ONE YEAR AFTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21099, 5 February 1932, Page 11

ONE YEAR AFTER.

EARTHQUAKE restoration

NAPIER BOROUGH SERVICES.

jOTAL DAMAGE OF £243.000. HEAVY BUILDINC programme. ' No. 111. The restoration of the Napier Borough jerviees has proceeded rapidly and, without any inconvenience to citizens beyond that occasioned by street excavations, tho public health position has not been affected by drainage dislocation. A complete new sewerage system has' teen laid over the 500 acres of flat regjaential lryid in tho town where the earthquake broke every pipe of the old system and tilted the ground against the fall " 10 sewcvs - Tlip work has involved the laying of 20 miles of new gewers, exclusive of house connections Three automatic pumping stations have been built tho system in the residential portion of the town is now functioning. Attention is now being given to the business area, and a complete relaying of sewers will be necessary here also, although the old pipes have with difficulty been kept in operation up to tho present. Tilting of Ground. The tilting of the ground has rendered the storm water system on the fiats ineffective. A new system has been designed and tho work commenced. Tho old system in Napier South was a gravity one with an outfall in the inner harbour, but a general discharge by gravity is now impossible, and 200 acres will have to be drained by pumping, the outfall being on the beach at the Marine Parade. Napier's water supply comes from arteiian bores within the borough and the ;vrhole supply has to be pumped. All the wells were damaged by the earthquake and in all cases there was a falling off in the natural flow at the well-head, due to the uplifting of the country. Three new 6in. wells have been driven and the best of the old ones have been reconditioned. Tho town has now a supply of four million gallons a day, which will be adequate for many yeai-s to come. An unrestricted' supply has been maintained throughout the borough, despite the high summer demand of one hundred gallons per head per day. There is, however, no reserve pumping plant, and the storage available is very small so that the position is one to cause some anxiety for the next two months after which the new pumping plant will be employed.

Storage reservoirs to hffld one and aquarter million gallons have been com- ! meneed and the reticulation of the borough has been made good again. Loans at Low Rate. The estimated damage to borough property and services is £243,000, of which £160,000 is in drainage, water supply and streets. The amount set aside by the Government for restoration of damage of this type throughout tho whole of the affected area from Waipukurau to Wairoa is £250,000. thus -Napier's share will fall far short of the amount that must be expended on restoration. The money is not being h'arided over as a free grant, but .by way of an ordinary loan from the State Advances Department, on which interest and sinking fund lias to bo provided, but on easier terms than the standard market rate. Additional funds required will have to be raised in the open market. Building Activity in Napier since the ' 'quake has been most marked at the port, where new premises have been erected by the National Tobacco Company at a cost of about £30,000 and by the various firms who handle wool, the

largest individual new building having been erected bv Messrs. Williams and * Kettle at a cost of £35,000. It covers acres and has two floors, the upper floor, where lighting is perfect, having been described by wool buyers as the .. finest in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a steel-framed building, with joints being entirely welded. There is over six miles of actual welding in the building. To meet earthquake building regulations the bases of the piers were tied, this adding £3OOO to the cost. The New Zealand Shipping Company expended £27,000,0n two wool stores. Messrs. Murray Roberts, Ltd., £25,C00, Messrs. Ellison and Duncan £6OOO, and the Hawke s Bay Farmers' Company, Messrs. Dalgetv and Company and Messrs. Williams and Kettip jointly expended some £30,000 in reconditioning their block of stores which were severely tilted by the earthquake. Permits for £310,000. Napier's building permits sincq the earthquake have reached the total of £3i0.000. this sum. of course, including the cost of reconditioning the buildings, but not repairs to chimneys and similar damage in houses. The Public Trust building, which survived the earthquake, is again occupied, reconditioning costs having amounted to over £4COO. and the Post Office, which was gutted by fire, is now in the hands of the restorers; the total cost will be in the vicinity of £35.000. ti. Information is not always available as to the building plans of owners whose financial resources vary greatly and who, as a wholfV/ are disappointed with the degree of assistance they have received from the Rehabilitation Board or have reason to expect. The disappointment is in some cases quite acute, but most men recognise the, very severe limitations the depress'O/i has imposed upon Stato resources, and are reaching the frame of mind which agrees that a half-loaf is better than no bread, although there are some who, at present, feel that the halfloaf cannot meet their minimum needs. Many Plans Mature.

However, a building programme of very Considerable, dimensions is about to be launched, and within a few months a cumber of new buildings will have been - commenced in the devastated area. Iho 1 Masonic Hotel block is to be covered by a two-storey building, which will include shops, at a cost of £50,000. One ®f the large drapery establishments is •xpected to commence building in F,mer•oii and Hastings Streets at an early date; the Jlawke's Bay Farmers' Cooperative Company has plans almost Oature for building a block of shops in Emerson Street between Dal ton Street and Give Square. Other plans will embrace the whole of the sites on Ihe east s >de of Hastings Street from Browning Street to Tennyson Street and part of the opposite side of the same block. Another ten shops are planned for ihe north aide of Emerson Street between Dalton and Hastings Streets, and already the • Steel frame of the Municipal Block on Part of Market Square has been erected. The remainder of the block, which was occupied by the Criterion Hotel, will be «ased, and under terms which will enable lessee, should he .require hotel preto have the option of the upper "°or of the Municipal Building for bed-, Jfoom space. The new Central Hall is expected soon to be under way and also vWie new fire station, upon which the Fire °ard will expend £7OOO or £BOOO.