WELLINGTON'S MUNICIPAL PROGRESS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 81, 30 December 1907, Page 9

WELLINGTON'S MUNICIPAL PROGRESS.

1 important works. r A MEMORABLE YEAR. Tho growth. of trade and population havo necessitated a further; expansion, of: municipal .pnterpriso and activity in Wellington during. (ho year. , The , Water- supply . has been? extended- to servo the residents • of Brooklyn, Island Bay, l Kilbirnie,' and .Ros-; noath, and tho. reticulation at Kolburne is now 'in progress. - Additional ! storago is be-' ing : provided by. the. large: dami 'flow m course • bfcoiistruction' at Karori. The contract prico. of this work is £24,000, and it' is expected to-, be : finished in' February or March. The completion. £f the! duplication '.'of; thq/Wainui-omata-mains has been delayed by the protracted, negotiations with' .other 'local, bodies in-rfcgaf d .tb 'tho now jbridge oyer - tlie Hiittnver, which is -to. carry tho ■ pipes. -ThoHutt radwjiy and; road improvement works havo mado lit necessary to "altoir -the position of tho . mam- m'-'.g&mo-'places. •' Part of this';':work had boon done by arrangoment wiih'V tho, Government; the..eity':payirig half the. cost. 'tho .beginning of tho'year ,the Council put^in'Sho'foundations, and started xion, of , ( the ; buildings for the new destructor af'Clydp Quay.Tho representative .of the, mako'rs,-Messrs.--Heonan and Frowdo, - arrived .about the middle of tho year,,: and the ereqtiori • of';thq machinery, has boen; procced-in»;over'-'since.V / It should be finished about; the end of FeKruaryor early in March' Tho total estimated cost of the. building and plant i 5.£22,000. '/The'' tramway' sorvice has ' been extended to meet?'tiftVgrowing ' needs./of tho' -city'., and suburbs.';'': The'iKilbirnio rtiinnel, which cost ovor'\j£l6,oooj'■': was-: completed f. early in <' tllo year, 1 and the new'lino through/it- ,'wasopened: about Easter. ■ Suburban -boroughs hayo-'linked themselves; with' ' the'' tramway eystein-% .means' 'of the- Jtcirori, Miramar, aricf .'Se'atoun 'ext^ioii£ !l tipns ;to, the. rolling^'stock. liayo .-been -■ made durrag'.thei'ycaVV l '; l . .'v/'? Tha. making-. of.- level recreation . 'grounds amongvthc-hills' a'round the city hSs--;b'teji 1.-'al.-'a featiir'e : ;of-the-iyear. .f KiSlburno. ' PaTk, i ; :wluch'.':w ; as /begun 1 -in' l9o6, : '~w'as com- ' far as'tho making 1 "of tho ground-' was; concerned,' during the; first three or four' months;qf 1907.'0 The grassing is now 111 progress?,: There-' 'arc eight, acres, of ' level grorind'in; the' park, and. to mako,this it was necessary, to' shift from .ninety',to', a hundred thousand 'cubic ya.rds .of earth. The work at','Duppa .Street has' beoi) begun, and the creek there has tbeen ! culvorted. About fifteen acres will 'be available' at that' site. At'-Anderson Park, Thorndori;' nearly 240,000 cubic feet of'spoil'have boen tipped from the hillside'into tho adjacent gully, making five acres of level.ground. The money allocated foiv this work ' (£8000)'- lias been osceedetl, , and tho addition of another two'acre's to the flat has-been deferred, in'the hope that; when the .'other., recreation' grounds l aro - completed the', deficiency will :be balanced by a surplus of: (funds'elsewhere. ' // . Streets improvements, havo been carried on all oVor,'thq city, ;'Mr. W: .Ht Morton; the Cityj Enginoerj who': courteously: supplied most ofi; tho'; information' for 'this articloi'. states that'the: amount of asphalting,' kerbingj and chahnolling that has" been'done in 1907 probably .exceeds'thafc'offectod in any previous year: - By; anTiiigement 'with.' the Harbour Board; the City 'is\ about. ta : effcict ; the woodblocking of parte of • Jqrvois Quay' and Customhouse Quay" between the'railway and -the Harbour Trust boundary, and from tho 'Custoin " House'to tho Band Rotunda; " • > N - ;.P.nring the.'year the boundaries of tho city hayo 'beoiv ext-end'ed-'by taking' in'. Wadostown, part; of Northland, and prt of 'Karori. 'T'ho inclusion .of -tho remaindor of Karori'and a further portion' cf 'Northland is under con-, oidoration. V- .' ■.v Tho'city by-laws havo boon revised and. oonsoh'dated,'a necessary ■ work v.-hich is now noarly. completed. Tho Corporation has taken over- tho supplying' of elcctric light and power, and tho offioial .reports indicate that -this; form -of municipal onterpriso is 1 popular and - successful.:: ..' , .. ' Tho control of tho Fire Brigado passed a low months ago from tho City Council to tho newly-constituted Fire Board. Tho Mayor (Hon;' T. W. Hislop) was a koen. critic of the Government's' policy on this matter, and it was . largely owing to his exei-tions that the Firo Brigades Act of - last yoar - wrw mado pdrmissivo. Tho City Council will, bo -at liberty to rcsumo.tho, responsibilities of firo prevention if it" thinks proper, i Another matter for tho Now Year is the question of 1 gas; lighting, now carried on by a company.; At-.the-instanoo..,of. tho. Mayor a coniinitteo has been-Instructed to inquiro and report. Tho City Engineer,- acting with-tho Harbour Board engineer, lias drawn up an important schcmo'for at'Evans Bay, and th-o' agi-oement-by yirtuo'of -which the Board .will .carry out ih6 work, is almost concluded. 'Altogether, tho year has boon a memorable ono from tho mTinicipal' point, of. viow. It has' seen a number, of important works in tho'.various stages, somo'-.completed) somo'.in progress, and somo, boing .plannod and projected. Its keynotes aro vigorous expansion "tfld a firm confidence in the future.