THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 1882. THE DRAINAGE QUESTION.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2502, 14 April 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 1882. THE DRAINAGE QUESTION.

The people of Christchurch are not persistent. They take up a question at one time with fervor, and drop it in the most apathetic manner. But on the question of drainage it has hitherto appeared that they have been singularly consistent. In the years 1880 and 1881, the then Drainage Board was forced to abandon its declared intention of sending the solid sewage into the sewers. The public put its foot down, and twice showed its intention of not allowing that to which it did not agree to take place. Hence, as the public went so far as to be moved in the same direction for two consecutive years, one might have imagined that here at least was a subject over which they were little likely to go asleep. But the normal apathy of the inhabitants has, after all, asserted itself, and the present Board appears fo be able to assert its own sweet will with the greatest ease. In 1880, be it remembered, the Board wrote distinctly pledging itself to abandon their idea if it was found to be contrary to the public wish. In 1881 they ignored their pledge, and tried to got a Bill through Parliament with the objectionable clauses. And now, in 1882, the now Board, who can hardly be said to have cut their Drainage teeth, in their turn appear determined to override the will of the people twice expressed in a most marked manner. And yet the public taka it very easily, and have, as yet, taken no steps towards showing these new comers that with their election they did not receive a complete carte. Llanche.

Moreover, the way in which the new Board are doing the work they have cut out for themselves is anything but satisfactory. They themselves must of course allow that the only possible manner ia which their plan can bo carried out ia by heavily flushing the drains at frequent intervals. Xow they have given the public no information whatever on this

-vital point. At the last meeting of the Board a flushing tank in Victoria street was mentioned, fed by an artesian well. This does not look at all hopeful. Considering the flat nature of the country, the flushing power should be very great, and the operation should bo performed at frequent intervals. Bnt what will a tank fed by artesian water do, and how often can it be turned on? The public are entirely in the dark with regard to the quantity of water available for scouring out the sewers, and the Board take not the slightest trouble to throw any light on the subject. At the last meeting but one of the Board, when Mr. respecting connecting closets with the sewers was carried, the only information vouchsafed was a bare assertion that the engineer had declared that there was sufficient water for flushing purposes. The public are apparently treated as if they were entirely 'Unable to form an opinion on this subject. The new Board have, with amusing rapidity, assumed the attitude of experts. Seeing that not a single one of them, except Mr. White, has had any previous experience, there is something amazingly diverting in this. We trust, however, that the public will rouse itsejf in this matter. In the first place, there is the question as to whether the solid excreta shall go into the sowers at all. On this point the inhabitants have a very strong opinion, if they will only take the trouble of asserting it. In the second place, there is the question whether, if the Board is allowed to work out its idea, it can do so with the remotest chance of success when the flushing of sixteen miles of sewage conduits is to be effected by tanks of artesian water.

SIR H. PARKES IN ENGLAND. The cordial reception given by a large number of the leading men in England to Sir Henry Parkes stands out the more prominently because of the comparatively scant notice taken of Mr. Berry when on his visit. But Sir H. Parkes is a very different stamp of man from the late Victorian Premier, and he did not go home to force a point of domestic policy on the unwilling notice of the Colonial office. The New South Wales Premier, moreover, is a man after the heart of the present English Ministry. It is probably mainly through his exertions that his colony has abided by a policy which has done so much for it, namely, that of free trade. He holds, besides, very wide views on the question of the federation of the Australian colonies. He thinks that, if united, they would play in the future an important part in the world’s history. They would also prove an invaluable ally to the Mother country. He is a thorough believer in the theory that the various portions of the British Empire, if welded together by means of some practical system, would “ rule the roast.” But Sir Henry is no advocate of tying down England’s dependencies by a too strong assertion of central power. At one of the banquets lately given to him ho complained that some of the bonds which at present connected New South Wales with the Mother Country were unnecessary and vexatious. Ho proposes federal action with the greatest possible amount of individual freedom. The statesmen of England may learn much from the utterances of such a man. The leading men of all parties are no doubt pleased to gain information from a source which is not always open to them. Besides the desire to do honor to the Premier of one of the leading colonies, no doubt much of the cordiality exhibited is duo to the personal qualities of Sir Henry Parkes and the light he can throw on many points that have hitherto puzzled English statesmen.