Show PLENTY OF WATER thim THE weather forecasts lately made by mr webb have been unusually correct in his last forward point ing statement in that line he assured the citizens that they need entertain no fears of damage by flood during the forepart of the season mis hiis soothing information is based upon his anticipation that the approaching spring will be a late one that there is yet a lengthy spell apell of cold weather ahead if this be the case the vast accumulations ions of snow in the mounia mountains his and munitions of rocks by which this and other valleys are surrounded will be held there by the persistent grasp of winter which seems remarkably reluctant to loosen his grip upon the hordes f frozen moisture mois mota tuie he has carefully husbanded hus banded should the spring be late as anticipated the floods will only be delayed to be all the more overwhelming when the sun BUB shall enter his protest against the mountain fastnesses fast nesses longer holding their masses of moisture when the torrents do begin to pour from the elevated recesses of surrounding ranges they will be in such volume that they will be hard to control prevention to is better than cure now is the time to prepare for the inevitable surplus and other canals should be put in shape and if necessary others should be constructed there can be no doubt that during the approaching season the water question will be on but its phase will be the antithesis of what it has been in the past heretofore scar scarcity efty has been the rule next summer superabundance will be the situation unless time is grasped by the forelock on this subject purchasers on some of the lower additous addi tons ons with high sounding names may probably be under the necessity of hunting their locations with the aid of boats we observed some time since that the city council had bad decided to complete the parleys Parie ys canal which at present has no terminal outlet along the original route where it will empty into city creek this Is a commendable move it will practically solve the water question on the northeast tench bench for which there will be no lack of moisture during the coming summer that section of the city to is bound to become one of the most desirable for residences as soon as there shall be a sufficient water supply we have not learned however of the work of construction on the canal having been begun it was to be executed providing certain conditions were complied with we are not precisely familiar with their nature but presumes they consist of concession on the part of realty owners of the right of way for the conduit As the canal will undoubtedly cause a large increase in the value of land crossed by it we should imagine 91 that no owner would be so foolish as jostand to tand stand in the way of his own interest by demanding bompensa com pensa dionor what would be to him a pecuniary benefit y q the present administration are pledged to provide an adequate supply of water to all parts of the city and if they fall fail to largely redeem this promise they will be unable to put out the plea of scarcity for no past season has exceeded the present one in promise of abundance THE PAVING BILL ONE of the most important bills introduced in the assembly during its present session was that which aimed to create a system under which the streets of cities could be paved and the expense of the improvement pro be divided into ten annual payments pay merits in brief the bill provided for the division by the city council of the city into paving districts earh each district to issue bonds for defraying the cost of paving the streets in it the bonds would bear a low rate of interest and the credit of the city would be pledged fur their liquidation the municipal government would virtually become an endorser for each paving dy debrief Ariet though the bonds were made alien a lien aport the property in the district the bill was passed by the council and at the session of the house held march was put upon n its passage speaking to the question of its ito passage sag e hammond said he be regarded the bill as an excellent measure in many respects but was doubtful of the constitutionality of that feature which pledged the credit of the city to an amount on which no limit was placed on this account he could not vote for the measure reid elaborated upon the point suggested by hammond in an argument to show that the bill was unconstitutional in that it sought to accomplish by indirection that which a city acety council was by bythe the laws of congress prohibited from doing directly an acton congress made it unlawful for a city council in a territory to incur liabilities greater grater in amount than four per cent of the taxable property in the city under this bill debts for paving streets might be incurred to an amount far greater than that and the fact that such obligations were a lien upon the property directly benefited did not alter the further fact that the city altys s credit was pledged for the payment nt of the bonds he showed that the genius of the law of con gress was to enforce economy on the part of city governments and protect property owners against the accumulation of heavy indebtedness any attempt to issue bonds in violation of this intent would make them collectable un for the reason that they would be contracts made in violation of law several of the liberal members spoke in favoron favor of the bill mr allen alien suggested that it would be a good law for the city to act under up to the limit of its ite indebtedness fixed by congressional law mr ferry endorsed this view and urged that with the increase in values that limit would be greatly extended and any attempt to paw pass it provided the point on the constitutionality of the measure had been well taken could be defeated by injunction or mandamus the vote on the bill was 8 ayes and 10 noes showing that the liberal Jf members had bad support from the other side mr pierce changed his vote ao as to entitle him to move for a reconsideration era tion if an amendment can be applied that will meet the point of tiona lity and it is not apparent why this cannot be done it would be well for the vote by which the bill was passed by the house to be reconsidered the time has arrived in this city at least when the work of paving streets must be carried forward the method of doing this provided by the present law is open to many objections while the plan provided in the bill appears to bea good one ilie the amendment required to meet the objections that were made to the bill is one to prohibit the creation of paving districts or the paving of streets I 1 in a them so rapidly asto as to cause caume the total liabilities of the city to ex aeed the four per cent limit thus as municipal indebtedness is decreased in other directions it may be increased to pave streets one paving district after another could be formed and improved and the work might be prosecuted gradually but steadily keeping pace all the time according to the cotys financial condition the increase in values in this city and perhaps one or two others in this territory will result in a corresponding increase in the indebtedness debt edness which may be contracted tr and would thus open the way for doing a great deal in the line of street paving even if the limit fixed by congress were to be rigidly observed the bill provides an excellent system under which to operate practically and with the defect above spoken of cured would doubtless prove a beneficent law |