DEVONPORT WATER SUPPLY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9000, 13 March 1888, Page 6

DEVONPORT WATER SUPPLY.

PUBLIC MEETING. REPORT OF THE RATEPAYERS' COMMITTEE. A public meeting of the ratepayers of the borough of Devonport was held last night in the Public Hall, in reference to the proposed public water supply. It was virtually an adjournment of the meeting held last week, at which a committee of ratepayers was appointed to inquire into the scheme laid before the ratepayers. The hall was crowded. Mr. Niccoii, Mayor of the borough, in opening the proceedings, said that they would remember that when they parted last week it was with a view of re-assembling that night. The meeting, however, having been a statutory one, could not be adjourned, but he had invited them there by advertisement to receive the report of the committee appointed by themselves. He did not take the chair at this meeting by virtue of being Mayor, and it rested with the meeting to appoint a chairman. On the motion of Mr. Bartlev, seconded by Mr. Peacock, His Worship the Mayor was elected to the chair. The Chairman said they would now at oned proceed to business and hear the report of the special committee appointed at last meeting. Mr. Peacock, as secretary of the committee, read the report as follows : — In accordance with the resolution passed at the meeting of ratepayers convened by the Mayor, on the 7th instant, your committee then appointed have carefully considered the several matters they were asked to investigate, and beg to submit the following report:—After a careful examination of the reforee's original report on the several water supply schemes submitted to his judgment, your committee are of opinion that this report, a lengthy and somewhat elaborate document, bears evidence to the fact that Mr. McGregor has devoted a large amount of time and attention to the work of examining the uoveral echomes and gauging their respoctive merits. The general conclusion arrived at by Mr. McGregor with regard to all the schemes is, that in trying to keep within tho limits as to cost imposed upon the competitors by the Borough Council's printed conditions, every competitor has been forced to so pare down the cost of his scheme in one direction or another, that none of them have succeeded in elaborating such a design as he could recommend this borough to adopt and carry out. Your committee are of opinion chat on the whole Mr. McGregor makes good his contention in this respect, and thev think it regrettable in the interests of the borough that the Council could not under their conditions accept their referee's view of the matter as presonted in his original report, and reject all the schemes as inadequate, thus avoiding tho necessity of taking a poll to decide whether or not the burgesses should vote for a loan to carry out a scheme already condemned as inefficient by expert authority. A reference, however, to the printed conditions under which the competition took place shows that the Council had bound themselves under clause 15 to have the several schemes classified by the referee according to an order of merit, and to award the premium to the schome first on the list. Under clause 17 of the conditions, the Council ongaged to take a poll of ratepayers within two months after receiving the award of the referee. It is therefore clear that, however bad and utterly unsuitable all the schemes might be, they were bound by the effect of theso two clauses to award the premium to one of the competitors, and to take a poll of ratepayers on the quostion of carrying out the winning scheme or not. This was, no doubt, an oversight jn the drawing up of the conditions, which otherwise reflect great cretiit upon the Council, for the careful manner in which they are framed, so as to avoid any risk of after litigation. A perusal of the supplementary report, in which Mr. McGregor, at the request of the Council, classifies the schemes in order of merit, reveals the strange fact that, iudged bv the standard of merit framed by the referee himself, Mr. Knox's scheme is not entitled to the first place on the list. In making his classification the referee arranged the more important features of the schemes under five heads, giving or not giving each competitor a mark under each head, according as his work was suitable or unsuitable in that particular. The five headings under which marks were thus given were as follows :—(1) Engine and pumps ; (2) Sit-e selected for intake at Lake ; (3) Main supply pipe; (4) Service reservoir; (5) Reticulation. "Phcpnix" (Mr. Knox} is given a mark under each of tho four last-mentioned heads, but against the mark given him for " service reservoir " the referee writes, " Increase diameter and decrease depth ;"' and against the mark given him for "reticulation" he writee, "Substitute 4-inch pipes for 3-inch." And here it is necessary to mention that the winning scheme must, according to the conditions, go to tender exactly as it wa-i first submitted, without the alterations indicated by the referee as absolutely necessary to the working out of the scheme, otherwise if no tender within £10,000 were received the author might repudiate responsibility because of such alteration. " Nitor InadvurRum" (Captain Beerc) is ylven a mark under three heads without any qualification, ko that if thu two marks givon to Mr. Knox for work which the referee considers defective, and to which he therefore certainly has no right, be deducted from his score ; the record would stand— Beere, 3 points; Knox, 2 point*. Or if, to put it in another way, Beere had received half the favour accorded Knox, their two scores would have been equal—namely, 4 each. Your committee do' not draw attention to this matter with any idea tho award can be disturbed, but simply in justice to a competitor who, in their opinion, has "been unfairly treated, and to let the ratepayers know that they are asked to vote for or apainst a scheme which, by tho referee's own showing, is apparently not the best of the five submitted, apart From the fact that all of them are condemned by him as being inadequate, and such as could not bu carried out for £10,000. A careful consideration of Mr. McGregor's report has convinced your committee that a satisfactory scheme for supplying the borough with water from Lake Takapuna, embodying the extensive scale of reticulation laid down by the Council, cannot be carried out for the sum of £10,000, especially if the cost of providing for two miles of reservo pipes, as required by the conditions, be takon into consideration. This conclusion is forced upon the committee by the fact that five professional gentlemen, in their several attempts to elaborate such a schemo without overstepping that limit of cost, have one and all fallen short of efficiency in some important particular or other. In submitting this report, your committee desire to state that they fully realise the great advantages that would accrue to the Borough from a good water supply, both on the score of the public health, and for the sake of providing means for tho prevention of loss by fire. But they cannot conceal from themselves that our present financial capabilities are as yet unequal to tho strain that they would have to bear in order to carry out a schome such as is now before us. Although no definite information has boon afforded your committee as to the financial position of the Borough, it ie understood that there will bo a considerable deficiency at the end of the current financial year ending on the 31st instant, so that no portion of the annual charge tor interest on the proposed loan or any part of tho working expenses or sinking fund can bo borne by the ordinary Borough rate for two or three years. Any deficiency therefore between the amount received from watorconeumers and the amount of interest, sinking fund, and working expenses must be met by a special rate, At the same time, they are strongly inclined to believe that a serviceable scheme might be de. vised which would admit of after extension and to carry out which a loan of far less amount would be sufficient than that now proposed to be raised. In conclusion, your committee desire to express their conviction that the burgesses of Devonport will exercise their votes at the forthcoming poll with intelligenco and without prejudice on the whole question at issue.—For tho Committee, Oliver Mays, Chairman. In moving the adoption of the report, Mr. Peacock said they would probably be accused, if the poll failed, of keeping a water supply out of Devonport. Hβ wished to combat that idea; or that, as was stated, three-fourths of the committee was opposed to a water supply. There was only one member of the committee antagonastic to a water supply; the others were in favour of it; only they were opposed to this scheme as being too expensive. If the Borough Council had taken the public into their confidence and published Mr. McGregor's first report they would not be chargeable with trying to hide matters, and that nad a great deal to do with the action of tho ratepayers in appointing this committee, and although it was unlikely that the loan would be voted, still it was more likely that the loan would have been voted had the Council taken the ratepayers into their confidence. He had no personal animus, and his only reason for the action he had taken was that they should not be burdened with debt for an inadequate scheme. He thought it a pity that clause 15 was put in the conditions. He did not think the Council intended that the prize should be awarded to a scheme which could not be carried out, but under this condition once the premium was awarded they were bound to have a poll on that scheme. He admitted that whoever frarried the regulations desired to avoid litigation, but he thought the clause was an oversight. He referred to a paper read beifore the Society of Engineers in regard to village water supplier. In one placo with 11,000 inhabitants the cost was £1 Iβ lid per head. Their scheme, for which £11,000 was allocated by the Council—and ho believed it would require £12,000 to complete itwould, taking the population at 2000, mean £6 per head for capital cost, or to a family of husband, wife, and six children £50 of indebtedness, and that being so absurdly large showed the absurdity of contemplating a scheme so much beyond their means. He could not shut his eyes to the fact that they _ were trying to do what was too big for them, and if they waited some one would come forward with another scheme much, more practicable, and more within their reach. He then referred to the reason for the appointment of the committee —being that the ratepayers required more information. He regretted the unpleasantness of being in antagonism to the scheme, and he hoped the Borough Council would acquit him of any antagonism to them, ana if he had said anything that hurt their feelings he was sorry for it, and said 60 now. (Cheers.) Mr. Gascoigne said that from what fell from Mr. Mays at the meeting, he learned that the committee would be better able to judge if they had Mr. Knox's plans before them. But they were not furnished, and

they also asked for information ae to the borough's finances, and a forecast of next year's revenue, but they were not furnished, and they could therefore go no further than they did in the report: He thought the meeting would agree with him that when a representative body like this committee was appointed by the ratepayers the : . Council should have considered them somewhat. He seconded' the motion for the adoption of therepor*. . :: , v ; Mr. Pakr, who declined to go on the platform, addressed all and sundry from the floor amidst a good deal of "chaffing." He wanted to know why Mr. Peacock had refused him on the committee last week ? He wanted him to explain as a gentleman —(cheers and laugh)—for an inoult had been cast on him (laugh). Mr. Peacock said he did not know that the question was worth answering ; it was such a small matter. He proposed a certain number of gentlemen to act on the committee, and it was for the meeting to accept or reject them. He did not propose Mr. Parr, for he did not want him on the committee, knowing he was opposed to his scheme, and if he hurt his feelings he was very sorry. (Cheers and laughter.) Mr. Parr (excitedly); In what way could I injure the committee? Have I not as much brains as you ? It is time New Zealand affairs were better managed, and that we had fewer jackdaws. (Roars of laughter.) Being deaf I did not hear what he said, but I saw enough in the papers to convince me that' Mr. Peacock is no gentleman. (Cheers and laughter). Mr. NiccoL said he would first say that seeing that the tone of the report was so. moderate, he was surprised that Mr. Gascoigne should impute motives to him in withholding information from the committee. On the contrary, he went to the committee meeting to offer every assistance. He told Mr. Knox that the plans would probably be required by the committee ; but, as they were aware, Mr. Knox lived out near the Lake, and it came on to rain so heavily that night that he could not come in, but next morning he brought them. He (Mr. Niccol) saw Mr. Mays, the chairman of the committee, that day, and asked him if he would require the plans, but he said he thought they would not be required, as they had cot a copy of the design or plan from the Town Clerk. However, he told Mr. Knox to take the plans to Mr. Mays. As to the charge of refusing to supply information of the borough's finances, it was a misstatement. He was informed by Mr. Dinsdale, the Town Clerk, that the committee required accounts which could not be furnished. The accounts were made up twice a year. What the committee wanted was a forecast of next year's revenue and expenditure, which they could not give till May next, when it would be laid oefore the ratepayers before the rate was struck. Therefore it was apparent they could not give these estimates now, but to prevent misapprehension he went to the meeting of the committee on Friday and gave all the information .they wished, and he asked the meeting could he possibly do more ? Since then he had made up an estimate of income and expenditure to disabuse the public mind of the idea that there was a huge debt. The position of the borough was now better than ever it had been since it had an existence. The overdraft left by the Road Board was £600. In March last year it was £688, and in the following half-year it was over £700, tut now it was only £400, and he put it to them whether that was going to the bad. Their total liabilities, exclusive of this overdraft, were not more than £400, and there were about £250 of rates to be collected, and had it not, been for the exceptional expenditure last year in sinking the well, erecting offices, &c., amounting in all to £500, they would now have no overdraft, and therefore the notion that they had a large debt looming over them was simply a bogey to frighten the ratepayers from obtaining their rights —a water supply. As to the statement that the Council was forcing this scheme down their throats, the matter rested with themselves. Iβ was for them to vote. Some were in favour of a water supply, others were opposed to it for fear of additional taxation, and the Council was only doing its duty in submitting the matter to the ratepayers, and this was the only way in which their feeling could be tested. There was no oversight in clause 15, and had the conditions been more stringent they would have had no competition. They must know that to prepare a scheme such as any of those submitted, involved a cost of at least £50, so that they got £250 worth of work for £50 ; but if they put in a clause that none of the plans might be adopted they would have no competition at all. He thought the ratepayers were protected by the poll. The tender must be accepted before the successful competitor was entitled to the premium, but if the ratepayers rejected the scheme at the poll, he was still entitled to £50. Hβ did not know that any other point had been raised to which he need refer, except with regard, to the adoption of the scheme. Mr. McGregor was with the Council when the schemes were under consideration. They pressed him for his objection, but he always fell back on the fact that the money was not sufficient, and that they admitted themselves. They admitted that they asked the competitors to make bricks without straw, or with insufficient straw, and that consequently the competitors had to cut and pare to bring their schemes within the limit. They recognised that, and asked Mr. McGregor if there was any radical defect in the schemes themselves, and he said no. Having ascertained that they said their duty was clear to award the prize to the scheme which met their views with the least modification, and they referred them back to Mr. McGregor for classification. One of the schemes, that of Mr. Hubbard, he pronounced visionary and unworkable. He considered them again, and sent in a supplementary report, and Mr. Knox's scheme was placed at the head of the list in the schedule. They had the experiende i of other boroughs. They always 'fiftSt ,, objected on the ground of [ tion, but afterwards they swallowed. tlie pill, and none of them regretted it.•> rfej was quite satisfied that the 9d rate would be sufficient. He refuted the idea that lf~a' call was made on the general rate, they weraM' not be able to meet it. The rate would' be £1350, and the expenditure, assuming it to be the same as last year for ordinary purposes, would be £1000, thus leaving a clear margin of £350. But he was quite convinced that even in the first year there would be a profit of £250 at least on the water, and that would constantly increase. Devonport was a growing place, and every increase in population meant an increase in the consumption of water, and in a short time they might be able to reduce the 9d rate. The committee had not questioned his figures as to the annual expenditure, and he believed they were sufficient. One thing more he would say. He had been in charge of this district for many years as Chairman of the Board and as Mayor. Last year he desired to retire, but he was pressed to remain in office, and the principal reason urged by those who presented the requisition was, that he ought to wait until this question of waterworks was settled ; so he determined to remain, and submit the matter conscientiously to the ratepayers. He had given the matter great care and attention, and he knew that if they rejected the proposal it would be because of the cost to themselves; but let, he said, the question on Thursday be, Do we want a water supply for Devonport, or do we hot? Extras might be required, but they had taken the precaution to ask for £11,000 instead of £10,000, and he did not think that in any case the extras would exceed £400. As to Mr. Hubbard's objection about the air-valves not being included in the scheme, he had spoken to Mr. Errington and Mr. Carlaw and was assured that the cost of these would be very trivial. Several other speakers addressed the meeting, Mr. Fowler and Mr. McCallum especially causing great amusement by their irrelevant speeches; and Mr. Hannan ebrongly condemned the scheme of bringing in a supply from the Lake, as the water would become contaminated. Mr. Peacock replied, and the motion was then put, and carried on the voices. A vote of thanks was accorded to the chairman. Mr. Mays afterwards addressed the meeting at some length. He was in favour of a water supply, but considered the present scheme too expensive.