THE DRAINAGE BILL.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2598, 4 August 1882, Page 2

THE DRAINAGE BILL.

We are pleased to eee that, bo far, Mr. Thomson has been foiled in his attempt to make head-way with the Cbristchnrch District Drainage Bill. Mr. WynnWilliams has stept into the gap, and has defended the true interests of the inhabitants with his usual energy. We presume that at snch a late period of the session the Bill has now not mnch show of coming again to the front with any chance of getting through. Not only will it have the very vigorous opponent alluded to above, but the House will certainly require a very strong case before they decide in the matter, when the petition against the Bill is even a more numerously signed one than is the petition in its favor. Moreover, the status of the Bill is considerable altered i since the date when it was first drawn out, for at that time there was some hope that a water supply scheme might be voted by the ratepayers, and that proper ft ashing power might be obtained. Now that this hope has vanished, the upholders of the Bill in the House find themselves face to face with the difficulty of proving to the members that, if the excreta is sent into the sewers, there exist the proper appliances for forcing it through miles of Bewers with the necessary rapidity. We have on many, previous occasions called attention to the great danger attending the accumulation and dissemination of sewer gas in the pipes. We have drawn attention to the fact that on the Continent many towns-that have wished of late to establish a thorough drainage system have not adopted the sewer system, but have treated the dry excreta in a manner totally .different from the liquid sewage. In some instancea it is forced through tubes by pneumatic pressure, in other cases some modification of the earth system is resorted to.. Bat in order not to appear too much in the light of ob-

stractiocists we have been willing to sea

the ordinary system in. provided thxt it get shape of ample flashing )PQ|Nr. BoWhat fair play is evidently &op. to be obtained, and it seems to us shadow of the desirability of Bill has totally disappeared. We 'Osp, oply wish that Mr. Ollivier's petition this view of the case more strongly forward. The object of that petition was a good one, but too much of it was devoted to side issues. The strong belief of a large number of residents that the delivery of excrete into the sewers can only be justified if there is a proper water supply scheme in connection with it, and also the firmly grounded conviction of another large section of inhabitants that the whole plan of sewage adopted by the Board is altogether rotten, were not dwelt on with sufficient vigor. The House should have been made more thoroughly I aware that so many of the people-in Christchureh are panic stricken at the attempt of the Board, because they fear .for the personal safety of themselves and t their families. We have of late republished in our columns a correspondence that has appeared in eur cantemporary ithe " Press " bearing on this very subject. We have done so because the facts brought out in the leading articles from :the "Lancet" attached to that correspondence, entirely bear out all that we have been saying for years past. They show the danger of sewer gas, even where the arrangements are most perfect. We should like to see an article: in that same paper which would comment ; on the adoption of the sewer system ; when all the motive powers for scouring out the sewers was to be found in a few !' artesian,tanks! We should imagine the article would be a pretty strong one, and likely to startle our worthy Drainage Board. But we trust that the worst is now over as far as regards the Drainage Bill, and that we shall not hear, very much more of it this session. We must trust to the chapter of accidents.and the growth of a sound public opinion to pull us through in the long run.