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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume xvx, Issue 228, 25 September 1880, Page 2

To the Enitoii o^thb "Evening Mail." ! Sib— Will you find room jnu y<?ur f column^jfor thß =I3lißwiniTemarS, 'tiie' result' of' d Visit to the City Council £ Chamber,last nigH >vhere3& g^ejjted; boju£^ am^ hardly inclined . tp' laugh;, at, the disclosure made by Councillor Hirldy/atf to the state of tho reservoir,' whiol4 & bbrrect, must show I

great laxity ,in supervision somewhere.^ In v proof that:there is some truth injthe charge,two mornings running a customer of mine inithe Waimea ;Road showed me, the w&ter; put of ; the tap, which \ was anything butpure ; and this morning I made . inquiries, , and- wa : 3 told that on ; Saturday, V Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday the water was "beastly, and they had to boil it before they could uso it for drinking, the truth of which I can vouch for, as I saw the water two mornings running. Whether it came from the reservoir pr dam, or whether it was confined to one house or locality, is worth finding out. Taking the above statement to be anything near the truth, is it surprising that tho death rate should increase from one of the lowest to next to the highest ? Using impure water, breathing impure air caused by dopositing tho night-soil from the sewers on to tho mudilat, there to breed pestilence and disease ; we boast of: our climate, and we are spending our means to make the town pretty to lvf 9 strangers here for tho benefit of their, health, but moto likely to their grave. Like thp 'plague-ship in. disguise — pretty to the * eye, but foul, very foul, within. I was a little bit amused in the Council, notwith-j ' standing the above gloomy portion, by a| ' letter from that body to Mr Gome, refusing!, compensation for damage to his property on; * the ,/Waiinea Road, and' the contrast it; ' formed td the/ reply, to a, petition from a; number oi ratepayers some time ago, which = was refused on the ground that they would ] have to pay compensation to one resident' who had built previous to the road being ' formed, 'therefore all the rest had to suffer for the sake pf one, bir, perhaps, the reason was that five; Councillors did not live there. > Now,,in.thp;former j case,.Mr Gorrie placed " -his house ; there aftfer, the 'road was formed, and, I believe, after the tram was laid. The Board of Works, when they constructed that .faulty sewer, made the road up above the door-sill, and several times the said faulty .sewer, in 'time of floods, either burst or oversowed'^ at the-^Sn^helej^destroying both house, arid furniture. ; JJather amusing this : the one upon a hill where the floods can't injura him, the other put down below the level. They admit that the one would be entitled to compensation, but the other would not. The moral is obvious. It would interfere with their pet scheme at the Port. ■ am a^pveV of justice ami 'fair play. y . ' : -j Yours; Sic, Robbet Gray.