THE FIRST SOD.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 49, 26 February 1913, Page 6

THE FIRST SOD.

OKE-TBEE HUX DRAINAGE,

HOW THE BOROUGH HAS GKOWIT.

The drainage scheme which forms narf •* of the progressive policy - the One-tree Hill Road Board WmZ■ representatives of neighbouring £2 bod le3 and a large number of ratepayer 1 assembled at the selected site on t£ ,i Great South Road, adjacent to the OH T Junction Hotel, and at 3 p.m. Mr E. W 5 Burton, as senior member of the Board! handed to the chairman (Mr E. A. Craig) a silver shovel with which to turn the first sod. Mr Craig, after complying with the " : request, congratulated the ratepayers of the district upon the undertaking of sueS" a desirable work, and also upon having secured an advantageous loan of £20 000 at 5 per cent (including sinking fond). I He said that five contracts had been let for the supply of material, and the work was to be carried out by day labour, occupying about two years. Mr Craig' mentianed that day labour for public works '' ' had been proving very satisfactory in New, ! South Wales, and labour being plentiful 9 they had already secured a promising staif. The drains were to be of first-class-quality, full provision being made for flood water, ventilation, and self-cleans- ■- ing. The district would be divided into two parts for purposes of draining. One of the outlets to the main city andl suburban eewer would be in the vicinity •? of the Junction Hotel, and the other at -r the corner of Green Lane and Great South B Road. He thought that residents would •'* be pleased to hear that connections would H be laid to the boundaries of private' ; Y houses -when the main sewers were put". down, thus saving duplication of work, 9 Mr Craig quoted some highly interesting ' figures showing the progress of the dis-' . trict. In 1895, he said, the value of. I ratable property was £167,698, but to-day M it was £1,339,505. During the same j;, period the income of the Board had in- ,". creased from £349 to £4,123. The number j of ratepayers in 1895 was 161, whereas Y. last year it was 792, and the number oi'iX ratable properties had similarly increased || from 180 to 1,203. This was in finite of the fact that in 1911 the' Onehunga : ;r Borough Council had taken over a por- V. tion of the district whose annual capital "'• varoe was £27,000. He thought that residents had cause to be proud of sneh progress. (Loud applause.) . The Mayor of Auckland (Mr. C. 3. ' Parr) congratulated the One-tree Hill "• Board and the residents upon such an energetic beginning of .their drainage"; scheme. It was the duty of the City and " Suburban Drainage Board, of -which he : was ex-officio chairman, to build the niain■; ■ outfall and the main branch sewers. Thar:'obligation ended at that point,- and it then became the duty of all the l«al bodies to drain their suburb 3 into tj».' branches. He was pleased that One-tree Hill was one of the first suburbs, to face that responsibility. (Applause.) J£ doubt it would be somewhat of a burdm ~ to the ratepayers, but it was of interest to the health d, suburbs that drainage should be given *** consideration. In remarked that he was pleased to know that when it came in the crty Onetree HiU would be an excellently-drained . suburb. (Applause.)