The Globe. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1024, 6 October 1877, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1877.

A Bill has been introduced into the General Assembly entitled The Christchurch District Drainage Act, 1875, Amendment Act, 1877. It consists of four clauses —Clause 1 gives the title, and clause 4 provides that the Act is to be read with the Act of 1875. Clauses 2 and 3 are as follow : 2. Before making any rate under the provisions of section fifty of ttie said Act the Board shall make an estimate of the expenditure incurred for the benefit of that portion of the district which is situated witbin the City of Christchurch (hereinafter called the said city), and also of that portion of the district which is not situated within the said city (hereinafter called the suburban , district), and the rate to be then made on the said city and suburban district respectively shall be in proportion to the expenditure which shall have been incused for the benefit of the said city and suh»rban district respectively. . ~ 3. Provided always th-** nothing in this Act contained shall Wnit the power conferred on the Board ay the said Act to make and levy a rate of one shilling in the pound equally over thr whole of the said district, whenever tb« kvy of such rate s ! iall be necessary ''or the payment of the interest and sinl-- in g fund, upon any moneys borrowed or to *e borrowed under the authority of the sa j a ' Act. The object of the Bill is, of course, i to make a distinction between the

town and suburbs, and remedying what some regard as an injustice under the present Act. At the time the Board announced tlieir scheme of deep drainage, it was urged, and with some show of justice, that it would be unfair to make the rural district pay for an elaborate system of underground drainage for the city. The Bill before us is an attempt to remedy this evil, but, as far as we can see, the remedy is worse than the disease it proposes to cure. Before making the annual rate under the provisions of section 50 of the Drainage Aefc, the Board is to make an estimate of the expenditure incurred for the benefit of the city and of the suburban district, and the rate is to be made in proportion to the expenditure incurred " for the benefit" of the city and suburbs. We would point out how difficult the task is which the Bill proposes to impose on the Board. For example, in any new scheme of drainage adopted, a new outfall drain will be necessary. On this work a sum of about £-10,000 will have to be expended. Is such a work constructed entirely "for the benefit" of the city, or for the whole district ? It cannot be regarded as a purely city work, for Waltham and portions of the South and East suburbs will be drained by it. But by the Bill the whole suburban district will be taxed, because the work is for the benefit of a part of the suburbs. The ratepayers to the North will have to pay for a work which will in no way benefit them. The same objection would apply to all large works, the benefit of which upon any particular district it would be so difficult to estimate. However well intentioned the Bill is, we think it would have been much wiser to let matters alone. The scheme which the Board may finally adopt may do away entirely with any necessity for it, for a plan may be submitted by Mr. Clarke which will include the whole district in such a manner that all parts will be equally benefitted. When the Board was first established this was the intention of those who strongly urged its creation. It was pointed out that the city itself was gradually being improved in sanitary condition while the suburbs were neglected, but that it was impossible to adopt any well devised plan so long as there remained so many separate authorities to deal with the matter. The Board was established to get over this difficulty, and had it kept this object steadily before it, it would not have met with the opposition which it has. The Bill before us recognises a distinction between the city and suburbs which ought not to exist, but which the action of the Drainage Board itself has to a great extent created.