South Canterbury Times, SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 1882.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2820, 8 April 1882, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 1882.

The Council on Thursday evening considered the proposal to drain the Borough. No decision was'arrived at, but the-scheme has been considered by Councillors, and it will not now be allowed to drop until the question has been thoroughly ventilated.lt was looked at from every side, and there was difference of opinion on each point. Looking .atit as a question affecting the public health. Councillors were divided. Some, Cf Jackson particularly, maintained that some such provision as a, system of sewerage was now absolutely necessary to carry off the accumulating filth and corruption, of the town. , . Others appeared to think that as the burgesses had lived and. fattened so long notwithstanding the smells, ,and nuisances complained of, there was no reason why they should nbt go on as prosp' > pusly as. heretofore without entering upon, any new-fangled scheme, Cr Cullmann reached the climax on Lis, side of the question when he declared; Timaru to be one of the healthiest; spots in the world! So far of the' sanitary, aspect of the question. But; besides this there was the'financial aspect. . On this, also, the Council were entirely divided. Cr Gibson, who was the “ chief speaker ” of the opposition, thought the;proposal premature. The Borough was flow sufficiently taxed,-if not indeed overburdened, and he thought that to incur further liability would be to impose so heavy a burden of taxation as would have the effect of keeping population out and checking building ; enterprise. Others thought a moiety of the estimated cost would suffice, for a good many years to ceme, and urged the Council to, proceed to place the scheme before the ratepayers for their sanction, the issue of the Whole discussion being a resolution to the effect that in. the present state of things the Council do not feel justified in asking the burgesses to sanction the raising of an additional Ioan ? . and, that the subject should be deferred until those most interested have had an opportunity of satisfying themselves of the expediency of entering upon the proposed operations. Not very much was said upon ■the modus operandi as propounded by Messrs Dobson and Sons. It was generally approved, but there was one point which was strongly dwelt upon! Cr Gibson referred to an article that had appeared, some day^.ago in our' leading' columns, and to a letter from a correspondent which' followed it, and expressed his opinion that one matter specially on which we had touched was worthy of the very serious consideration of the Council, viz., the possibility that a nuisance would -he caused by the deposit of night soil on the beach, and that a reclamation would be formed in the harbor of refuse matter. Such a result would be fatal, and if there were any probability of , its being realised, the gravest attention of the Council should be directed to it before any steps were initiated in the direction indicated in Messrs Dobsoirs report. His Worship the Mayor “ dismissed the case” summarily, and asserted that nothing of the kind would happen. This may be so. His Worship spoke so confidently, indeed, that we are inclined to think it must be so. But we are nevertheless strongly of opinion that on this point the Council ought, before taking any steps toward initiating the work, to obtain professional advice. Should this prove that our fears were groundless, no one will be more pleased than ourselves. But as there is acknowledged to be danger in carrying solid sewage down to the low water-mark, that the refuse so carried will not undergo complete metamorphasis, but will accumulate and constitute a nuisance of the most pestilential kind, we felt it our duty, while approving of the scheme generally, to place this matter before the ratepayers. As his Worship very justly remarked the other evening, these discussions before the event will always tend to the more complete and satisfactory carrying out of the work whenever it is considered time to undertake it.

New Zealand, at the opening of the Exhibition in Christchurch on Monday, places herself among the nations of the earth, and modestly claims their notice as a young sister..- The colony has journeyed a long way on the road of progress when she has arrived at this point, and it is satisfactory to know that every one occupied about the Exhibition is working as with a due sense of the importance of the occasion. The results of a success are almost incalculable. Putting aside its immediate effect upon commerce in the accession of visitors it attracts (which is transient), there is the stimulus given to various industries by the increased fame of the exhibitors and the machines, articles and materials shewn. There are besides the establishment' of intercourse between the Colony and older .and more important communities, and the results springing therefrom. This is of greater importance than the young colonial mind is generally disposed to believe. Our future is not to be built up by folding ourselves in a mantle of self-satisfaction. The growth of a country is not the acquirement of great possession by a few persons in one or two pursuits. The sheepfarming and whaling era was the feeble infancy of the colony, to which it can never return. It must now go forward to maturity ; and whether that maturity is to be crowned with prosperity or not, lies with the people

themselves. The first requsite is that there, shalLcome a continuous stream oLi: population, even though a great proportion of it may be only floating. But toimport various industries, modes, and intelligences is to bring within our boundaries the materials wherewith to construct a splendid fabric of prosperity. Everything then that, we can do to promote intercourse with other countries, to quicken invention and industry, it is our bounden duty, in the interests of our adopted country to : do. Everyone who is present at the-.opening ceremony on Monday should feel that he is bearing a part, however humble, in'a great enterprise, whose present and merely local consequences are as nothing in comparison with the grand and. lasting results, to the colony which we feel assured must follow the International Exhibition of 1882.