THE DRAINAGE SCHEME.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5034, 12 May 1877, Page 3

THE DRAINAGE SCHEME.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sir, —I have read with much interest in your paper of this morning Mr. Climie’s letter to the City Council respecting the cost of his drainage scheme, I think he has taken tire most effectual means to disabuse the public mind. It is well known that the most exaggerated statements have been circulated far aud wide relative to the cost of carrying out the scheme. The pumping arrangement seems to have been the great stumbling-block to many. These persons seem to forget that if the sewage is put into the hay we must still have a pump to keep the sewers clear while the tide is up. Without this the last state of Wellington would be worse than the first. Now, sir, it is a fact beyond dispute that pumping is at once the most effective and economical means of draining low-lying cities and lands. I have before me a report of the General Board of Health, London, in which it is stated that the expense of pumping out the sewage from a different district on the Southwark side of ttie great metropolis, of 4000 acres, by a lift of 31ft., and discharging it at Deptford, would he only about Is. per household, or 2d. for each inhabitant per annum, the price of coals being about 12s. per ton. To this may he added the fact that large areas of agricultural land in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, &c., are kept clear of their surplus water by steam power, at an expense of about 4s. per acre. Large portions of Holland are also drained by the same means, aud it is said the work is most efficiently and cheaply done. With these facts before us, we need not make a bugbear of Mr. Climie’s pump.— I am, &e., A Ratepayer.