THE MOUNT IDA PUBLIC WORKS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 391, 8 September 1876, Page 3

THE MOUNT IDA PUBLIC WORKS.

" Hoph deferred," says the proverb, " maketh the heart sick." If the proverb be true the people of Mount Ida should by this time be sick enough at heart. The- completion of the public sludge channel and water race has been so long delayed that many have begun to doubt whether either will ever be done, or whether, like the Cathedral of Cologne, they are to remain for ever monuments of grand conceptions not carried out. But now at length we have to note a piece of definite and decided progress. The sludge channel, so far na it has been decided to make it, has at last been completed, and the contractor has discharged his men. We are not aware whether the work has been passed by the Engineers, but we may reasonably presume that if not already passed it will be very shortly. We refrain from comment on the policy that led to the Channel being made of lesg than the full depth or length for which it was suiveyed, and simply note the fact that, according to the garbled plans, it is now finished, and presumably ready to bo used. This, in itself, should seem to be cause for congratulation. But, alas, tho hopes of those who have been depending upon tho Channel as a means of working their ground are still likely to be deferred, and their heart-sickness to be worse before it is better. It is of no use for tho Channel to be made if the works for water supply are still unfinished, and these still " drag their slow length along," with delajs upon delays, that would be laughnble if they were not so ruinouß. We have every reason to believe that, with a sufficient number of men, (who could be readily obtained), the Head Race might, within three weeks, bo so fiir finished as to bo bringing a good stream of water into the Hogburn Gully—as at the present time water is flowing in thirty miles of the race. It takes three men to iook after tbat portion. Some half dozen others are employed cleaning out and repairing the remainder, and at the rate these few men can get on it may well happen that tho summer may go by, and the winter be upon us again, before the whole is ready. If so, there will be another long job of cleaning out the race, and a further indefinite delay of the final completion of the work. It is hardly necessary for us to point out the ruinous wastefulness of such a course. The Sludge Channel, which is now ready for use, will be very expensive to keep up in its present state, as an empty ditch- The head race also wants, and will want, constant watching to prevent heavy loss and damage. But in use, with a stream of water always flowing through the Head Race, and a constant current through the Sludge Channel, the stuff that must necessarily be brought down by the weacher into either would, for the most part, be dissolved as it fell in. Thus the cost of maintenance would be reduced to a minimum, while the stability of tho work would become every day more assured. The Reservoir and "Flushing Race could no doubt be pushed on, so as to be ready for use within a very short time, and thus the whole system could be biought into beneficial operation. It stands to reason that, if by employing double or treble the number of men, the work can be finished in one-half or one-third the time, every consideration of economy should lead to the larger number being put on.