NIHOTUPU DAM WORKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17700, 8 February 1921, Page 6

NIHOTUPU DAM WORKS.

COUNCIL TO COMPLETE THEM.* COST TO BE MET, £128,000. ESTIMATED TOTAL, £190,000. HOPES OF COMPLETION IN 1923. The completion of the construction of the large dam at Nihotupn is to be undartaken by the City Council. This- decision was arrived at last evening, when the council held a, specie! meeting to consider the whole matter involved in the surrender of the contract last week by the contractors, Messrs. Langlands. The Mayor, Mr. J. H. Gunson, presided. There were also piesent: Mrs. E. H. ..laguire, Messrs. 0. Knight, H. D. Heather, G. R. Hutchinson, F. W. H. Briri'den, T. Bloodworth, J. Dempsey, J. A. C. Allum, G. Baildon, J. Trevithick, J. B. Paterson. J. A. Warnock, H. N. Bagnall, A. Hall Skelton, P. J. Nerheny, M.L.C.. and M. J. Savage, M.P. The Works Committee brought down tlie following recommendations: —(1) That Uio council complete the work with its forces, and that the Works Committee be authorised to carry out and arrange all details for that purpose. Also, that, the assistant city engineer, Mr. J. Tyler, be transferred tn the job and the i-ily engineei. .Mr. W. E. Bush, to be instructed to expedite tlie work with nl) r>eed. (2) That' tho Works Committee be authorised to consider further the position of the contractors and their bondsmen and to report fully to the council at ' its ordinary meeting on March 3. ; With regard to supplies of the principal materials the committee reported that it . had arranged for a supply of cement to ' carry the job to completion. It recommended that the Wilsons (New Zealand) Portland Cement Company be notified of the acceptance of tlie contract made with it. The committee had secured the right to take sand from: a suitable beach on the Manukau Harbour. This was recomj, mended for acceptance. As regards metal the quarry would be worked and promised to furnish sufficient for the job. Saving on Cement Supplies. , In moving the adoption of the report the chairman of the Works Committee, Mr. Baildon, saiil the ratepayers had been saved a. considerable sum in the arrangements made for cement supplies. Those concerning sand wewe also satisfactory. The whole matter had been gone into thoroughly, and the committee considered that the taking over of the work by the council was the only thing to be done in the circumstances. By adopting the committee's recommendation and sending the assistant city engineer out to Nihotupu to superint«nd the job they would impart new blood into the work and new energy, and the committee honed the result would be that the dam would be finished by 1923. As regards the second recommendation af the committee Mr. Baildon urged the council to think the matter over seriously. The contractors had taken the work at a very cheap price, in the beginning, and, " en if all had gone well, he did not think they would have made it pay. The war, with its resultant shortage of labour and ' materials, and the increased costs of both, had made their' position very bad. There v,dR no doubt they had had hard luck, and if the council could do something further for them he would be quite -willing ' to have it done. In the meantime, if the council adopted the Teport of the committee it would get right to work, take ■ harge of the job next day (to-day), and see if it could put some life into the construction work. Mr. Ba<piall seconded the motion, remarking that the council had the Mayor and Mr. Baildon to thank for great deal of work in connection with the matter. He estimated that they had sa.ved the council in the contract made for t-cment some £3000 on the amount of the material required. At this stage the council went into committee to hear a statement by the city solicitor, Mr. J. Stanton. The Work and the* Council's Resources. On the council resuming in open meetin p. Mr. Hutchinson said he had a doubt as to the driving force of the city engineering department being sufficient to carry the construction work through by j.923. H* would like to know the number of yards of concrete necessary to complete the work. He believed the present crisis ' should have come two years ago if the city engineer had properly advised the council. He did not want to see anything of the same sort happen again. The Mayor stated thft there were 70,000 yds. of concreting work in the entire job. Of that amount 20,000 yds. had been laid, leaving 50,000 yds. still to be laid to finish. the work. By laying 2000 yds. a month the dam would be completed by the date the committee had in mind. The plant was capable of allowing that amount to be laid per month, As regards metal there was exposed in the council's quarry 41,000 yds, A total of 50,00 yds. would be required to iSnish the job, and the committee was satisfied that the additional 9000 yards was there beyond all doubt. He pointed out that the excavation work done on the dam was enormous, and - nou-recuirring, so that to say that two-sevenths of the work only had been completed, leaving five-sevenths still to do, would be ina.ccurate. Mr. Knight asked how much cement v;ould be needed to finish the dam. The Mayor replied that 9000 tons would be required. Under the agreement made with the Cement Company the council would be committing itself to a price for the rest of this year, and thereafter to a price subject to fluctuations of tho market. Tho city engineer said he was quite satisfied the beach from which the committee proposed to get the sand was the best in the Mbiiukau Harbour. The Mayor said the beach would not only give the council the sand for the dam work, but lor other city works. It had obtained the exclusive right to it. The Financial Position Explained. Mr. Allum said that originally the city engineer's estimate of the cost of the work was £138,153, and to-dav it was, he understood, £210,000. What was it "oing to be when the job was completed in two years? The Mayor, explaining the financial nosition said the work was estimated to cost the'coimcil a total of £190.000. It had paid £62,000 to date, leaving £128,000 net to meet. There was practically no loan money in hand, but £110,000 to the credit of water account was ear-marked for thi job, and this was being built up each year. There would be enough in the account, therefore, if it were not appropriated for any other purpose, to finance the job. The ear-marking of this money and its use on the dam w6uld affect other accounts, but arrangements would have to be made to meet the position in regard to them. The council had never had any doubt about the financing of the dam work in view of the position of its water account, continued the Mayor. The latter would have been in a better position to-day but for the fact that it .had contributed to the Anzac Avenue account, which was in debit to the amount of £190,000, owing to the land purchases and cost of the work, which would be liquidated as the land was sold. Mr. Nerheny said neither the city engineer nor the Works Committee was to blame for the present position. They had done the best possible for the ratepayers. If T3ie committee's report were adopted the council need not fear, but that the work would be finished by the time expected. He thought the citissens were under a deep debt of gratitude to the Mayor and Mr. Baildon for the ability and energy they had displayed in bringing the matter to the successful issue they had brought it. . The report and recommendations of ithe committee were adopted.