Untitled

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 3423, 3 May 1898, Page 2

Last night the City Council decided to refer to an arbitrator the the question of what oompensadbainaoe tion shall be paid for damage bursts, done by the recent overflow of sewage. The claimants and the Council do not agree as to the amount, and the course adopted by the Council has therefore become necessary. As the amount of the claim made is, we Understand, a large one, the Council is only observing its duty to the citizens in having the issue fairly tried out. There is a larger question, however, which also requires investigation—that of how the liability to damage was incurred. There were, as we pointed out the other

day, four outbursts in jrtrught, and the fact that one i-r . ■. -had pipe burst in Five,lon alto - , .eg >• .’■s the unpleasant inference that tncra are other pipes in the s. -j condition, which may cFo burst at any ti.no. W ■-e these pipes properly examined? A .id , ; f they were, how is it that the hurt till" of one of them is due to honeycombing ? These are very important issues to the ratepayers, who will hive to foot the big bill that has been rendered to the City Council and the other bills that seem likely to be incurred. A special committee of the Council is now inquiring into this matter. Tfe trust that it will make an exhaustive investigation of I what is on the surface a most unsatisfactory business.