THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1881. A PERMANENT MARKET.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2289, 3 August 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1881. A PERMANENT MARKET.

It is with some feeling of disappoint- » ment that we find the Reserves Committee of the City Council, to whom the question of a permanent market was remitted, have not yet reported. We are g at a loss in the first place to understand o why it was necessary to remit it to a t, committee at all, until the principle had been first affirmed. This seems to ns £ very much like beginning at the wrong end. The Council were presumably capable of dealing with the subject on ’ s the general ground of desirability or ® non-desirability. This having been 0 settled, it would have then been i- proper to remit it to a comr mitteo to work out the details. But until this has been done we are at a loss to know what the committee have got to report upon. Granted that they go to a great deal of trouble in the way of statistics, &c., all their work may be thrown away by a simple vote of the \ Council affirming that at present the r project is not advisable. The only result 3 we can see is an enormous waste of time, 3 which would be far more usefully employed in placing the scheme before the ratepayers, and thus hastening the day 5 when the conglomeration of huts which now disfigure one of our beat sites shall be swept away. Of the success of the project we entertain not the smallest doubt, and there is but little fear of the 1 ratepayers refusing to sanction the borrowing of money to do a work which will not only be a credit and an ornament to the city, but a great public boon. LODGING-HOUSE INSPECTION. Now that public attention has been forcibly directed during the past few weeks to sanitary matters, it may not bo out of place to call attention to what we consider a necessary precaution in the interests of public health. We refer to the lodging-houses of the city, which are now becoming somewhat numerous, and in many of which the principles of sanitary law are altogether ignored. There are places in Christchurch where men are huddled together in small rooms without the requisite ventilation or other conveniences which should be afforded. Happily up to the present no epidemic has broken 1 out in any of these places, but that is to be attributed far more to good fortune than to any precautions taken by the owners. We do not for one instant deny that there are well regulated establishments in the city. No doubt there are, but the majority of the lodging-houses do not by any means come np to the standard of sanitary requirement which it is so. necessary should ho enforced. They manage these things far better in Dunedin. Thera the police inspect the lodging-houses exactly the same as they do the public-houses, to see that the conditions as to accommodation and other things are complied with. Why this should not bo done here we fail to see. If it is necessary in Dunedin, where the health rate is much higher than here, it is much more so iu Christchurch. We trust, therefore, that steps will ho taken to place the lodging-houses in Christchurch under the same restrictions as they are in Dunedin. EXITS FROM THEATRES. Some correspondence has recently taken place with regard to the alleged paucity of means of exit from our local theatre. There is, no doubt, a great deal of truth in what has been said, but the real point has, we think, been missed. Exits are provided in plenty, far more than in any other colonial theatre, but they have not been properly utilised. Take for instance the largo door in the stalls. That runs on wheels, and would probably, if a panic arose, take some time to open, during which many lives might be lost. But if instead of this very massive and cumbrous door, the real utility of which in its present form we fail to see, two largo swing doors were substituted, exit would bo easy. Not only so, but tho annoyance caused by the opening and shutting of tho present door would bo done away with. If this were done, and a similar arrangement made at tho pit, the Christchurch theatre would be amply provided with means of egress in case of a panic. Wo trust that the City Surveyor will see his way clear to have the present stalls door removed, and baize swing doors substituted. This done, and there need bo no fear of tho theatre being unable to bo emptied quickly and safely.