The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 232, 30 September 1880, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1880.

. — — —— — p— — ' — — — _ 111. -' For some .reason with which we are unacquainted the members of the legal fraternity in one of tbe American States are accredited with a. more than ordinary amount of acumen, so much so that when a case arises, the intricacies and complications of which are g'r'eatejr Y than usual, it is by no means an uncommon mode of giving expression to the difficulties by which it is Burrouhded by saying thaj: they *" would puzzle a Philadelphia lawyer. V • And among the cases which might be fairly t expected to tax the ingenuity of one of those specially astute individuals we are inclined to class 1 the reservoir hubbub which has excited our otherwise peaceful town during the last few days, for anything more contradidtorycthan the evidence given on Tuesday ' night it is not very eaay to imagine, as will be readily allowed by all who have perused the full reports of it which have appeared. A great deal of it had nothing whatever tb do with the immediate question at issue, although it was , perfectly right at such an enquiry to go into the whole question of the management of the waterworks for several months past, and we therefore purpose to select for comment that which referred to the particular day on which Mr Harley paid . • his now famous visit to the reservoir. To "' commence with, there-is His own Btatemenj;, namely, that the-whole surface of the reservoir was/covered *with a green slimy matter j to thb depth of two inches, and which must bave been the accumulation of months. Upon "being cross-examined be stated that he was content to. , calmly survey this mass of filth, which ; was enough to poison the whole town, fromj his trap. He did not get put to examine it; he did not think it necessary to speak to or remonstrate' With the reservoir keeper; and he said nothing. whatever ahout it.publicly •üßtii- f our days ; latef; His • keeping silcnde may be explained^ by~ the fact; 'that tne -.-L reservoir was then "being cleaned out, and • '-. that it waa^useless. to^say 'anything, though pome, may-think" tbatit was his duty tp report „ hfajteV immediately; - We cannot, howhis being satisfied withja

bird's eye view of this mass of garbage floaton the water with which the town had been supplied only on tho previous day, nor can we quite comprehend how he arrived at the* depth of the green slime or fungus-like matter bs he indifferently described it. .If the lohole surface wa? covered with this stuff it surely would have been difficult, if not im: possible, to gauge with the eye from a distance of several feet the thickness of the nauseous coating. However, such was the statement of Mr Harley. Mrs Harley corroborates her husband's statement with this exception, that she says that the green coating extended over only three parts of the surface Then there ia Mr Morey's telegram, in which he says that he remarked that the reservoir wasjin a disgraceful state, tbat it appeared to be very much neglected, and that vegetation was plainly apparent. This, tbfen, is Mr Harley's case, ahd, despite certain little peculiarities in his own statement, it would be impossible, if we stopped here, to say otherwise than that the charge was fully ,„proved. But -the old ' ri^le that there are always two sides to a question holds good in tbe present instance, and it is when we begin to Jook atthe other side that our troubles—to extricate us from which we are inclined to long for our friend the Philadelphia, lawyer—begin. First we^haye the.^ evidence of Messrs Trask and Crewdson', who visited the reservoir on ths 4th instant, when they found the water clear aud pure and running over the waste pipe. This, it must be remembered, was only sixteen days prior to the date on wbich two inches of green scum,'' whicb must have been the accumulation of months," are alleged to have been floating on the surface. Then come the statements of Stone/ tbe -. reservoirkeeper, and of Phillips, the man *wbo; was assisting him, both of whom positively assert that there was no scum whatever^ on thewater, while the former gave the dates on which the reservoir had been cleaned" out during tho last six months, showibgtbat.the' last occasion, before Mr Harley's visit was on the 25th August, or 26 days prior to that date. It may bei^said that these two are interested witnesses, and that their evidence should only he accepted with the' proverbial. r grain of salt, but Ihey were immediatelyi followed by a complete stranger in the place, to whom partiality cannot possibly .-he. im s puted. Tbis geutleman, Mr Wiukelmann, states that on Sunday, the 19th instant—that is the day before Mr Harley was there—he walked up the Valley and took a look round. He was looking at the water? in the reservoir for about two minutes, and he noticed no impurity whatever in or ou the water, which was so cleafi and clear that he could see the outlet at tbe bottom. Under cross-examina-tion by Mr Harley he Btated :—" lam quite sure there was no green matter on the surface, and I saw none below it." It is very difficult indeed to reconcile such a statement, as this with the other one that on the follbw-j ing day there was a coating of green scum 1 two inches thick, which must have been the accumulation of months, on the surface of the; water. A letter from Mr Tweedie, a gentle-! man resident in Nelson, records the results of the observations of a frequent visitor to the reservoir, and wbat he saw on the day fol-| lowing Mr Harley's visit, but as the scum! complained of might have passed out of the; pipe at the bottom before he got there, -we! do not attach so much importance to-his! letter in its bearing on tbe subject of Tues-; day evening's enquiry. Here-, then, we have! the evidence on one side directly contradicted' by that adduced by the other, and further,' it muat be borne in mind tbat there has been 1 no general complaint of the condition of the: water which was supplied to the town from the reservoir on the Sunday, the day before; that on which, all this slimy vegetable! matter was reported to have been floating on the surface. Surely all that slime and filth: could not have existed in the reservoir with-! out revealing itself in the water drawn from! that source for household use during the whole of Sunday. A Mrs Day waa brought; for the purpose of stating that on the pre-! vious Thursday or Friday she had noticed in ! the water drawn at her house a lump of; green slime about the size of a walnut, butj it appears from the evidence that the water! was not being drawn from the reservoir then! but from the dam. Supposing, however, that! it did come from the reservoir, it clearly shows! that if there is vegetable matter of such a character in that receptacle it finds itß wayj into the pipes, and yet, although according! to Mr Lightfoot's calculation a coating of I scum two inches thick over the whole sur-i face of the water when it was two! feet deep in the reservoir would. re-i present 40 cubic yards,. out of. thisj masß of forty cart loads, all that has been! traceable in the town is one little .lump! '• about the size of a walnut." We really do! not think that there 'is any occasion to feel; very much alarmed at the possible consequences of having drunk the water which; flowed from the reservoir on the ;i9th and! 20th instant, and we may add that, since no] harm has beeu done, we do not at all regret! that there has been so much discussion and' excitement over the matter: It is impossi-j ble, in the face of the evidence, to believe; otherwise than that Mr Harley and tbose who were' with him on the day in question! were to some extent mistaken, but the storm; that has been aroused by his statement made! in the Council, even though it was made under! a misapprehension, shows very clearly^that no reglect whatever in connection with the water supply of the town will be tolerated. Before concluding our remarks we feel that, it is incumbent upon us to say a word, with regard to the anomalous position in which! the Council was placed, or it would be more' correct to say, placed itself, on Tuesday! night. It was quite evident from the whole tone of the enquiry that the members con-! sidered that they were on their defence, andj as a matter of fact, so they were, for, what-] ever Mr Harley may say to the contrary, the statement he made as to the condition of the reservoir, did undoubtedly contain a charge! of the gravest nature, a charge that the Council and its officers had neglected to take the most ordinary precautions for preserving the health of the citizens. The members of the Council, therefore, felt, as. we said be-j fore, and showed that they felt, that they! were in the position of defendants, and moreover, that they were. defending them--selves againßt a groundless charge. But as soon as the evidence was brought a clobb they abandoned tbat position, constituted themselves a jury, arid proceeded to proj nounce their verdict. Manifestly, they could not be both judges and judged; and yet they| attempted it. If they were a court of enquiry they should not have shown so keenly thai they regarded themselves as the accused ; if they considered that they were on their de} fence they should have abstained from passing judgement. It is not in human nature to play the two parts bo as to give satisfaction in either the one or the other capacity, andi after all, Councillors are but human.