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Story: Marine conservation

Arguing against a sewerage system

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Arguing against a sewerage system

This article is from the New Zealand Times of 11 July 1879. John Plimmer, one of Wellington’s founders, argues for the rejection of a proposed loan to fund a sewerage system for the city (referred to here as the ‘drainage question’). He saw nothing wrong with pumping raw sewage into the sea. The idea of a boundless and resilient ocean was common at the time. It would be over a century before Wellington stopped pumping waste into Cook Strait.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Reference: New Zealand Times, 11 July 1879, p. 2

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How to cite this page

Gerard Hutching and Carl Walrond, Marine conservation – The boundless ocean, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/document/5802/arguing-against-a-sewerage-system (accessed 25 June 2026).

Story by Gerard Hutching and Carl Walrond, published 2 March 2009, updated 1 September 2015.