NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1928. BOROUGH LOAN PROPOSALS

Northern Advocate, 13 October 1928, Page 8

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1928. BOROUGH LOAN PROPOSALS

Registered for transmission through the post as a newspaper.

Ratepayers In the borough of Whaugarei will have, a responsible duty to perform on Wednesday, October 17th, when they will be asked to sanction loans totalling £07,924. It is therefore very desirable that they should make themselves conversant with the purposes to which the proposed loan money is to be devoted. An opportunity to obtain information upon which to base decision is to be afforded at a public meeting on Monday evening, when the loan proposals will be explained. It is to be hoped

that ratepayers will avail themselves 1 of this opportunity, in. order that they; luhy be 1 aide to express'themselves in j telligeritly at the poll. The proposals' which the Borough Counei' has do-'j cided to put before the ratepayers! are of a very important nature. This j is particularly the ease in regard to! that relating to sewerage, not merely j because the amount of money involv- 1 ed in it is large, but because the! health of the town is so dependent j upon an effective system for the dis-! posal of sewerage. Whangarei people j ■are justifiably proud of their town,! and the evidences of healthy growth j which it presents; as a matter of fact,there are few, if any, boroughs in the! Dominion which can boast develop-j ment that has taken place on surer] or sounder lines. This growth makes necessary an. immediate and substantial extension of the sewerage system of the borough, which has outgrown the provision that, a comparatively few years ago, seemed to be ample for all likely requirements. Today the system, it is stated, is quite unable to-meet the demands .made -upon it. The overflowing, of sewerage at times has become so bad that further connections with the arterial uewers arc absolutely impossible. The consequence of this is an increasing number of nnsewered houses, which are made dependent upon a necessary, but abhorrent, method of night soil removal; This fact, and the menace to public health constituted by the overloading of the sewerage system, make it imperative that stops should bo taken to improve and extend the sewers in such a manner as to meet the present and future requirements of the borough. Realising that the time for 1 definite action had arrived, the Borough Council instructed Messrs Lbekie, Gannon and Worley, engineers of acknowledged standing, to Inake a thorough investigation of the sewerage system. They reported that the existing system in the northern part of the town is hopelessly overtaxed, the sewers in many cases being too small, the grades too flat and the pipes badly laid.

"As the population has increased," the engineers say, "sowers have been installed without working to any proper scheme. . ~ . In the vicinity of Kamo Road and Afill Road the pipes are running to full capacity, and to add more houses to them would be suicidal. Duo to , cracked pipes and cracked joints, such largo volumes of ground water make ingress to the sewers .in wet weather that .the pipes are not nearly large enough to cope with the flow. This has caused the backing up of sewerage in both manholes, and house connections, with consequent disgusting results. " .

After drawing this picture, the engineers declared that "the only way to relieve this congestion is to instal hew main sewers of sufficient capacity to meet future requirements," To this end they have designed a very Comprehensive scheme, details of which have already been published and Which will again be explained by kr Worley, one of the engineers, at the public iriectihg on'Monday evening. Briefly, ..the -scheme consists of the construction of a new main flower from Kamo Road to Deveron Street and thence to Hoey’s orchard, where will be constructed septic tanks, from which the sewage will be delivered odourless and colourless into the harbour. The main trunk sewer will, it is claimed, reduce the present cost of pumping, obviate any increasing of puinping areas or plant in the future; obviate the existing syphon, which is a perpetual nuisance; and, most important of all, meet all future requirements of the borough. A schcnlc of sewerage for the whole borough has been prepared, with proper surveys, levels, working plans and '.specifications so that whenever work is proceeded with it will be done in accordance with that scheme. That the scheme is sound from an ongineorihg point of view may be taken for granted, the Local Bodies Loans

Board having thoroughly examined it, and authorised the raising of a loan of £40,000 for this purpose. The necessity for an adequate and efficient sewerage system cannot he too strongly urged, and it may in passing be reeallecV that Dr. Chcsson, the medical officer of health, has written to the Borough Council to the following effect: “I may say that I regard this matter as being so serious that in the event of the ratepayers turning down the scheme I should request the Department of Health to require the Borough Council to put the work in hand without further consideration of the ratepayers, ” The other loan proposals call for little comment, tac need for their adoption being selfevident'. ..It is.proposed to expend £1724 upon filling in, levelling and beautifying Central Park, A scheme of work, lias been 'prepared, and adontioh of the loan proposal should result in the development of a really useful add. beautiful recreation ground. Tt is proposed to raise a loan of £5900 for reforming, metalling and sealing with bitumen the Maunu Road from the Otaika corner to the borough boundary,. also making a footpath on either side of the road as far as the Public Hospital, ami one footpath thence to the boundary. It is cheering to know that interest and sinking fund on this loan will be met by the borough's share of the petrol tax, thus relieving the ratepayers of financial responsibility. The remaining proposal —-to raise £1415 for extensions to the Public Library —has a oroat deal to commend it. The shelving and the reading room accommodation of the Libtary are altogether

inadequate, and ir, is imperative that extensions' should be made. The Bor-

ough Council has approved plans designed to give tiie required relief,

and it now asks -the ratepayers to sanction the necessary loan. We-hope the ratepayers wit attend in large numbers flu- meeting to be held on .Monday night, in order that they may make themselves intimately aquainted with the proposals which the Borough Council, after earnest consideration, has brought down in the interests of Whangarei as a whole.