WATER POLLUTION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1011, 17 October 1912, Page 3

WATER POLLUTION.

FLAXMILLS AND DAIRY

FACTORIES

It is currently reported in the lobbies that the Pollution of Water Bill, introduced by the Hon. W. F. Massey in the House of RepreJ senlalives, will be met with more than the average amount of opposition. The Bill originated in a desire on the part of flaxmill and dairy taciory owners in the Mauavvatu and Oroua districts to get rid of what they have regarded as an incubus —thd power given to an owner of riparian rights—the man holding laud (routing on a river—to obtain an injunction against a factory restraining it from discharging refuse into the liver — and thus restricting the operations ot the factory tor the time being—tor reasons which, though not affecting the owner ot the riparian rights, might still be heard by the Court as sufficient justification under the law affecting rights to warrant it in making such an order. Briefly, as already explained, Mr Massey’s Bill provides that a plaintiff shall not be entitled to an injunction unless he can prove that ,h pollution has caused or is causing to him or to his properly such actual or irreparable loss and damage as cannot be the subject of compensation by damages.” That is the gist of the Bill. The damage must directly and distinctly affect the owner of the riparian rights ; otherwise, generally speaking, he cannot restrain the operation of the factory complained of. Enquiries ma le among tne ■. men tiers interested in the Bill from the Government point of vie go to show that the proposed strength of the Bill will depend to a great extent on the regulations which are to he framed under the measure, i'nese, it is understood, will provide that everything possible must be done by the owners of dairy factories and flaxmills to render the outflow innocuous before it reaches the river, and in the case of flaxmills to prevent any of the fibre whatever getting into the stream, with the result that at the worst discolouration of the water would be the worst thing that could happen. The whole idea at the back of the mind of the Government is to conserve as fully as possible the interests of two important industries, to prevent those interests being . subjected to petty or unnecessary harassment, and at the same time to see that everything possible is done and to see that the interests of the public are fully considered. As to the flaxmill employees, it is proposed, under Ihe regulations, to ensure them a good supply of drinking water, even it that should necessitate the sinking of artesian wells, and for the rest the Government considers that if the mills and factory owners do not carry out the amended law they should be made to take the consequences.

The member tor Olaki (Mr J. Robertson) discussed the Bill in a somewhat more detailed manner. He stated that along the Mauawatu River tbeie are thirty strippers at work. If you allow one ton ot fibre produced per day per stripper and eight ions ot green leaf to one ton of fibre, that gives you 120 tons of green leaf per duy. That, he added, is au exceedingly low estimate ; it would be saler to put the estimate for each mill at 25cwt a day, and it is safe to estimate that one half the total of the green leaf goes into the river hi the shape of vegetation. On the Oroua River there are six or seven strippers at work, which, on the same basis, means that there are 30 tons ol green flax refuse going into the river every day. The resultant effects, he went on to say, were more pronounced in the Oroua than in the Manawalu, lor the simple reason that Oroua was an extremely sluggish river, with many windings and waters, all tending to the development of the silting process. That, he added, was the problem they had to face. The danger of relaxing the restrictions in regard to the pollution ot rivers, he added, lay in this : that those responsible for the polllution might conceivably go on running refuse into the river when, it the restriction was severe, they ould be compelled to find some other method of disposing of the refuse. Various methods, he went on to say, had been proposed tor disposing of the green refuse, and there was mo doubt Drat in the long run, the problem would be solved. The green pulp which flowed from the washers at the mills was not, however, the prin cipal difficulty, and it was very probable that had proper care been exercised by some of the mills on the Oroua River, against which au injunction was lately obtained to prevent unnecessary pollution of the river, no action would have been taken.

There was also the problem ot the tow waste. That accumulated outside the scutching shed, ami even on the river bank, until the heap represented very many tons. Then the first river flood that came along took the heap into the river, with the result that actions for pollution were brought against the owners. In fact, there was no doubt that a good deal of the past pollution was preventable, and while no one wished to see anything done which would prove injurious to the industries, it was necessary at least to See that provision was made to prevent indiscriminate disposal oi refuse by means of the river. Both sides to the controversy agree that the Bill will meet with a very considerable amount of opposition, the argument being that it is quite possil le to get rid of the flax refuse without putting*it into the river, with the possibility of

the river flooding and depositing the flax waste on land along the river bank.

As to the flaxmill employees, said Mr Robertson, they were only concerned about beiii}- provided with a decent drinking water. Meanwhile, be might add that another typhoid patient from a Manawaln flaxmill bad died in the Palmerston North Hospital, leaving a wife and young family. —Post.