THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1881. THE DRAINAGE OF THE SUBURBS.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2200, 15 March 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1881. THE DRAINAGE OF THE SUBURBS.

There can be no doubt but that one of the principal questions of the day in Christchurch is connected with the drainage of our outlying districts. Those thickly populated centres lying outside the city of Christchurch and the borough of Sydenham are a sort of no-man's land, possessed of no adequate machinery whereby the welfare of the residents may be seen to. It is true that there are Road Boards which have nominally the power of doing all that may be required. But it is evident that such Boards are not equal to the occasion. The district under the control of each Road Board is wide, and there is included in it a large variety of interests. The greater part of a Road Board district is sure to be composed of agricultural land, while the corner or corners that are so thickly populated in reality demand a care and , an expenditure of money out of proporI tion to the rates paid, or even to the population settled there. Consequently the dwellers in these nondescript places suffer, and no proper precautions are taken that the rules necessary to health are carried out. It is of course absurd to say that such a state of affairs is a matter of no importance to the people living in Christchurch. An epidemic breaking out in one of our suburbs would find its way with startling rapidity over the town belt, and teach us that, though we may take no violent interest in what is going on beyond our proper boundaries, such selfishness is most short-sighted. We have been specially led to make these remarks by perusing the account of the meeting between a deputation from the Local Board of Health and the Avon District Road Board, an account of which will be found in another column. The deputation was the result of a report handed in to the Board of Health by its Medical Officer, wherein he dwelt strongly on the dangerous condition of the Papanui suburb. With regard to tho land on the right hand side of the road, going up, he remarks as follows: —" It was simply a peat swamp. The house slops were thrown out and absorbed, there was no proper closet accommodation, and the sanitary condition of the place generally was as bad as it was possible to be." It is hardly possible to use stronger language than this, and at the meeting no attempt was made to show that the report was an exaggerated one. Consequently it may be taken for granted that Dr. Nedwill was perfectly justified in making the remarks he did. What the Board of Health proposed to tho Road Board was, that the district should lay down channelling and side drains, the Drainage Board providing the arterial drains. Now we do not propose to go into the specific reasons adduced by Mr. J. L. Wilson as to the reason why the district specially complained of by Dr. Nedwill was in such a bad state. It may partially be the fault of Mr. Horner and partially that of the Road Board, or it may be nobody's fault. It may be true that the Road Boards have to see to the roads first of all, and it may be that the inhabitants are foolish enough to object to a special rate to benefit their own properties and secure their own safety. Again, it may be—and indeed is, very evidently—a fact that the Road Boards are, as Mr. Wilson remarked, responsible to the ratepayers as a body, and have no right to favor one district at the expense of another. But to this we do wish to draw special attention, namely, that our suburbs are outgrowing the machinery which has been provided to govern them. These centres of population are practically a series of small towns, and it cannot be that they should be efficiently managed by Road Boards, whose traditions are essentially connected with roads and agriculture. A general might just as well be expected to successfully command a fleet of ironclads as for a Road Board to manage a sucking municipality. Experience shows us that it is high time for most of these districts either to be absorbed into the boundaries of the present city or borough, or to have some distinct machinery provided for their own regulation. The present plan is a dead failure, and the more the centres grow, the worse will the case become. There are always to be found selfish people in outlying centres who object to municipal, or, indeed, any rates, but we trust these persons are in a minority. The safety of the whole of Christchurch and neighborhood is involved in this question. Such a state of affairs as exists now at Papanui cannot but be regarded otherwise than a serious menace to the general welfare. ASBHURTON INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION. The development of Local Industries is a themo which is now engaging general attention. If a speaker on a public platform wishes to place himself at once en rapport with his audience, he brings out a few flowery sentences on Local Industries. If a district wishes for a road, it discovers a Local Industry in somo out of the way spot, and the road must be made to give it an exit into the outer world. And so on ad libitum. AH this is the natural outcome of the laudable desira that our prodactive forces should be increased to the utmost and the national power augmented in the samo ratio. And public attention beirg so bent in. this direction, it is wonderful to see how plans formed to favour Local Industries are given to rapid development. Take, for instance, the Ashburton Industrial Exhibition. It was originally ia tended as a show of some few local prodacts to bo held in connection with the Horticultural Society's exhibition. But, presto ! tho scheme grows, like the palm tree under the hands of the Indian juggler, and the plan of a full blown exhibition

is produced before tho eyes of the astonished spectator. The affair is brought under the notico of the Government, and a Commissioner is chosen, in the person of Mr. B. "Wakefield, M.H.R.. to forward to head quarters the result of tho Ashburton venture, whose report, wo may hope, en passant, will not be quite so sloppy as some of the effusions which have resulted from like appointments.

It will probably be thought by many that this Ashburton Exhibition is somewhat soon after the one that was held in Christchurch, and that no special features are likely to be noticed. But, apart altogether from the fact that the farmers in these localities will be able to gain valuable information by comparing tho various products raised in the different parts of the district, events move swiftly in theso times, and several new features will be brought prominently forward. For instance, several persons have lately taken to growing beetroot with tho express purpose of seeing whether the district is suited to raising the root for sugar-making purposes, and Professor Bickorton is uow engaged in analysing specimens with a view to finding out the proportion of saccharine matter contained in them. A collection of such roots will be exhibited. Now although a large capital would be required to start a sugarmaking factory, yet the practicability or otherwise of such a manufacture will, at the Exhibition, be brought prominently before the public, and, if there is anything in the idea, the best results may be anticipated. Again, the cultivation of European flax has found supporters in tho Ashburton district, and the samples raised will be shown on the 24th. Thera is an idea that the district is peculiarly adapted to flax growing, and the general knowledge of the subject will be much increased by the specimens exhibited. No doubt there will be other new features which will be well worthy of attention. Although following somewhat closely on the exhibition at Christchurch, it may be predicted that the Ashburton show will be a success. All available room has been already taken up. Before the opening of our own exhibition there were plenty of detractors to predict a lamentable failure. The result was a most pleasurable surprise. It is more than probable that much the .same sort of thing will happen at Ashburton.