CUTTING UP STREETS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19659, 10 June 1927, Page 12

CUTTING UP STREETS.

LAYING PIPES AND MAINS. MINIMISING INCONVENIENCE. CLOSER CO-OPERATION PLANNED The inconvenience caused by the frequent opening up of streets arid footpaths in Auckland for the purpose of layinc pipes, telegraph cables, gas and electric power mains is one of the penalties of progress, in the opinion of the city engineer, Mr. W. E. Bush, who reported to the City Council last evening on the steps that could be taken to secure cooperation on this matter between his department, the waterworks department, the Gas Company, the Power Board and the Post and Telegraph Department. "The constant opening up of our streets is merely another evidence of the rapid growth and expansion of the city and the business being carried on therein," Mr. Bush said. "While it causes inconvenience and some expense, it is a condition that is common to all growing cities, and it would be more costly to postpone the necessary works on the one hand, or to expedite the laying of mains before their time on the other, than to carry out the work in tho sequence which the demands of the particular interest render necessary." To secure closer co-operation, Mr. Bush proposes to confer once a month with the representatives of the various interests having statutory power to open city streets, with a view to ascertaining and anticipating the requirements of each, so that, as far as possible, the opening of streets and footpaths can be carried out before any permanent works of renewal of tho services are done. Mr. Bush explained that the procedure at present followed was to give notice to the interests involved and the tramways department before any permanent works and paving were done, requesting that, if any works in connection with the mains or services under their control required attention, those should be done promptly, so that the works might be carried out prior to paving. This had been the practice for many years. It had to be remembered, however, that in the case of the Gas Company, the Power Board and the Post and Telegraph Department, there had been an exceptional amount of work in recent years on account of the expansion of districts outside the city, and tho expansion of business within the city itself. In the case of the Post and Telegraph Department, the improved system of laying cables underground and using poles only as distributing points had resulted in more than the ordinary amount of opening up of streets and footpaths. It must be said, in justice to the various departments and boards having a statutory right to lay mains in the streets, that very often the necessity for a new main was only made apparent before the actual need for relaying such main became urgent. Tho report was adopted.