TO-DAY'S DRAINAGE POLL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10088, 8 September 1910, Page 5

TO-DAY'S DRAINAGE POLL.

MR POWNALL'S OPINION.

Mr C. A. Pownall writes as follows to the editor ol the Age on the drainage question:—"Sir, —lt is not often that I have rushed into print lately on any local question, but I would like to do so on the question of the new the extension of the drainage. The ratepayers ought undoubtedly to carry this loan without the slightest hesitation. The health and safety of the vhole community demand it, and when I come to think of existing conditions in the tawn when first as Mayor I proposed a loan for water and drainage, what little hair 1 still possess stands up until I have to go and get it cut to get my hat on! The original mistake was not sufficient money to carry out a thorough and comprehensive scheme, and we had to cut oir coat'according to our cloth. This w33 caused to a large extent by the ("obstructionists" who, .I,am. .sorry .< It 3 see, are in evidence on the present proposal. Had I bean allowed to j carry out my original proposals I , | consider the town would at the pre- i sent day have saved thousands of | pounds, and I hope the ratepayers will not make the same mistake again. The amount to be borrowed may seem large, hut it is simply a question of whether a work like drainage is to be dune in patches, or done completely at >nce. There is no reason why other residents in the B rough beside those in the drainage' area should not receive the benefit of drainage for their premises, and the rate will be so allocated aa to make it even over the whole borough. After all, the rate of f J in the £ is a small insurance premium for cleanliness, health, and immunity ( from disease, and is better than the cost of an allocation in the . cemetery. The "opposition" gave us £BOOO to effect drainage in a ( borough like Masterton, when there , were twenty cess pits within a ( chain' oi Queen Street, and the chimney of the Club Hotel, (in the : ( dining room no leis) fell into one - ( that had been r forgotten and un- |, cleaned' since: 'tfi'3.v.£ime-o£':Maabfe-i Ark, of which,, from iTs appearance- - it was apparently part. The Mayor and Council are to be highly commended on their present proposals, which, as Mayor ftr over seven years, and the originator of the water and drainage proposals, I trust will be carried. The ratepayers muft remember that Masterton is not a village, and ought to study, , not only themselves, but those who come after them, and if the work is done properly now it will save money and trouble for a consider ( ablejperiod. If the obstructors succeed in blocking- the loan, 1 trust j some of them will get down a back ( street in summer and obtain a , whiff of something to which the . odour of a dead shark would be heliotrope, and they will commence to realise the needs of civilisation in the providing of proper sanitation and drainage."—Youre, etc., C. A. POWNALL, Ex-Mayor of Masterton. .