CITY ENGINEERING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1008, 24 December 1910, Page 6

CITY ENGINEERING.

A REVIEW OF YEAR'S WORKS. t ... IMPORTANT UNDERTAKINGS. ' Approaching tho threshold of tho i Now Year is an appropriate 1 time to ' the engineering works of the city for tho past twelve months, and | with the assistance of the City Engineer (Mr. W. H. Morton) a representative of The .Dominion was enabled to do-that yesterday afternoon.' . Suburban Drainage. work during the past year, said Mr.; Morton, in discussing the'position, has been even'heavier than during the previous year; principally owing.. to the extension'of the drainago system in tho outlying districts. Wherever it .'was necessary;. and' houses .possibly justified the extension, the sewerage had been pushed on.. •At Island' Bay, Brooklyn, Hataitai, _ Kelburne, Roseneath, and North liilbirhie, the work'; had . been completed,v and - efforts werenow'concentratod . at; South Kilbirhie. Work was also being done extending .the Shone ejector system to' lands where the sewerage ; required to ;be. liff-ed.;, A further extension''was , also being'made towards Vogeltown, and surveys .were now in .progress in connection with the sewage for Wadestown, which also included- a portion of' Northland. Water Supply. ' Referring to water supply extensions, Mr. 'Morton . said extensions had been completed at Northland, a special reservoir having been' built and the necessary- reticulation pipes laid. So far no additional pump had been put in, -but. that' would be provided when requirements necessitated iti Arrangements had also-been made .for the supply of water to the heights above Roseneath, 1 to that'portion of the city lying south and east of Newtown Park, and portion of what is known as the Melrose Estate, and in connection with Wadestown. The Roseneath . storage reservoir .was complete, and- the pumping main had been : constructed. The reservoir had - also,'been. constructed at Melrose, and the; pipes for the rising main were about, to ;be laid. .Tho" Wadestown reservoir, was in course of' construction. for the, .pumps required ,'fdr-- .these districts had . been let, but the pumps had not been .delivered yet. . During the-year contracts had been let for largo quantities of pipes, which were being delivered now for the extension, of., tho reticulation , throughout. a, number .of ; the districts . already serve#;'; Following on tfio. coit- ' sent of' the. ratepayers to the duplication; of the. Wainui pipe line, tenders had boon callfd {or the supply of the necessary pipes, . W.ork, at the new dam at Solomon's • Knob • had been pushed on rthroughout' the -year, until tha big', contract was practically completed. ...Within a,month the. new, reservoir .would probably be full. During the year'the' council .con-'. structed various storage tanks for the supply of isolated-areas on the high levels. There was ono at tho Botanical Gardens; above Salamanca' : Road.j one above the Nairn Street reserve; : ariother on tho high, ground at the, south ' of Coromandel Street;, and a fourth .was nearly completed to supply-some of , the high ; levels of Hataitai wliich cannot bo served by'gravitation by means of the tank previously. ,referred, to. Improvements have also been ' carried .out at liarori reservoir, where amongst ', other things the, intake ..of....the main had been placed at. a '-higher''level, so ; as to obviate water being drawn from tho bottom of tho; reservoir, elb'se to the i

sediment as previously. Steps had also been taken at the upper end of the old reservoir to prevent shallow water laying over detritus and vegetation, which causes last. year resulted in some complaint being made as to the quality of the water. Tho steps .that, had -been taken, remarked Mr. Morton, . had apparently had satisfactory ■' results. Where the outlay was justifiable, extensions of the mains had been made in various districts and sircetß. Tramway Extension. . In tho matter of laying tho permanent way for the tramways the undertaking of the year was tho commencement of the Wadestowii tramline, which work was well advanced at •present. A .good, deal of heavy earth work had to be done on this contract, and as far as possible this was rushed on during the winter months for two reasons. First, to give employment to nien during the slack time'of; tho. year, arid secondly in order to permit of tho deeper fillings being well consolidated before the track is laid. The time for completing tho contract was June, 1911, but from preseat appearances, said Mr. Morton, the trams may bo running before that dateGeneral Work. '.Referring to some of the principal matters which way. bo said to eomo under the head.of. general, work,: Mr. Morton said particular attention .had, -been .given this year to-..tho ' various footpaths , about tho .city which req'uir-

during the "year than' had been done formerly, -and it was hoped that by the end of next year, there would- bo very few'footpaths in ,tho city which w-ero not pavea for tho full width. In addition to being a' benefit to citizens this would ■ lessen the-work-in, regard to maintenance. • "I-think it will, bo admitted," said tho City Engineer, "that the general condition, of tho Streets this year iS more satisfactory that has ever been the case before. Recently tho council, acting oh reports obtained concerning the working of tho tar' street-sprayer,; imported, a• machine for the aboyo. purpose, and," added tho' City "'the initial results of the working,of the machine can-now. bo seen.- Tho-results appeari.ed to be very satisfactory, and tho spraying ;had apparently, greatly reduced the dust nuisance. There was no,doubt, Mr:. Morton continued, that improved, methods of road construction' in;the' oity were now demanded by tho general public principally because, of the advent.of the motor-car,. and with a view to.minimising the dust nuisance. The corporation would undoubtedly be compelled to adopt the, most' improved methods of road construction. In a young-. and growing city .it was somewhat difficult to find out of ordinary 'revenue the amount required.in order •to deal in a comprehensive manner with : tho streets, but in the busier thoroughfares, something further should be done. The old water-bound roads, for city purposes, should bo looked upon as obsolete, and something better was required for tho' comfort, cleajiliness, and health,of the people.. In this regard it appeared that it would be •necessary that a larger sum of mont-y would be required shortly for the more efficient cleansing of-tho streets, li was somewhat strange but true, nevertheless, that the more perfect a , street' tho more .urgent appeared the necessity for better-cleansing. They must watch the improvements in other parts of tho world, and carry out experiments here suitable to our, local conditions.

Oriental Bay Reclamation. Referring to tho Oriental Bay reclamation works, the City Engineer remarked that though it- might appear that tho work was, progressing slowly only a certain amount of money was available each year out of revenue towards the completion of a work which' it was hoped would in, time provide, a ; prach-appreciated marine parade. The wood-blocking of tho Post Office • Square and Customhouse Quay was another 'work Which camo under • tho general heading.' Tlio blocks were about to be delivered for .the. work, and it was hoped that somewhere about the beginning-of February the work would be "put in hand.. First, however,' the tramway extension .from Willis Street through Customhouse Quay to the Post Office' had to bo made, f Blocks ' were also being supplied. in order to enable tiio road widening in Willis Street to be finished off. ' - Tho. sanitary inspection, of the city had been placed on a better footing dur-ing-the year, and was now much more satisfactoiy than had previously been the case._ The, new abattoir, appeared to have justified its existence during the. year, and tho increased amount of. stock now being, killed had. necessitated tho; extension of'the yards arid pens; Everything in - connection'. .with . the building and_ appliances had turned but satisfactory ,in every way. •... ~ .. ~

Buildlrig Operations., ;'■ .' '_ Although building operations iu the city and suburbs havo not been excessively brisk' during tho year a considerable amount of work has gone on, principally in tho erection of dwellings and alterations to existing premises. As against tho previous l year tho' value of work done increas-

Ed this year, although tho municipal year itself docs-not close , until March 31. Sinoo March last, however, a number of fairly ■ imposing structures have been erected, 'l'ho drapery. warehouso erectcd'in'Manners Street for, Mr. Geo'. Fowlds has wiped out a dilapidated wooden block'and replaced it with a fino pile. The new business premises for, Mr. W. H. P. Barber in Cuba Street have also been completed during tho year, also a largo residence and privato hotel in Marion Street, premises for tho New Zealand Loan and Mercantile' on Thorndon Quay, I ', the Roman Catholic School in Tasman Street, a bulk store for Messrs. Gollan and Co. on the Hutt Road, and a new factory for, tho Equity Boot Factory in Ir.gestro Street, whilst extensive brick additions have been made to Messrs. Bryant and May's match factory. Other works which may be mentioned are the new' warehouse for Messrs. C. Begg and Co., at the corner of Manners Street and St. Hill Street, tho. steel frame warehouse for Mr. Belcher in Taranaki Street, and the new tramcar sheds at Tborndon.

In connection with the Children's Letter Competition at the D.1.C., the followinß is_ the: result Girls: Zeala Cox, ; Olive Landlant 2; and Sybil Everitt, d. Boys:.. Edwin Wilson, 1; AVillie Carl rick, 2; and John Thornton, 3. Such go6d results are daily being obtained by tho employment of police hounds in Germany that the authorities have .decided to. increase the number of nnimalS;..f.priuseiijijEoMfcto,.witL l iliß.