THE DRAINAGE QUESTION.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 905, 19 May 1877, Page 3

THE DRAINAGE QUESTION.

A meeting, in connection with the series arranged by the committee under Mr Ollivier's presidency, took place last evening at the Oddfellows' Hall. There was a very good attendance.

Mr John Ollivier moved that his Worship the Mavor take the chair.

His Worslnp, in opening the business of the meeting, said that the conference at which the Drainage Board was initiated never anticipated such an extensive plan as that proposed by Mr Carruthers. It was, he believed, more intended to extend the system of side channels to the suburbs, and there their powers were intended to cease. He would now ask Mr Ollivier to address the meeting. [Cheers.] Mr Ollivier said that he trusted that this meeting, which was the end of the missionary meetings they had during the week been attending, would vote with unanimity for the resolution which he would submit to them. [Mr Ollivier then proceeded to reiterate the remarks already made by him.] He might say that the cost of cleansing the sewers in London was £SO per annum per mile, which meant for the forty-five miles they intended to carry out £2250 per annum. Then there was the expense of the pumping stations, which was at the rate of £1250 per annum, or £2500. Thus they had about £SOOO per annum to pay merely for cleansing their sewers and the pumping stations. That was a mere trifle. But it seemed to him that it was quite time for the ratepayers to stand forth and say that they woidd not have the scheme. [Cheers.] He would now read them an extract from a speech made by Mr Hobbs in the presence of his colleagues. [Mr Ollivier then quoted from a speech of Mr Hobbs, in which he characterised the opposition as factious and ignorant.] Now what he (Mr Ollivier) said was this, that ho was surprised that such slanders should have been allowed to have been uttered by a member on the ratepayers and tlioso who were honestly striving to oppose what they considered was a waste of money. He asked them to look at the names of the open and avowed opponents of the scheme—Hon. J. T. Peacock, Dr. Frankish, Messrs Nathan, Stead, E. B. Bishop, and himself. He would ask them now to vote unanimously for the resolutions already passed by the meeting at Mr Clark's. As regarded the plan itself, the Board had abandoned piece by piece until there was not a rag of it left. But while they had done tins, the Board had thought so highly of the plan that they had had it framed in maple and hung up over the mantlepiecc. [Laughter.] He would now move, " That this meeting adopts the resolution passed at Mr Clark's rooms." This would conclude their missionary services, and they had been most successful in making converts. [Loud cheers.]

Mr J. P. Jameson seconded the motion. He thought they should not blame Mr Carruthors but the Board, who had so hastily adopted the plau. [Cheers.] Now he might also say that he did not consider the pipes, some of them only 10in. bore, would be sufficiently large to carry off the sewage. When he was in office in 1871 they had projected the outfall drain, which, as Mr Bray now stated, would be sufficient to drain fourfifths of the district by mere gravitation, and without any pumping stations. The scheme proposed was most expensive, and he might say that only that day he had seen a notice of a 5d rate. This, it must be recollected, was before the scheme was actually commenced. What would be the rate if the works were ever carried out ? Why he felt sure that Is in the £ would never be sufficient. If they carried out the scheme proposed by the City Council, costing some £35,000, they would have a far more efficient system, and one a great deal less dangerous to the public health. [Cheers.] Mr Wynn Williams said he intended to take up the conduct of the Board towards the ratepayers. He said this, that the way in which that Board had treated the ratepayers was such that had been unheard of in Canterbury. Their action had been of stigmatising the conduct of those opposed to them in a manner which was unheard of in any part of the colony. He did not wish to say a word more of' Mr Hobbs than was necessary. Had he been there that evening, he would have given Mr Hobbs a bit of advice which, if he had any sense left would pci'haps prove of use to him. But he could not help saying this that Mr Hobbs' conduct at the Board was perfectly incomprehensible, after the consideration ho had received at the hands of the ratepayers, in the answer given by the Drainage Board to the deputation, they stated that they were not possessed of the information necessary to enable them to say what to do with the sewage. That was they had come before the ratepayers with a plan, upon the material point of which they possessed no information, it seemed to him, before Mr Hobbs took upon himself to revile public men, that he should well consider the stup ha was taking. He had in his hand a book for which he had paid Is

3d, and ho would tell thorn why. Ho had expended it because it contained the greatest specimen of impudence ever uttered by any man. [Mr Williams here quoted from a speech of Mr Hobbs', delivered at the Board meeting some time back, after the visit of the Board to the estuary.] He thought that when Mr Hobbs came forward to solicit the suffrages of the electors for the honor of representing them, he would retire from that room after meeting his hoped-for constituents, using the words of Cardinal Wolsey: "Farewell to all my greatness." He might also go further and quote another passage which would be most appropriate to Mr Hobbs. It was where Cromwell spoke to Wolsey thus : " Oh, fling away ambition, for by that sin have angels fallen." [Loud laughter and cheers.] He further said that the Board had told a deliberate falsehood to the ratepayers. He said this most emphatically, and hoped it would appear in print. The Board had told the ratepayers that no steps would be taken in connection with Mr Carruthers' scheme until the ratepayers had considered it. But a prominent member of the Board had been instructed to take steps to obtain sites for pumping stations. He could not understand how it was that such men as Messrs Tancred, Harman, Duncan, and Hall could sit down and quietly acquiesce in the actions of Messrs Hobbs and Wright, the motive power of the Board. Their conduct was the more inexplicable, because Messrs Wright and Hobbs were the men who were attempting to domineer over the ratepayers. He contended that the Board were going far beyond their powers under the Act, because it never could have been contemplated that the country residents should pay for the drainage of their houses in the city and suburbs. He thought they had had quite enough of this drainage matter, and it was now time that matters were brought to a crisis. He did not wish the Board to resign, b\it wanted them to deal with the question in a common sense manner. The position taken up by Mr Hobbs was a thing to be deplored, and he trusted that he would yet be brought to see the folly of his conduct. In Wellington they were going to deal with the question in a sensible way, and take the opinion of the ratepayers on a scheme of drainage. Well they in Canterbury were taking the only possible means of obtaining the yiews of the ratepayers by public meetings. He thought that the Board would see their way clear to adopt the common sense view of the subject, and to provide the city with a cheap and efficient system of drainage. Mr Treadwell rose to support the resolution. He said that some £60,000 had been spent by the Drainage Board. Mr Ollivier rose to explain. The whole sum spent by the Board on drainage purposes was £BB2B. The Board had also had to pay £IB,OOO for the outfall drain. Mr Treadwell then proceeded, amidst some interruptions, to lay his views before the meeting, suggesting that it would be a very good thing if a rider were added to the resolution, asking Mr Hobbs to resign. Dr Frankish thought that the other members of the Board were equally to blame with Mr Hobbs, because they heard his remarks without "making any remonstrance. He had opposed this scheme because they were pinned to one man, who was alike Engineer and Consulting Engineer to the Board. He felt perfectly sure that it would not be necessary to go ten feet underground to carry off the storm-water alone. That could be done without going to that depth. [The speaker then proceeded to refer to the scheme of Mr Carruthers from a sanitary point of view.] He would like to refer to the death rate for the last month. Their death rate was '7B, or one-third less than the death rate of Brighton in England, where all the people resorted for health. During the past two years some 1500 cases of scarlet fever had taken place, but there had not been half a dozen deaths. This proved most conclusively that the atmosphere of Christchurch was not favorable for the retention of fever contagion. It therefore became necessary to be careful of the public health, which would be prejudiced by the present plan. He trusted he had looked his last upon the plan of Mr Carruthers, but no doubt the acme of folly had not yet been reached, and that the Board intended to establish a central pumping station on the site of the cathedral. They had in Cathedral square many public edifices such as the pagoda, &c, but this would be a fitting monument for the Drainage Board, whose actions they had met that evening to criticise. (Loud laughter.) Mr B. Cass also supported the resolution amid some uproar. The resolution was then put and carried unanimously amid loud cheers.

The meeting then dispersed, with a vote of thanks to the chairman.