PUBLISHED MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS AND FRIDAYS. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1916 SANITATION IN PUKEKOHE

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 134, 19 January 1916, Page 2

PUBLISHED MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS AND FRIDAYS.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1916 SANITATION IN PUKEKOHE

" We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in maHce."

The fact tbat, despite the rej ction of the drainage loan last week by the ratepayers oi Pukekohe, the Borough Council are in-Hoed to avail themselves of powers contained in the Public Health Act and to proceed with their drainage scheme cannot justly be regarded as an attempt to ride rough-shed over the expressed will of the people, loasmuch as only 67 ratepayers out of a total of 200 entitled to vote in respeci of the defined drainage area took part in the poll the contention cannot be made that any derioile expression of opinion was obtained, even having regard to tbe fact that out of the 67 who vote J only 26 supported the proposal. Again, the vote was cl courße confined to ratepayers, but although ratepayers have to ti id the wherewithal, or rather their properties stand as guarantee for the repayment of a loan, it is the people as a whole that are cuncerned in tha installation of proper sanitary methods, and there is very little doubt but that on a pell taken on the muni cipal franchise tbe verdict would be tint the good health of the town ebotid be seemed at til costs. The Council, it must be remembered, were thcted to office on the municipal frai.ehise and not through ballot pap:ra restricted to ratepayers. Consequently the Council are in every way justified 10 administering lor the welfare oj the comrouuty as a whole. Itaat existing conditions in the town are nauseous and unwholesome cannot be denied. Ihe eoil day by day gets more and more impregnated with impurities and there is an ever threatening danger of the outbreak of some form or other if disease that sanitary defects naturally bring about. The District Health Officer lias already issued a warnirg to tie Council on the aubj:ct, and representing the people as a while (lie Council are morally bound to take measures to avert the pt,.-51b11> iy of an epidemic workiig havoc among the people. To po3£ibly meet such cases a3 the one that has arisen in Lukekohe the l J ubhc Health Act i.rovheti that a loan can be raised by special order for sanitary undertakings without the consent of the ratepayers on the recommendation of the D.stnct Health Officer, approved by the Miriattr for Internal Alfairs. The position, then fore, is that if the Council make epplication to lie Health Officer there 13 very little doubt but that the loan would receive official sanction. Such a course would probably result m mure public confidence being placed in the echcrne Ihan cculd, with reason, be accorded to it when it vv;ia voted on last week. Tbe weakness of the project so i'ar has been Vat although borrowed in most details from an earlier scheme it had not the advantage of being guaranteed by any engineer, and consequent.y opart from other ur.cer-

taintiea there v»as a i-.ar that the cost might have been uncieteatimatCfJ. Uul if ibc Health Depatt-

merit stands practically es spousurs fur the work it can be laken lor granted that all preliminaries will have to be adequately fullilled before operations are cnteroJ upon. The ocly altercative to a drainage scheme is the intioductiou of what is known as the pan system of removal. That, however, is cnlv feasible if land can be secured as a dumping ground, and with the high values of property in the district it is prcbablu that audi is an unsurmountable otstacla to its adoption. In any case, however, the pan system has its drawbacks and limitations, which in progressive municipalities are superseded by more modern ways directly opportunity otters