The Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1907. SANITARY PAYMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3761, 16 March 1907, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1907. SANITARY PAYMENTS.

The present arrangements re making sanitary payments is not meeting with favour in certain quarters. The contractor is asking that payment for his duties be made at his residence, ||or posted. His calls upon householders take up a considerable portion of his timej-and he does not meet with much success. Many would prefer that the contractor should continue his periodical calls for payment, and householders failing to settle within a given time should be “hauled before the beak”;. property owners to be responsible for the amount owing by “ disappearing ”, householders. The Council nas refused to strike a rate for the carrying out of this work, It has let, the work by contract for a certain period, and of course will compel the contractor to carry out his duties, according to the agreement. We don’t know what the terms of agreement are, but . opine that the; health of-" townspeople ; is safe-' guarded. The Council is not responsible to the contractor for ‘ bad marks ’—that is his business.; He collects- bis money in such, manner as he thinks fit. Until such time as a drainage scheme is inaugurated, letting the work by contract, under certain well-defined conditions; and penalties for nonobservance of such by the contractor, appears to be the only way out of the difficulty. The contractor’s complaint that householders are' backward, and a councillor’s excuse that he doesn’t know where the contractor’s residense is, can be settled by the Magistrate, who will veryquicjdy set aside such Trivial subterfqge. We think, tinder the circumstances, that householders had better pay up under the conditions laid down by the contractor, and look pleasant.