DRAINAGE CONFERENCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10193, 30 October 1894, Page 7

DRAINAGE CONFERENCE.

A conference of delegates from the City and Suburban Councils was held in the Town Hall last evening to consider the question of drainage as affeotlng the city and suburbs. His Worship the Mayor of Dunedin (Mr H. S. Fioh) was elected to the chair, and thecs were algo present—Messrs 11. F. Hardy, N. Y. A, Wales, J. Gore, A, Solomon, M. Cohen, and A, Morrison (Dunedin), Mr J. H. Hancock (Mayor of Caversham), Mr Holly (South Duuedin), Mr Scott (Mornington), Mr Green (North-Hast Valley), Mr H. Gourley (Major of St. Kilda), Mr Aitkon (Mayos of Maori Hill).

The Chairman said they were met that night at the invitation of the City Council to discuss the very important question of drainage). In takirig up thi3 question they were entering npou labours which, although they might be arduous, would, he trusted, in the end be pleasant ; and he hofied that they should ba able to recommend to their respective councils a scheme acceptable to them nil. He regretted that Iloslyn had declined to send a. delegate to the conference, because nothing that was done there that eight would bind the different councils, and if any council did not approve of what was decided upon by the conference they could recede from the affair. The City Council, however, were quite prepared to go ;into the matter by themselves, but they were oonaciou« that in order to make a perfect sysfcern of drainage it was absolutely necessary for the suburbs to join in any scheme which might be inaugurated. He had purposely refrained from, framing.any resolutions to bring before th« conference, because he did not wish that any should think that the City Council were desirous of thrusting ariy scheme upon the suburban councils. He thought they might discuss the matter generally that night," and then meet again in a week or a fortnight and discuss something definite. He, however, might be pardoned if he drew ths attention of the delegated to certain resolutions which he thought they should carry by-and-bye. They ■were as follows :— " (1) That this council take immediate steps to cull for compstitive sohoincs—finfc, for the disposal of the sewage, and, second, estimates of the coat of same. " (2) That a bonus of £ be given for the best scheme offered, and the sum of £ for the nc.Vieme. next in order of merit. " (3) That the various schemes when received bo referred to an independent board of experts (to be hereaftsr appointed) by whom the order of merit shall be determined, and the bonus paid in accordance with the board's recommendations. " (4) That the schemes suggested shall he alternative, one embracing the city of Dunedin only, and the other the city of Dunediu and the combined suburbs before-mentioned." Those were the resolutions he intended to propose in the event of the City Council determining to act alone in this matter ; but as the other councils were represented at the conference, the resolutions, even if adopted in substance, would have .to be modified in form. It seemed obvious to him that any system of drainage to be of the use that it ought to be must embrace the suburbs, and he did not think that any of the smaller boroughs need be alarmed at the ! expense Chat would be ultimately thrust upon | them if they joined with tho City Council in a general scheme. It would not bo neco3sejcy to go in for atiy expansive scheme of reticulation of »U the streets; co that none need be frightened on the score of the ultimate expense.. The matter of obtaining the i besfc of advice, &c, was a matter that should be discussed, it seemed to him, before they went in for this drainage schemo which might cost from £100,000 to £200,000. They would agree with him that they must he prepared to offer a somewhat liberal bonus for what would be required; and when tbo different schemes were in, the aaoat important thing to do was to discover which of the schemes was the best and most snifc&le for the requirements of the city and suburbs. Then they would have to appoint a board of experts, who would also require to be paid, to consider the various proposals that would be made. He h&dno doubt it would be found that whilst the examiners would award the first prize to one particular scheme, they would not recommend the adoption of any one scheme, but would take the best from each, and co the beat possible scheme under the citoumsiances would be obtained. He should be glad to hear anyone present discuss the question in a general way or otherwise if thay thought differently. Mr Squmkw moved—"Thsvt in the opinion of this conference it is.desirable that a comprehensive system of drainage should he established embracing Duoedin and surrounding suburbs." Mr Habdy seconded the motion. Ho thought it was self-evident that any satisfactory system of drainage must embrace the surrounding boroughs. . Mr GooKLEt thought everyone present would agree as to the necessity for a comprehensive system of drainage for the city and suburbs, but, as the chairman had said that it would take from £100,000 to £200,000 to initiate suoh a scheme, the matter would require more consideration on the part of the citizens a3 woll as the different councils. Ho might say, ao far as the Council of St. Kilda were concerned, they were quite willing' to fall in with ths Dunedin system at once ; but, while they as councillors wttre willing to do ao, they were not in a position to say' what the ratepayers would do, and before ths council committed the ratepayers to anything he thought it would ba their duty to call a public meeting for the special purpose of. discussing the drainage question. As something like £200,000 would be required to make a main sewer and the necessary appliances for pumping the sewage out at Lawyers' Head, the sum would bo considerably increased by tho drainage of the various boroughs into the main sewer ; and it occurred to him that it would require a rate something like from 4d to 6d in the pound to meet this. It therefore became necassary for the council to consult the ratepayers before committing them to anything. He would therefore suggest; that the mayors of the various boroughs call a public meeting for the purpose of bringing the matter; before the ratepayers of their respective boroughs. He thought it wonld be ill-advised to attempt to have any system of drainage that did not embrace the city and suburbs. If- eventually it was found really necessary that a system of drainage should be adopted for the city as quickly as possible, and the suburbs refused to join in, the Government would have to step in and pass an act appointing a drainage board that would have a rating power over the city and suburbs. Mr Scott said so far as he was individually concerned ho quite agreed with the motion, and thought it was the only way out of the difficulty. A great many people in Morningfcou were of the opinion that something must be done, and that the only feasible way to do it was to form a drainage board. Mr Ghebn thought ifc wonld be unwise to undertake a system of drainage that did not include the suburban boroughs. A question of £ s. &. had to be considered, and unfortunately his borough was not ths only ons not in a financial position equal to the occasion. He, however, thought that the question should be ventilated, then the meeting might adjourn as suggested by Mr Gourley. The mayors of ths various boroughs might then call meetings of the ratepayers, and lay the matter before thorn. He felt persuaded that if it could be ohown to them'that ths scheme was BOfc going to increase the rates very considerably they would fall in with the city in obtaining » system of drainage for tho city and the surrounding boroughs. Mr Cohen did not think thoro would be any difference of opinion about endorsing the resolution, but he thought the view expressed by Mr Gonrley with regard to deferring consideration of the matter until the ratepayers had been consulted was au entirely mistaken one. The proposal at the present time was merely that in order to carry out a comprehensive system of drainage it was necessary to include the various boroughs and to constitute a drainage board. If, however, the suburban boroughs did not fall in with the scheme, the City Council must take the matter up themRalves; and he thought it was well within the finances of the city to undertake a drainage Eoheme that would do for the next 25 years at least). If ifc was proposed to consult the ratepayers'in the different boroughs, it would bo necessary to be prepared with tha various details as to the1 gaveral schemes thnt would be submitted for the consideration of the drainage board, because no one could say definitely that any of the schemes in operation elsewhere would be suitable to Duuedin. The Chamman agreed with what had fallen from Mr Cohen. Not one of them could tell what the cost of the schsme would be until they got) their reports from their experts as to what they would recommend. He was of opinion that a scheme would be recommended that would sbrikij out the large sewer to the Oceau Beach. That would at once got rid of a large item of expenditure. It meetings of ratepayers were called iv the different boroughs the thing would be knocked oa the head at once, because tha ratepayers would be frightened by the idea of being heavily rated, and would guy, "We will not go into the scheme at ths present time." What it appeared to him tho delegates should do was to go to their respective councils and say the conference had passed a resolution that a drainage scheme was desirable thai; would embrace the suburbs, bub in order to get a scheme to put before the councils the preliminary step must be taken of inviting competitive schemes, &nd that an expenditure of £700 or £800 would be involved. They should also ask the councils to agree to pay pro rata according to the rote roll a proportion of the expanse of getting the Information required. The amount each borough would have to pay would be very little and would not seriously cripple their finances.' ri lhey would also derive this benefit: that whether they fell in with the Bcheme or not they would have far their future guidance a scheme which, when they were ready to adopt it they could do so, and they would have a scheme which would fit into the scheme it was proposed to oarry out in Duuediu. When they hud got a scheme and a report of a board of experts, they would know

1 exactly how much the who!o thing would co 8». Then was the time to go to the ratepayer and say, "Now, to carry out this scheme will cost a rate of so much in the pound. Will you give your council the power to carry it out ? " Bat if they went to the ratepayera now they would I simply frighten them. Mr Morrison ateo supported the resolution. Mr Goue quite agreed with hia Worship when he said that the drainage scheme should be undertaken conjointly by the city aud suburbs. There were many owners of property in Dunedin who also held property in tha suburbs, and were taxed in both places. IE Dunedin went in for a scheme of itaelf, South Dunedin, St. Kilda, and Cavftrsham could not afterwards join in, as they were so low that the sewer would not carry their water. He had givea a good deal of attention to this matter, and did not think that they could get any other scheme to answer than that which would carry the sewage to the Ocean Beach. Many schemes had been tried at Home, and thousands liad been apent in the attempt to deodorise the nigfctMil, but he had not heard of any that had been a success. There had bsen partial successes, but none had turned out actually practicable. He did not think the snbnrbs need be bo afraid that the proposals would involve a very great increase of taxation. The scheme would take a long while to carry to completion. The first eout would not be so great, but as the work advanced the money that would be required would of course be larger. Each borough would be taxed in proportion to its population, and even if this were not done iv connection with the projected soheme the probabilities were that before many years ware past they would be compelled to levy a, sanitary rate. They would have to take steps to alter the preseat closet system, and that would involve another rate, which would be only a little less than that which would enable them to take part iv the present scheme. His own opinion was that the first step was to gefan act pasted for the formation of a drainage board. Mr Solomon: Oh, no. Mr Gore : After mature consideration, of course. It would then be necessary to engage an expert engineer to carry out the work. j The Mayob : Oh, no. Mr Gore : A dozen men might be got to prepare estimates, but they would find they would not work out into actual effect. Then, again, a j good drainage board would be required. It would involve a lot of time giving effect to the proposals. . The Mayor: Not at all. Mr Goee (continuing) : Well, he was quite open to conviction, but those were his opinions. However, ho would not stand iv the way of anything likely to give effect to the proposals, but rather would support ifc, for he thoroughly believed a system of drainage should be carried out." He did not attach a gcoat deal of importance to the remarks of the medical men. In fact, he thought they were pure bunkum! Ec thought they were raising quite an unnecessary scare. The city was not iv such a bad state as they eiideavaured to make out. Mr Solomon: Bad enough. Mr Coke : He did not think the harbour was in such a bad state as it was stated to be. The evil; he thought, was mainly duo to land which ought to ba covered in, and nuisances existed on tha foreshore where the water never rose to. Some scheme, however, should be initiated, and that at ones. It would probably take three or four years to ultimately completeMr Aitkkn said that at present Maori Hill was not in need of any extensive system of drainage, but ultimately as population increased oee would have to come. Ha thsught the city of Dnnedin had acted rightly in inviting the suburban councils to jointly consider this matter. In iac'i he was of opinion that the day waß not for distant when all the boroughs would be merged. into the city. To carry out a drainage scheme 3 tax would have to be imposed. Maori Hill borough was so sparsely and widely populated that to impose a tax there would be unfair, and he did not like an unfair tax. As for calling a meeting of ratepayers ha did not think that euch a course would be wise until, they had something tangible to lay before the meeting.—(Hoar, hear,) Mr Hancock wished to ask one question. To if hat extent was it thought advisable or necessary to go in for a scheme of drainage ? The Mayoh : Speaking on behalf of the city, the object to be attained is a perfect system by which every street in the city would be "sewered." Mr Gore : The city has already spent £45,000. Some of the streets had already beon " sewsred." Mr Solomon : Nearly all. Mr Goee : Which would be a part of the system. Mr Hancock wanted to know if allowance would be made for the already extensive drainage undertaken by the Caveraham borough. Cavefsham had spent nearly £17,000, and the work effected was of a substantial character. Tfee Mayok imagined that the course that would be followed would be that whatever drainage was effected in a borough, the cost of the work would bs chargeable to that particular borough.—(Hear, hear.) Mr Hancock was glad to find that such was the case, but the. hints that had been thrown out tended to create a different impression. The Mayob stated that the bill which would be introduced, into Parliament would have to provide for the amount of rating to be levied in the different boroughs, The question of cost was one that could not be arrived at at the present moment. .. Mr Gore : If the surrounding boroughs joined Dunedin a drain sufficiently low to suit the. requirements of the boroughs on the Fiat could be made. Mr Hancock : That being n, it would not be wise for any of the Flat borougks to stand aloof. He would be pleased to recommend his council to fall in with the idea. The distance the main drain would have to p&as through Caversham was 10 chains, which would be considerably less compared with some of the boroughs. What he wished particularly to know was whether the amount of drainage already effected in the borough would be allowed for, and he was glad to find that such would be the case. He would support the motion as moved by his Worship. The proposals would have little effect upon the finances. of the boroughs for some time to come. Mr Goueley said that Mr Hancock mentioned that the main drain would only pass through Caversham to a distance of 10 chains. He did not think it mattered much whether it passed through a borough or not. For instance, it would not go through Masri Hill, Roslyn, or Morniugton ; bat these boroughs wonld still be rated pro rata. for the construction of the main drain. Personally hs did not think the questiou could bo settled until affcerFarliament met, and unless they got an act authorising the appointment of a drainage beard, they could never expeot to carry out the proposals. If Roslyn, for instance, did not desire to come in, they conld not compel them to do so without an act of Parliament. Mr Walks was glad to see the meeting was go unanimous. It was useless to go into details on the question of casts, &c, that evening, as when they got their expert evidence all their calculations might be entirely upset. There were so many new schemes propounded in the old country and America that they would poßsibly be surprised to hear of some of them. They would probably find that the £^5,000 spent in Dunedin and the £17,000 spent by Caversham would be almost thrown away. He did not think, therefore, that they should go further into the matter until they got expert information. Another thing was it might not be advisable to take the sewage to the beach.— i (Hear, hear.) It might prove a nuisance to some people there.—(Hear, hear.) Mr Solomon said that although Dunedin i would ba delighted to act amicably if some of | the boroughs would not join in he was perfectly certain that if circumstances compelled Dunedin to go to Parliament it would grant the necessary powers' for the formation of a drainage board. As to consulting the ratepayers, he did not think it advisable at the present time. As to the cost of the undertaking each borough, he understood, would have to bear the charge of the works effected in their own borough besides) paying au equitable share of the cost of the main drain. The motion was then put and carried unanimously. The Mayoh then moved—" That tha counoils represented at this meeting be requested by their respective delegates to pay pro rata the cost, in accordance with their rate roll, of obtaining professional schemes and estimates of cost, such total cost not to exceed £800." In moving this motioa he thought thau the delegates present would concede that it was a very necessary one. The cost would not fall very heavily upon the borongus, as the city's share would probably amount to £500. Mr Solomon thought that the sum mentioned was too much. The Mayok wished to impress upon them the fact that they were going in for a perfect scheme, and it would be necessary to get the opinions of the very best men. Three prizos would have to be given, which, he took it, wonld j absorb £500; and then these would have to be ' awarded by a board of experts, who would require to be paid for their services. , Mr Wales suggested they should only get the expert inferraatioa, and afterwards they could provide for the board of experts. The Mayor accepted the suggeotion, and altered the cum in the motion to £500. Although the experts might award the. prizes it did not mean that they should accept entirely the scheme proposed in the one obtaining first, but would also utilise what appeared to be good in the other proposals until they obtained a perfect system. Even if the boroughs did not then fall in with the proposed scheme just then they would have all the particulars at hand whenever they desired to take the matter up. The motion was then seconded and carried. The proceedings then terminated. i