"SWEEPING INDICTMENT"

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

"SWEEPING INDICTMENT"

PLUMBING REGULATIONS.

DEVONPORT POLICY.

MAYOR WANTS "SOMETHING

DEFINITE."

In the course of a discussion on plumbing regulations at a meeting of the Takapuna Borough Council last evening the engineer (Mr. A. Slinger) strongly opposes a recommendation that plumbing regulations should be left in the hands of the inspector, and that the council should insist' on the drainage contractors providing their own plumbing and drainage plans. He added that the Devonport drainage system had been wrecked.

"I do not understand Mr. Slinger's sweeping indictment of Devonport's drainage system," said the Mayor of Devonport (Mr. E. Aldridge) this morning. "Our whole policy of drainage operations is directed according to''the standard regulations gazetted by the Health Department. These regulations are incorporated among the borough bylaws governing such matters, and in their interpretation are supervised by a sanitary and drainage inspector who holds special certificates for this work, which Mr. Slinger himself does not possess. Every line of drain is planned under official direction, and all connections with the main sewers are made by the borough staff. No specific complaint has ever come before council to my knowledge with regard to any alleged damage to our drainage system. On the contrary I have been assured that Devonport's methods and practice compare favourably with those of any other centre in the Dominion. I am sure the Devonport Council will await with interest some definite information in support of Mr. Slinger's rather hasty statement."