Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY JANUARY 31, 1890. OUR COUNCIL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 31 January 1890, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY JANUARY 31, 1890. OUR COUNCIL.

On Monday ereninf the Councillors 9£*tht naoet t^ > «9aaider; *<^neiia*essait .t* be &ken for the aaranoement and improvement of the town. W« »>•* willing to credit them with, thi possession of every desire to forward our interests, but iti«rb«e<i piififully »ppftw>Bt tfcat month after month slip* by, without oertain necessary works being at* tended to. What the state of the town w6uld aow have been./tiad the dry weather of November continued it is hard to say; but undoubtedly, sickness would hare been rife, as the two factors, evil smells, and bad water, were both at Work. Because refreshing and purifying rains have detMnded, it is all the more reason to anticipate a very dry period befereus, and we therefore have no. hesitation in calling upon the Council to take proper steps to. abate nuisances, and provide pure Water. A* regards the last mentioned want Ww are in a position to state that they are satisfactorily placed so as to »ake a leal true effort to obtain it. as we were, interviewed this week by a contractor 11 who has ib«en excaedi«fly successful in pbtjeunining an artesian supply of water at Petone, and who would enter into a contract with the Borough to sink a pipe over one hundred feet in depth, on the principle of only pay, if water is obtained. This' is a case where the outlay is small, and only necessary, if successful, so we hold, there should be no hesitation in makingterms, as if water can be obtained in. this manner it saves the necessity of resorting to other more expensive means, and would transform the appearance and comfort of the town,; in a miraculously short time. It may be asserted that any private person could make the test on his own account on these terms, but we think not, as probably the contractor pioneering the system, would charge more for the first drive, than h« wonld when he kad satisfactorily ascertained the cost, bnt th»n, if put down in a oentral position the public at large would derive the full benefit of the expenditure. All we are urging is, that the town should bear the first cost, as that would not be entailing upon them a continual expense, as all private ' landowners would be only too glad to secure for their properties one of these valu , able supplies. We should particularly desire to see action taken on this question at the next meeting of the Council, as if it was, before* another meeting took place, the question as to whether such a teupply wm practicable would have been settled. There (follows necessarily the abatement of nuisasoes, aad without doubt the person t* bs appointed te that duty will hay* plenty of opjwrtunities to show his fitness for hia work It is not a pleasant duty to have to complain of acts ooxnmitted by one's neighbours, and rather than do so, a great i many dangerous practices are allowed to be comvutted unchecked, so that the appointed of an oiSeial who will take notice of complaints made to him, of bis own motion, is imperative. What we mean by this is, than the Inspector of Nuisances shall (warn the wrong doer^n his own name.) and if necessary proceed against (him, without calling upon private persons to make put the case for him. " A winkistsgeodas&nod to » blind herse " and a statement to the Inspector of there being * nuisance somewhere-, should be sufficient to stir that officer to hunt the matter up. Unless the appointment 'is made on these lines we shall not expect much good to result from it for the reasons that we have given, and whoever may receive the appointment will have, to be held personally answerable for the good order of the town in this respect, or he will only fold his arms, and ; say, no one will help me to sheet the offence home. , The officer most find oat, and make hia case for himself. The Council has a difficult nutter before. It, in this reform, but we , do act think it is beyond them, at anyrate we hope not, and we trust that without loss of time; they will endeavour to give effect to it.