New Zealand Times. THURSDAY, MAY 6, 1875.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4408, 6 May 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. THURSDAY, MAY 6, 1875.

The dry weather which prevailed all over the colony for so long is providentially at at end, and copious rains have fallen. Auckland appears to have suffered most from want of water, although Dunedin was hot in an enviable position. The latter city has extended so rapidly oflate that there is now a very considerable, and an increasing population, residing at a higher elevation than the water-supply basin. It was these highlying parts that suffered most from the drought, although the rest of the city was on short allowance. Sickness prevailed to a Very considerable extent; but the case of Auckland was infinitely worse. Some idea of it may be formed from the following which appeared in the Southern Cross : Our city authorities have a serious task before them. Typhoid fever has made its appearance at the Thames, and the condition of Auckland city as respects the death rate is at the present' moment the worst in the colony, and gives reasons for the most alarming misgivings. The vital statistics we published yesterday tell the most painful story that has been told in this respect for years, if, indeed, it ever was so serious before. In Auckland city, during the month of March, there were no fewer than 02 deaths, against 40 births. In Dunedin the deaths in the same month were 42, and the births 88 ; so that, comparing the two citic3, Auckland shows a proportion of fully 200 per cent, in the matter of life and death worse than Dunedin. In the latter town the births aro more than double the deaths : in Auckland tho deaths are exactly double the births. Taking Dunedin as a fair sample of what should be, Auckland, on the basis of its births, ought to show just twenty deaths during the month. They number really close on 4J times that proportion. Theso figures present so alarming a prospect, that we are driven to look for tho cause. No doubt the scarcity of water ha 3 largely contributed to the sad results shown in these unerring statistics. But look at our streets; sea how every sewer grating, from tho bottom of Queen-street Rise down to the wharf, with those also in the intersecting streets, are covered with sacks, as the only scientific mode available of preventing the diffusion of deadly sewer gas I But this prevention of diffusion in certain parts does not stop the continuous generation of the gaseous poison, which, confined as it may bo in certain parts, must find an outlet, and does find it somewhere, and contaminates tho air, breeding disease and death.' The famous silt-basins, which will cost £SOO to empty, are filled with noxious deposit, and the same festering compound, to tho depth of two feet, lies cumbering the mouths of tho drain. The stench in the neighborhood of the wharf was yesterday something dreadful. What is being done by the authorities to remedy this growing and fatal state of sanitary things f Bagging tho sewers I Our children are dying at a most abnormal and alarming rate. Let our city and harbor authorities look to It. The responsibility of remedy rests with them, and speedy ■ action must be taken. The gravity of the situation cannot be magnified. With tho death rate as reported for last month, with typhoid fever making its insidious advances, and with this all-pervading sewago stench to feed it, some immediate action is necessary, and if it is not taken the suffering public will speedily ask the " reason why."

Fortunately for Wellington, the water supply hold out, although tho works are by no means sufficient for the present, not to spoak of tho prospective, wantsof tho city. The average health of the community was good, but that was chiefly owing to the refreshing morning and

evening, breeze, and occasional gale, Which kept the atmosphere iin a healthy condition. We must not*hoWever, count upon impunity from disease much 'longer, • if w.e neglect the plainest rules of sanitary, science. The City Council has a great responsibility in this matter. The water supply must be largely increased;—-in-creased, indeed, to such an extent as ■will enable the sewers to be flushed without curtailing the supply for domestic and manufacturing purposes, because a considerable income might be derived from the use of the water as a motive power. A comprehensive system of drainage must be adopted ; and here, by the way, we may mention that we recently had the pleasure, in company with his Worship the Mayor and another gentleman, of examining elaborate plans of an underground drainage system for Melbourne, prepared by Mr. Millar, F.S.A., at present Provincial Engineer for Nelson. The system of street and house drainage elaborated in these plans, might be adopted with advantage in Wellington ; but undoubtedly a large expenditure would be incurred for the main to Cook Strait, which must form part of any comprehensive scheme, inasmuch as the harbor would be silted up close to the outfall of the sewers, were it made the depository for the silt and filth incessantly carried down by rains and fluid sewage. As in the case of Sydney harbor, there is no tidal scour here ; and if the sewage of the city be discharged into the estuary of Port Nicholson, it will, in a few years, be quite as injurious to it as the sewage of Sydney has been to the magnificent harbor of Port Jackson. Of course, should the authorities adopt the pneumatic system, they would save money and have an annual income from the sewage; but this is "a foreign notion," and the British parochial mind is far too conservative to buy cleanliness, cheap or dear, from any foreigner.

The Provincial Government still retains the control of the harbor, but we trust the Council, now in session, will see the advisability of handing it over, endowments and debts included, to the city, stipulating for a reduced rate of port and wharf dues. Indeed, were that done, it might be possible to abolish these dues altogether, and thereby to some' extent make Wellington a free pokt. The stimulus this would give to the commerce of the port would be enormous. Our harbor would be frequented by shipping for supplies and repairs ; shipwrights, smiths, and other mechanics would be in demand ; new industries and manufactures would spring up ; the produce of country settlers would find a ready and remunerative market ; and Wellington would permanently assume that lead in the colony to which her geographical position entitles her to aspire. But while the control of the harbor remains with the Provincial Government, the necessities of which compel it to drive hard bargains with the city, these things cannot be realised. " We must be content to drag along as best we may, until the force of circumstances brings about a change for the better. We have coupled the harbor with sanitary works for the welfare of the city, because both are so intimately connected that they cannot well be discussed apart. If we mean to make Wellington the capital of the colony in reality as in name, we must be prepared to make some present sacrifice to the future. Our views must be enlarged. It will not do to confine ourselves to the reclamation of ten acres here, and the construction of a jetty there ; the scheme of city and harbor improvement must be a comprehensive one, embracing water supply, drainage, the construction of wharves, dry and wet docks, and the remission of imposts on shipping. It only needs the Provincial Council to act in a generous spirit to the city to accomplish all this ; and the city, in return, would not refuse every concession in its power to the country districts. This is not a local or a party question. It is primarily a provincial question, but in its consequences it affects the colony at large. Let us hope that the Provincial Council will rise above local prejudices, and prove itself worthy of the high- trust reposed in it for the public good.