DRAINAGE MATTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 282, 28 November 1929, Page 11

DRAINAGE MATTERS.

BAY SEWERS NOT FOOTPATHS ARCH HILL WATERCOURSE. People who for experience or pleasure make a habit of using the Hobson Bay sewer as a footpath should take note that the Auckland and Suburban Drainage Board discountenances such a practice.

Replying to a letter from the Public Works Department advising that as the public would continue to use the main sewer at Hobson .Bay as a footway a light ramped footpath might be placed on tbe right hand side of the sewer going towards Orakei, to enable pedestrians to cross under the railway bridge, the acting engineer (Mr. J. P. Wright) reported at last evening's quarterly meeting having replied to the Department that the board objected to the public using the main sewer across the bay and in the past had endeavoured to prevent traffic by erecting fences. In any case, apart from accident liability, traffic was injurious to the sewer and therefore he was not prepared to report favourably. Members agreed that it not the Board's business to provide such a footpath and the report of the acting engineer was adopted. In response to an inquiry from the Auckland medical officer of health concerning the sanitary condition of Arch Hill gully, the acting engineer reported that the watercourse was receiving continuous attention. The pools were unavoidable owing to the inverts of existing culverts being higher than the bed of the watercourse. Further difficulty was created by residents tipping in refuse.

The report was adopted. A complaint from a property _ owner adjoining Meola Creek, where widening and deepening work was being carried out by the board, that a tenant had been deprived of the only means of watering stock was the subject of a report from the acting engineer, who advised that the owner had agreed to accept a sum as compensation in satisfaction of any claims for damage, and the Board s solicitor also advised that the owner had no further legal claim. The board therefore decided to decline any further responsibility and the report was confirmed.