THE SEWERAGE OF THE CITY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4977, 6 March 1877, Page 3

THE SEWERAGE OF THE CITY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sm, —“ Hygiene’s ” critique on Mr. Climie’s report is the most tame attempt at fault-finding I ever met with, and reminds me of the battle between the “ Muckabites ” and “ Sewerites ” at Portsmouth some eighteen years since; and strange as it may appear, the leaders of the “Muckabites” were medical men, who advanced the same arguments against sewerage as are set forth by “Hygiene,” whom I imagine to be Dr. Newman himself. His greatest objection to the report appears to be that gas -will escape through the closet pipe into the house. That is easily prevented by building the closet outside, or as an addition to the house, so that the ventilation of it may be independent of the house altogether. “Hygiene” attempts to frighten owners of houses by stating that the cost of each closet will be £7 ; but he displays his ignorance when he states the cost of piping to be 3s. 6d. per foot at Home. Had he made inquiries here he would have learnt that 4in. pipe, which Mr. Climie considers ample for the purpose, can be bought for 6d. per foot. He asks how much it will cost to keep the pumping engine in work. Does he mean at work ? He then states the annual rainfall to be 55in., and calculates that 10in. of it will go into the sewers, making it necessary to lift 4.000. tons of water to a height of 22ft. 4.000. tons of water per annum is no less than 2,191,808 gallons per diem, or, allowing 10 gallons per head per day, it would supply half the present population of the colony. Will “ Hygiene” tell us the area on which he makes his calculation ? So far as I understand Mr, Climie’s report, and I have read it very carefully, it proposes to take the rain water from the roofs and back yards only into the sewer.

There remains the subsoil bugbear to be noticed. He says: “To introduce a costly system of drainage, and to take no heed of the subsoil water, would be a most foolish proceeding.” That is the most stupid remark “ Hygiene” has made. Is he not aware that the digging of the trenches for the laying of the pipes will cause the subsoil water to flow to them 3 and if, as he states, sewers cannot be constructed without cracks or fissures through which the sewer gas will escape, will not the subsoil water, which is heavier than the gas he so much dreads, find its way through those fissures and accomplish the very thing he so much desires ’ I think “ Hygiene” has shown bad taste in criticising the report in the way he has done. He should have taken it clause by clause, stating his objections thereto ; then your readers would have been able to judge of the value of each ; instead of which he selects certain portions, and, distorting them to suit his purpose, cuts and slashes away with a vengeance pitiful to contemplate, and winds up by signing himself “Hygiene.” Why did not he sign himself “ Morisson, the Hygeist 3” His criticism is of the quack, quacky, and will have no more effect in procrastinating the drainage of the city than a porous plaster on a wooden .leg.— I am, &c., C. Moody. Adelaide-road, March 5.