EPIDEMIC FEARED

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 64, 9 December 1930, Page 10

EPIDEMIC FEARED

Street Without Sewer

RESIDENTS PROTEST Unredeemed Promise Danger of an epidemic in Hataitai was brought to the notice of the Works Committee of the City Council by a deputation yesterday. Klo Road, which leads from Te Anau Road to Evans Bay, has been six years without sewerage, and residents have been using methods of disposal which it was believed had been banished from the city area years ago.

The deputation consisted of about a dozen residents in or near the road, and the speakers were Messrs. H. R. Searle, E. B. Harman and F. L. Thompson, of the Hataitai Municipal Electors’ Association. Councillor 11. A. Huggins Informed the committee that Kio Road was less than a mile and a half from Courtenay Place, yet had no sanitary service.

Six Years Ago. Mr. Searle said that the matter had been discussed by the Hataitai Land Co. and the then acting city engineer, Mr. Morice, in 1924. In 1928 there were prospects that a sewer would be laid, as the necessary item was placed on the estimates, but the work was not done. Twice the item had been placed on the estimates and taken off again, the reason given being lack of funds. The land company had received no satisfactory reply to requests that the work be done. There were 28 sections affected, on which six houses had been built, while other owners who desired to build would not do so until the sewer was laid, so that the progress of the district was being hampered. It would be suitable work for the unemployed. If anyone had told him that such a state of affairs could exist in Hataitai he would have said he was an imbecile. Any councillor who knew of it and allowed such conditions to continue was not worthy of the confidence reposed in him by the electors. Weary of Inaction. Residents were weary of the inaction, and the matter had been placed before the Public Health Department, which wrote to the City Council asking it to deal with it as urgent. The Land Company had dedicated land to the council in Evans Bay Road which would save the council a considerable sum, and there was a moral obligation upon the council to see that the work was done. Owing to the configuration of the land it would be necessary for an ejector to be erected. The cost was placed at £2600, which was a small insurance for the health of the community. The danger to the health of the children in Particular was causing some concern. If the council had not the necessary finance a loan should be put through, for he did not think the Loans Board would dare to reject an application where the health of the community was at stake. Unless the City Council took action they would have to go to the Health Department and ask for an order in the interests of the community. . , , Mr. Harman exphasised the danger to children, especially as the school was not far distant. Mr. Thomas' urged that if the council had been justified in spending £4OOO on a golf house at Berhampore and £l6OO on a bear pit at the zoo, it could surely spend £2600 in the cause of public health. Councillor F. Meadowcroft: We get a return from the golf house. Councillor R. Semple: What do you get from the bear? Mr. Thomas said other suburbs were getting much more attention than Hataitai. „ .„ _ . The chairman, Councillor R. A. Wright, M.P., agreed that Hataitai had not had so much spent on it as other suburbs, except for the tunnel. Mr. Searle: That is for the eastern suburbs, not for Hataitai. The chairman said that if the department made an order, then the City Conncil would have to carry it out. Councillor Semple: Here in the heart of the city we are burying the night soil. We have a better position than that in the zoo. The chairman said the committee recognised the necessity of the work, and would again make a recommendation to the council on the matter.