SUMNER DRAINAGE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVIII, Issue 12995, 10 December 1902, Page 8

SUMNER DRAINAGE.

TO THB EDITORSir, —I would like, with your permission, to draw attention to the proposed loan for drainage and water-supply, extension at Sumner. Before the ; ratepayers sanction the loan, they should make certain that the works Will do what are expected of them. The past experience of the Council is not a happy one in the _ matter of drainage. Two years ago, it put in the only underground drain in Sumner, I think. It is at Redcliffs, and is only three and a half chains long, with, a flood-gate at the outlet, to keep out the tide. The result is that sections inside the main road are flooded with salt water. The engineer put another gate at the other end, and it is still unsatisfactory. Now he recommends an-, other gate in the centre of the drain, at- a cost of £ls. Though personally in favour of a drainage scheme, if it is to be carried out like this, and with the same authorities, it seems likely are better off without it. As for the water-supply extension, the engineer says it costs at present for water 5J,d a 1000 gallons, but I think three or four times that would be nearer the mark. Under the new scheme, it will only cost half of that. If he can do it for half the price now, why did he not do it when the supply was first started? Has he been experimenting, at water-supply, at the cost of the ratepayers? It' looks like it, and now he wants a turn at drainage at the same expense.—l am, etc., OLD RESIDENT.