DRAINAGE OF DUNEDIN.

Evening Star, Issue 12899, 23 August 1906, Page 6

DRAINAGE OF DUNEDIN.

MR MANCHESTER DECLINES TO MEET THE BOARD. MEMBERS SIT AND WAIT. In .yesterday's issue we stated that Mr E. Manchester had made up his mind not to take the post of engineer to the Dunediri Drainage and Sewerage Board. This became known to the Board during the afternoon. An adjourned meeting had been called for 3.30 p.m. to meet Mr Manchester, but that gentleman did not appear. Members hung about for about ten minutes, waiting for him, and then took their seats, there being present Mr W. Burnett (chairman), Dr Fulton, Messrs Scott, Christie, Gore, Hancock, Arkle, Small, and Mariow. The Chairman said: The position is this, gentlemen. We hear all sorts of rumors-about Mr Manchester, but we have nothing before us—he is not here. I have been waiting in the secretary' 6 room, fully expecting that he, aa the gentleman.we have engaged, would be here, but he is not, and we have nothing before us. If that gentleman had come and stated verbally his objection to us, or sent a letter, we should know where we are. I told him last night: "You are engaged, and have accepted the position, and are here "; and the next thing we hear all sorts of rumors. He ought to come here and give his reasons. It is a big slur on Dunedih, to say nothing of the Board, that he should come to Dunedin and then resign —for it seems to come (o that—without giving his ■ reasons. Mr Small: I saw him for a little while. His first objection is that the Board have no plan or scheme. He 6aid he saw by the plans on the wall that the Board had something in the nature of a scheme, but it is only in detached bits, and it is impossible for a stranger to pick up the threads of the scheme, and there is nothing to show wliether the different portions will fit in or not. Ho said that no one man could carry out the work aa it now 6tood. Hia chief objection is that there is no scheme for the drainage of Dunedin. The Chairman: Has he made mcfairies? Mr Small: He asked for the plans and none could be produced. He said that if there w«re proper plans he would be ready and willing to start and carry them out. Mr Manow: My opinion is that he has no confidence in the position and is not sure of himself, and if that is so it is a happy thing for this Board to find it out now instead of finding it out later on. I i think that in the circumstances the Board are to be rather congratulated.

Dt Fulton: Is it a fact that we have no plans? It seems to me incredible. Mr Scott: It is qnite true. Mt Small: Perfectly true. At this stage the secretary (Mr Esther) read the cablegrams, as follow: 7th August.—E. Manchester, Melbourne.—Board offer you position of drainage engineer £6CO per amram.— Esther. 10th August.—Secretary Drainage Board, Durredin. —Rate accepted write me length engagement.—Manchester. 10th August.—Manchester, Victoria,— Offer you two years' engagement if satisfactory term probably extended if accepted come at once.—Esther. 13th August.—Esther, Dunedin.—Leave Melbourne Warriraoo Wednesday 15th.— Manchester.

Mr Marlow : He tabes the wrong meaning out of our second wire. It can be read two ways, there being no punctuation in telegrams. He has read it " Offer you two years' engagement if satisfactory—probably extended" ; whereas he should have read it " Offer you two years' engagement—if satisfactory term probably extended." I toki him "the attitude of the Board, and said that we offered him a two years' engagement ; but he answered that in Hobart, where there was a smaller work than ours going on, they had a staff of twenty-one. 1 replied that we could fix him up with a E roper 6taff, though we could not promise im, perhaps, a very big one. However, he evidently did not -feel inclined to take it on. Mr Arkle: In conversation with him it was pointed out that he had made a mistake ui his reading of the cablegram, and that he had a definite engagement for two years, and longer if necessary. The fact, no donbt, is that -fhe man does not want to take it.

Mr Scott : I believe that Mr Manchester said this morning that what we want is a designing engineer, and I don't know but what he is quite right. We have no plans. We have nothing consecutive —it is all patchy. I 'think the time has come when we must have a firstclass man to give us a design, even if we appoint a cheaper man after-wards to carry it out. Mr Hancock : What have we before the Board, Mr Chairman? Is there no intimation from Mr Manchester to yourself or the secretary ?

The Chairman : No; we are debating nothing. I have asked the secretary to ring up Mr Manchester. If he chooses to resign we can then do something. Mr Gore : I agree with you that there is nothing before the Board. Conversations go for nothing. I have had only a few moments' conversation with him. I take it that he must communicate with us, and to be proper it should be in writing. We axe under the impression that we have engaged Mr Manchester, but if he likes to resign, or if he says there is no engagement, I presume that the Board will let it be so. As to a designing engineer, I take it that any engineer who has been on an up-to-date sewerage scheme for sixteen years should be competent as a designing engineer. We have had one designing engineer—he landed us in a muddle, and I hope we shall not have another. I should like to see us have a practical man who can take charge of sewerage works. The Chairman : Well, we are still in the same position—waiting; I think that Mr Manchester is bound in courtesy to write to us or appear personally.

Mr Scott : No doubt he has intimated to the secretary that he will not accept. But that is verbal, and we can't act upon ■it. The Chairman : No, for he might turn round and say he did accept, and thus cast "us in heaw damages. . Mr Christie : It is an awkward position, but possibly it is just as well that it has happened now—better, jn fact, than at any future time. As you know, I was opposed to the appointment of Mr Manchester, believing it to be an error, and I think it is as well that things have turned out as they have. It is, however, a singular thing, his not appearing to say that he will not take up the duties we offered to him. No doubt he has his reasons. Whether it is, as some suggest, a case of funk, or not, I do not know. I considered that to give a man who was in receipt of only £275 a salary of £6OO right off was folly, and I hope that when the decks are clear we will do what we intended to do in the first instance, and get a properly-qualified man who has the required knowledge and • ability—a man in whom we have confidence that he would bring out a proper plan of the whole scheme. It is no good our going on spending the citizens' moneys—we have not much more to spend, and what we have left we want to spend rightly. However, there is nothing now before us, and the best thing we can do is to pass to the next business.

Members agreed to this, and the meeting proceeded -to consider further the question of the connecting of the railway station with the Board's sewer. Later on,the question of the. engineer came up again. * Mr Scott pointed out that that was Mr Slinger's last, day'with the Board, and they must appoint someone to carry on. : This caused a conversational, discussion, during the progress of which a telephone ring from Mr- Manchester was-answered by Mr Christie and secretary. They came- back to the room and reported that Mr Manchester would come to the office in the morning, not to see the Board, but to speak with the secretary, .and that he would give a letter releasing the Board: The Board had previously resolved to adjourn until 11 a.m. next day (Thursday). The Secretary : He also wants to know what about expenses.—(Laughter.) The Chairman; Expenses! Tell him jre re Scotch. -»• . - -«*.

Mr Marlow : Perhaps he means the expenses, we are put to. The Board then rose. MR MANCHESTER FORMALLY WITHDRAWS. The Drainage Board met again at 11 a.m. tonlay; present—Mr W. Burnett (chairman), Messrs" Small, Marlow, Hancock; Gore, Arkle, and Scott, and Mr Fulton. The following letter from Mr Manchester was read by the chairman.-—. Palace Hotel, Augjist 25, 1906. The Secretary Dunedin Drainage Board. Dear sir,—ln. confirmation of my verbal intimation to you and Commissioner Small, I now formally notify you of my reluctance to accept the position of drainage engineer to your Board. Thanking yourself for your courtesy in the matter, and regretting that I cannot accept the appointment—l am, dear sir, respectfully yours, E. Manchesteb. Mr Christie: I move that the letter be received. Mr Hancock: I second that. Motion put and carried. The Chairman: Do you move anvthincr. Mr Small? • Mr Small: I move that the Board go into committee. This was agreed to. MR CARDUE TO BE CONSULTED. After considerable discussion in committee, it was resolved, on the motion of Mr Scott—"That the Board request Mr Cardue, of Sydney, at a fee of, say, £SOO, to report in detail as to the present and future requirements of the Dunedin drainage scheme, and that Mr Slinger be offered the position of drainage engineer at a salary of £SOO per annum for a term of three years." MR SLINGER APPOINTED. On Mr Slinger being called into the Board room, the Chairman communicated to him the Board's decision to offer him a permanent appointment as their engineer for three years at a salary of £SOO a year, also their decision to ge't an engineer of repute to report on the scheme. Mr Burnett then asked Mr Slinger if he would be prepared to accept the position offered. Mr Slinger: On condition that vou fix up with the Dock Trust that I "should leave their employ honorably. Mr Marlow : I admire Mr Slinger's attitude.—(Hear, hear.) Mr Arkle: What are the terms of your agreement with the Trust? Mr Slinger replied that his engagement was to last as long as the dock job lasts. There was no time specified in the agreement. Mr Scott suggested that the chairman of the Board and the chairman of the Works Committee should aproach Mr Hay, the Dock Trust's engineer, and should arrange the matter with the Dock Trust. Messrs Burnett and Small agreed to do this, the former remarking that there should be no difficulty over the matter. The following motion was then moved by Mr Scott, seconded by Mr Marlow. and carried: " That the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board hereby resolve to appoint, and do hereby appoint, Mr Archibald Slinger to be the drainage engineer in charge of the main drainage works of the Board, at a salary of £SOO per annum, for a term of three years." MR MANCHESTER EXPLAINS. This afternoon we received the followin-' which speaks for itself: It having come to my knowledge that I stated no scheme was ever prepared for the drainage of Dunedin, I beg leave to correct that impression. I simply repeated what was told me by the cbairmin of the Works Committee, and the impression that no scheme has ever been outlined seems a general one, judging from the remarks made in the daily Press, This afternoon a scheme outlined and reported on and published in 1902-03 has been brought under my notice. In justice to those responsible for the preparation of that scheme, etc., and in justice to myself, I would lilce the matter put perfectly clearly, especially as I am leaving Dunedin m about one hour's time, and will have no later favorable opportunity of replying. —I am, etc., R Manchester.