 811, 27 January 1877, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1877.

It is somewhat singular that one of the main subjects of discussion among the ratepayers of the capital city of the colony, Wellington, at the present moment, should he of a character similar to that agitating the public mind here. The Town Hall question, as we suppose it may be designated, is the talk of the hour there, and the proposition to spend some £35,000 of the Christchurch ratepayers’ money in the same direction, and for the same purpose is now also before the Christchurch public. And in both cities do the people loudly clamour for sanitary improvements in the shape of the initiation of as complete a system of drainage as can be procured. Here we are so far fortunate as to already possess the machinery necessary to carry out these improvements, viz : a Drainage Board and officials, with plenty of money at its back, and a drainage scheme almost out of its shell the birth of which is expected in a few (tours. At a largo meeting of the ratepaying element of Wellington, which met there quite lately, to ipecially consider proposals referring to the erection of a Town Hall in the Entire City, the question was raised and vigorously debated, of Drainage Expenditure v. Town Hall Extravagance, and some of the leading spokesmen urged with considerable force upon the meeting, the advisability ol providing foy the useful and necessary,

before launching out upon wbat might' be simply called the luxuries. Then, a lengthy debate arose on the general drainage and sanitary question, when arguments and expositions of facts and figures of a very interesting character, were brought out before the meeting. Mr. G-isborne, a well-known ex-Minister, who for years past has made the subject his speciality, delivered an excellent speech, and in deprecating the absurdity of spending the ratepayers’ money upon a showy Town Hall, while the city was in a disgracefully unclean state, he quoted certain figures bearing upon the health of the various populous portions of the colony, which were furnished by the recorded statistics of the EegistrarGeneral’s Office. Erom an official return shewing the rate of mortality in Hew Zealand during the years 1874, 1875, and 1876, it seems that in Christchurch, in 1874, the proportion of death to each thousand inhabitants was 25.81; in 1875, which was a remarkably unhealthy year throughout the colony, it rose to an enormous amount, 30.44; and in 1876 it decreased to 25.69. At Wellington, which has always borne until lately the character of being a most healthy locality, the rate in 1874 was 24.96 ; in 1875, 26.01; and in 1876, 26.08. In Dunedin in 1874, it was 24 99 ; in 1875, 22.24; and in 1876, 19.66. In Nelson in 1874 it was only 13.05 ; in 1875, 27.39; and in 1870, 16.72. In Hokitika, in 1874, it was 13‘90; in 1875, 13'2S ; for 1876 no return has yet been received. Now we come to Auckland, notoriously the most unhealthy centre of population in New Zealand. There, in 1874, the proportion of deaths to each thousand people wan 1618 ; in 1875, 35 77, and in 1876, 22‘68. Of course the only efficient test of the sanitary condition of any place is the “ mortality rate,” extending over a given period of years such as that we have just given. The excess of births over deaths has no bearing on the matter whatever, as it is generally the case that the greatest number of births occur in the most inferior kinds of habitations, and in neglected and unclean localities, If we compare these rates of mortality with those prevailing in English cities, the result—taking everything into consideration—is highly unfavorable to the colony. Yet, here the country is sparsely habited, the climate is more equal, and the range of temperature much less than at home. In London, we find, the proportion of deaths to the thousand of population is only 22‘05, and there a few millions of people are huddled up together. In Birmingham the rate for the year 1875 was 26 8, and Leeds 28 - 7. The inference to be drawn from these comparative statements and figures is very plain. The day has arrived when proper sanitary systems must be adopted, let the cost be what it may. If, as is shown by the above quoted statistics, localities such as Wellington and Dunedin, where, owing to the hilly nature of the ground, natural surface drainage exists, such high rates of mortality can be shown, what would the state of things be in Christchurch and its immediate neighbourhood if the steady flush created by the artesian water was not constant. The importance of the adoption or otherwise by the Drainage Board of Mr. Carruthers’ drainage scheme, is very great indeed. It may fairly be said that upon the deliberations of the Board, during the next few days, a great deal affecting most intimately the future interests and welfare of the people of Christchurch must depend. Once committed to any special drainage plans, the Board—which of course means the public—will not be able to draw back ; and if the thousands of pounds, to which the expenditure must amount, become absolutely wasted in the undertaking, they certainly will not be again easily obtained. Works of this nature can only be fairly judged when they are completed. The risk is consequently very great. As it is, professional opinions adversely criticising Mr. Carruthers’ scheme have been freely given. Engineers have openly stated it as their convictions that it would not bo found suitable to the necessities of the low-lying country around the city. But who can tell ? the initiated even are continually found at fault in these professional questions. It was not many weeks ago that the mass of rock, partially blocking up one of the entrances of New York harbour, was successfully blown to atoms, thereby leaving that entrance clear. This was done against the emphatic prognostications of dozens of eminent engineers, who decried the proposed plan to remove the rocks in question, as absurd and impracticable in the extreme. We hesitate not in saying that the responsibility lying just now upon the shoulders of the Drainage Board is of unusual magnitude, and we trust that every possible consideration may be carefully given by its members, during die incoming week, to the proposal to pe laid before them.