COMMITTEE CRITICISED.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 138, 13 June 1929, Page 10

COMMITTEE CRITICISED.

BECOMMENDATIONS OPPOSED.

INDIGNANT BdjtOtTGH

ENGINEER.

PLUMBING REGULATIONS , DISCUSSED.

Commenting strongly on a recommendation of the works committee of the Takapuna Borough Council, the borough engineer, Mr. A. Slinger, said at last Bight's meeting-: that r the council had adopted the/lgflyerninent's model plumbing and drainage''regulations, and tha committee''s--prbp6sal would mean the borough's drainage scheme. ...The: ~committee had recommended ;thats"as 4 -Tequested by a deputaiion ofrlocal plumbers, all plumbing re-fulation's-sliouid"'be7left in the'hands of jhe plumbing, inspector, and, fiirther, ihat the council Should insist, upon drainAge contractors providing their own plumbing and ;dra'inage plans. "If you agree to the recommendation," Baid Mr. Slinger, addressing the council, "I will ask yeu'to relieve me of all responsibility for house connections and let me give attention solely to the main lines. lam simply fed up with the position, and. would like the members of the council 1 and Press representatives to come along' and see some of the examples I can show them. These people defy the Public Works Department and the Health Department. . I say with all respect that the, members, of the council are not compentent to judge work of this kind. I ;ask you to set up an inquiry, brings along the.'officers of the two departments and let me put my side of the matter;;' Then, if I prove I am right, I ask the council to back me up." To a question by Mr. J. Guiniven, asking how it. was that the adoption of the proposals in Auckland and Devonport had not resulted in wrecking the drainage systems there, Mr. Slinger said that the Devonport system had been wrecked. "The whole thing is a farce," he said. "Let us have : an inquiry and see who is right. If the council adopts the recommendation I will send a report to the Public Works and Health Departments and see what happens. I will also ask to be relieved of the responsibility of the house* connections. I -would not care to touch them with s, 40-foot pole."

The recommendation of the commit tee was adopted.

A resolution to reply to the Health Department, stating that the council objected to the claim, and intended to wait upon the Minister of Health on the question, was passed when an account from the Department for £65. for the services of a health inspector in the supervision of sanitary work and attention to infectious diseases in the borough for six months, was mentioned. The deputy-Mayor, Mr. W. J. Hayden, said that the claim was for the work of an inspector who had spent, four or five hours in the borough. The late council had objected to the claim, he said.