A WORD TO THE CITY COUNCIL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4888, 21 November 1876, Page 3

A WORD TO THE CITY COUNCIL.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sm,—Now that the City Council have obtained the necessary powers from the General Assembly, and will be in a position shortly to begin the many necessary works [required for. the well-being of the city, a few words of caution may not be out of place. I would first urge upon them the necessity of exercising care and deliberation before they commit Urn city to expenses of many thousands of pounds in the accepting of contracts, and that this want of care has been painfully shown in the recent contract for waterworks is I think apparent to every practical man that has given the subject consideration. It may be taken as an absolute necessity that in all such works involving as they do the expenditure of largo sums of money, the plans and specifications should be submitted to the highest engineering authority available, and that not only should they be.reported upon in detail by such an authority, but that a special expression of opinion should bo required as to their stability, and whether a material saving in expense could not bo brought about, without in any way injuring the structure. lam bold to assert that it this course had been adopted in the case of the proposed reservoir, not only would a most material saving have been effected, but glaring defects would have been discovered, , which latter will now have to be remedied at the cost of the ratepayers and for the benefit of the contractor. That this is sojis amply proved by an inspection of the plans and specifications, and I will briefly analyse them.

In the centre embankment is a wall of clay puddle, 18ft. thick, 94ft. deep at its deepest point, enclosed between two concrete walls for a height of 35ft. For the reception of this wall of puddle a trench of 25ft. deep, by 18ft. wide, increased to 80ft. wide where the concrete walls commence, has to be excavated. This trench extends across the gully, and is entirely through rock, which crops out on the surface on all points. Now, what necessity , exists for going down 25ft. into this rock. I have examined the rock in the gully, also in the numerous tunnels to be found in close proximity to the place, and I fearlessly assert that as good a foundation will be found at sft. as 25ft. I understood the City Engineer sank a trial pit 15ft. deep, and found fissures in the rock, and he might have sunk 50ft. and still found them. I think the ability that was evidently deemed sufficient to carry on these works ought to have been able to stop these fissures. But what is the effect of all this ? It is this, a very expensive rock excavation, and the erection of a concrete pier in the centre of it, with two concrete walls 6ft. thick, and a wall of clay puddle 18ft. thick, 20ft. of the height of which is absolutely thrown away; £3OOO could have been saved at this point alone, without any detriment to the works.

The valve tower is worthy of attention. Here we have an erection|of concrete 77ft. high, with a foundation 16ft. by 18ft. for 30ft. of its height, the remaining portion being circular, and averaging about 13ft. in diameter. It is surmounted with a spire about 30ft. with louvre frames and a weathercock on top, and is approached by a bridge about 130£t. long with fretwork railings on each side, and supported on cast-iron columns. The tower is also surrounded by a highly ornamental balcony, and all this elaboration is required for what —the simple operation of working the valve, that opens or shuts the end of the water pipes—rather expensive an affair for so small a purpose; but what of that, the City Engineer must produce fit to look at, his reputation is at stake, and hang the expense. A plain man like myself would have put up a structure for use only, say a concrete foundation 12ft. square, carried up to the level of the crown of the pipe culvert, with a superstructure consisting of four iron columns, tied and braced with angle iron, and platform on top with a simple roof over it, and approached by a plain bridge. An erection of this kind would have saved from £ISOO to £2000,. and actually been better than the other. Subject as;we are to earthquakes, the tall concrete tower is a source of weakness.

The pipe culvert deserves a word to itself. This is of concrete, 460 ft. long, 10ft. high, 4ft. wide inside measurement, the walls only 18in. thick. Some additional strength is imparted by bands along a portion of it, about 20ft. apart, 3ft. wide, and also 18in. thick ; but in the very centre, between the two concrete walls enclosing the clay puddle, which is 70ft. deep at this point, the walls are only 1 Sin.; and from the V shape of the gully, the power at this point will be something enormous. If it is necessary to have a culvert 10ft. high, the walls at no part should be less than 2ft. thick, and increased to at least 4ft. 6in. at the deepest part. But why should there be a 10ft. culvert ? It might be useful to hold picnics in, the waterpipes being available for seats. To ordinary minds, a culvert sft. 6in. high and 3ft.' wide would have been ample, as plenty of room would then have been afforded for the workmen to lay the pipes in, or to repair them in case of breakage. The saving on this item would have amounted to something considerable.

i I noticed a suggestion some. few days hack about giving a bonus of £2OOO to £3OOO to the contractor to push a certain portion of the work on, so as to impound a large quantity of water by Christmas. Now, any such bonus would be a scandalous misappropriation of public money. The portion of the work so proposed to be pushed on, is the concrete wall in front of the tower, to the very part that any contractor would push on at all hazards during the fine weather, as it would form a dam which would give him entire command of the stream in case of floods, and the pipe if only partly constructed, would lead the water clear of the other workings. As for risk to the contractor there is none, the wall being backed up by the foundation of the valve tower, which can again be backed up by the earth forming part of the embankment. I venture to say, if instead of binding the contractor to impound 30,000,000 of gallons of water before July, 1877, under a penalty of £IOO per week, which, ! understand, is the present condition, he had been hound to impound 7,000,000 gallons by January 1, 1877, instead of a bonus of £2OOO to £3OOO there would have been a reduction of at least £IOOO in the estimate, and this is accounted for by the fact that the 7,000,000 would he retained by a portion of the works amply sufficient to resist the pressure, whereas the 30,000,000 is let on to. a part of the work not finished, and therefore less able to bear the extra pressure. I have thus criticised certain portions of the proposed waterworks additions on the presumption that they are necessary, but I join issue with the city authorities on this point, and say emphatically that works of the magnitude they are about to erect are not at all necessary, and that for the sum of £SOOO sufficient water could be impounded in that gully, to supply Wellington for ten years at its present rate of progression. ; I may say .in conclusion that I have heard it is the intention of the City Engineer to send copies of the drawings for the erection of the new reservoir to England, with a view to his applying for a diploma as an engineer; all of which goes to prove the manifest advantages the City Council confer upon the inhabitants by allowing them to be experimented upon by untrained intellect. When will the ratepayers arise from their apathy and insist that their money shall only be spent under the direction of men who have earned a reputation and gained experience in largo cities abroad ? Until the City Council get this fact firmly impressed upon the municipal mind, ! am afraid there is not much use in asking them to he cautious, for their blind precipitancy in rushing into this waterworks contract is an apt illustration of the truth, that “ Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”—l am, &0.. Old Wheelbarrow.