THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1881. NEGLECTED DRAINAGE AND RECREATION GROUNDS.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2185, 25 February 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1881. NEGLECTED DRAINAGE AND RECREATION GROUNDS.

The chairman of the Avon Road Board, who, by the way, is also chairman of that peculiarly constituted body, the Waimakariri Board of Conservators, has been, so to speak, " working the oracle," with regard to a recreation ground at Bingsland. This gentleman, with, an amount of assurance which is certainly astonishing, comes to the Selwyn County Council to obtain a grant of money for a recreation ground at Bingsland, and makes the statement that the Road Board and the district are in favour of it. Strange to say, however, at the meeting, when the subject comes up for discussion, not only a majority of the members of the Road Board appear to oppose it, but representatives of the inhabitants also. Of course, there must bo some mistake. A gentleman holding such high positions as Mr. J. L. Wilson, and who has filled so many responsible public offices with credit to himself aud satisfaction to the district, cannot be for one moment thought likely to make statements contrary to fact. He explained, as a member of the County Council, after the deputation had retired, in that polished way so peculiarly his own, that the majority on the Road Board had been obtained by persuading a member to think quite the other way to what ho had previously done. So far, of course, the chairman of the Road Board comes forth as one trusting in the largeness of his heart to the promises of others and being deceived. But we have yet another word to say to Mr. Wilson on this subject. We want to know how ho can with any show of reason come to the Selwyn County Council for money to buy recreative grounds, when children are dying in Papanui of diphtheria, caused by want of drainage. Does not Mr. Wilson know that the Board of Health have, time after time, offered to carry away the stagnant water which is making Papanni a hotbed of disease, if the Road Board would provide the channelling ? Have not Mr. Wilson and his Board persistently refused to do this, because this model chairman and the Board have become embroiled with a resident about the paymont ? These are facts, and while this is going on diphtheria is raging, and threatening to make what should be one of the healthiest of our suburbs, a perfect nest of fever. Letter after letter has been written by the Board of Health on the matter, nay more, the Road Board has been publicly accused of knowingly neglecting its duty, and imperilling the lives of the residents. At the very last meeting of the Board, a letter from the Board of Health was read, but nothing was done, though at the same meeting £SOO was asked for from the County Council to build a bridge. It seems to us perfectly monstrous, that the chairman of a Board, which admittedly is causing disease to run rampant in a thickly populated district, should coolly come down and ask for money for recreation grounds, when his Board will not spend a shilling to save the inhabitants from fever and disease. How it is| that the residents of Papanui allow this to be done, passes our comprehension. Only yesterday, a letter appeared in ono of the morning journals, signed by a resident, giving a most distressing picture of the sanitary state of Papanui, all caused by the pig-headedness —there is no other word so expressive of the fact —of the chairman and the Road Board. We hope that, if the inhabitants are content to let this state of things continue, the Board of Health will not. They should finally call on the Road Board to do, what is—in the interests of health—their plain duty, and then if they refuse, enforce the law against them by doing the work and and charging the Road Board with the cost. It does not matter one straw whether the Board or Mr. Horner is right about these miserable few pounds. There can be no huckstering when life is at stake. No doubt the same principle of economy which prompted the proposal to reduce the salary of the forman of the Waimakariri works, actuates the chairman of the Road Board in this matter. Economy is all very well in its way, but when, as has been proved, lives have been sacrificed through the fault of the Road Board, it is surely not the time to put it in force. We trust that action will bo taken, and that promptly, to bring our friend Mr. J. L. Wilson and his Board to a sense of their duty.