The Globe. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1054, 13 November 1877, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1877.

"We are glad to observe that the Borough of Sydenham has been less hasty regarding the Local Board of Health Bill than seems to have been taken for granted. By a majority the Council has carried a resolution virtually approving of the principle of a Local Board of Health having jurisdiction over Christchurch, Sydenham, and the suburban Eoad Boards. They object, however, to the large rating powers proposed by the Public Health Amendment Act, and maintain that the local bodies to be made responsible for the collection of the rates should have had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the Bill before it became law. We congratulate the Council on the stand they have taken, and hope that their example will be followed by the suburban Road Boards, notwithstanding the resolutions carried at the recent public meetings. The members of the Sydenham Borough Council see the necessity for some one body having the control of sanitary matters not only in the city but also in the suburbs, and are content to allow all personal considerations to sink for tho common good. Whether that central body should be the Drainage Boai-d, or not, they wisely leave an open question, but they evidently see the great danger to public health which will ensue, if a number of petty Boards are created, each one independent of the o t her, and uncontrolled any authority except the Central Board of He&Jtfr in Wellington. Not only would there be an absence of unity of action, but the multiplication of officers would make the cost of attending to sanitary matters very expensive, while in the end the work done would be much less satisfactory. We quite agree with the Sydenham Borough Council in the opinion that the Public Health Act Amendment Bill should have been submitted to the local bodies concerned before being introduced. Had this been done there would have been no cause for the outcry raised against the Bill. It is true, of .course, that the intention of the Board of Health to introduce such a measure

was announced months ago by ':•*]• Hobbs in a letter to the newspapers. But the Bill itself should have been printed and circulated before being Forwarded for introduction. Had this been done, it would have been possible to suggest such amendments in it would have suited the requirements of all concerned; those clauses which have given so grave offence to the City Council might have been removed, and in their place a proviso inserted which would have supplied the Board of Health with the funds without the necessity of imposing a rate at all. In the meantime we congratulate the Sydenham Municipal Council on the sensible position its members have taken up on this question. Had they been carried away with an inordinate idea of their own dignity and importance there would have been some excuse for their conduct. They have just been elected, they have their position to establish, and had they grasped at all the power within their reach, it would have been natural for them to be rather tender upon the question of their position and power. But, instead, they have resolutely striven to subordinate such considerations to the good of the district. They have endeavored to remember that they were elected to look after the interests of the ratepayers, and that their chief concern should be to have these carefully preserved, knowing that if they do so, they will, at the same time, be best consulting their own dignity.