THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, MAY 1. 1907. THE DRAINAGE SCHEME.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13891, 1 May 1907, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, MAY 1. 1907. THE DRAINAGE SCHEME.

The Drainage Board resolved on Monday night, in. accordance with the recommendation of its Works Committee, upon the course of action to be pursued by it in respect of the advice recently tendered to it by Mr Cardew, consulting engineer. In one important point it lias hesitated to accept Mr Cardew's proposals, and the public will certainly not blame it for the caution it is manifesting in this matter. The experience elsewhere of the Liernur system, which Mr Cardew has advised the Board to employ for the sewerage of the Plat, has, as we indicated when the consulting engineer's report was published and as the Board has learnt from communications it has since received, not been so highly favourable in all cases as to warrant its application, without further inquiry, to the solution of the most difficult problem that lias to be faced in the treatment of the drainage district. The Works Committee prudently holds that all the procurable evidence should be obtained by the Board before it commits itself to a •heavy expenditure upon a work of which, despite the strong recommendation of the consulting engineer in its favour, the success cannot at all be said to be assured. In the circumtances the determination of the Board to defer any decision one way or the other on this matter until it has had the opportunity of obtaining the fullest possible information will be generally commended. The postponement of any settlement on the subject of the sewerage of the Flat has carried with it also a decision to defer the adoption of measures upon the lines proposed by Mr Cardew for the storm-water drainage of the locality. The ground upon which this decision is ostensibly based is that the Board's first duty is to deal with the sewerage of the district, but the ratepayer who reads between the lines of the committee's report will probably have concluded that financial considerations have mainly dictated the postponement of the necessary steps to provide for the storm-water drainage of the Flat. It may also be surmised that the question of finance has been a material factor in the production of the committee's recommendation, which the Board has endorsed, that the execution of the consulting engineer's proposals for the remodelling of the existing sewerage of the city should be deferred. Mr Cardew laid a good deal of stress upon the necessity for relieving the old sewers from the duty of conveying sewage, for which, he advised the Board, they are not at all suited. He described them as "simply elongated gas holders," and he concluded that the residents upon the heights of the city must be "getting the full benefit of the sewer gas generated in them." To remedy this, he recommended the construction of subsidiary drains for the conveyance of sewage to the main intercepting sewer, so that the old sewers might be left to cany storm-water only. Plainly, however, the Board takes a less serious view than that entertained by Mr Cardew respecting the unhygienic conditions which arise from the use of these old sewers for the double purpose of conveying sewage and storm-water. Beyond making provision to prevent the discharge of sewage and detritus into the harbour it does not intend to take any action at present in respect of Mr Cardew's remodelling scheme, even though it has given its approval to the proposal. And the real reason for this determination is to be found unquestionably in the admission by the Works Committee that the order which Mr Cardew recommended the Board to follow in the executioii of the proposals he submitted is " the proper one," but that the Board's financial position will not allow of this order being observed. Mr Arklc compared the result last night to a performance of "Hamlet" with the part of the Prince of Denmark omitted, the inference being that the most material portions of Mr Cardew's proposals are being, in the phrase that was used by both Mr Small and Mr Christie, "held in abeyance." But the Works Committee, we are assured, has considered the whole matter very carefully, and the decision which it arrived at was generally accepted by th& Board as commendable. The policy which is to be adopted is one under which the annual expenditure of the Board will be restricted to about £25,000, and this outlay is to be so regulated that productive work of, sufficient quantity shall be in progress each year to secure that revenue may be obtained to enable the fixed charges to be met. This means, of course, that the drainage operations are to be carried on very gradually, not to say slowly, the Board being naturally indisposed to adopt any course which might have the effect of pressing with undue .severity upon the ratepayers. To Mr Cardew's recommendation that the separate system of drainage, should be adopted the Board has given its concurrßnco, this applying, in • a general senre,

to the suburban portion of the drainage district as well as to tlio city. The separate system has distinct advantages to which the Works Committee made brief reference in its report, and the weight of the evidence that has been accumulated certainly seems to favour the decision that lias now been arrived at. Mr Cardew's suggestion that the entire administrative authority in respect of the drainage of the district should be transferred to the City Council was palpably the outcome of an imperfect realisation of all the circumstances. Apart from the fact that the City Council is already burdeued enough with the undertakings it lias 011 hand, it is fairly obvious to the local resident th if it were required to take over the control of an uncompleted drainage system elements of friction would very quickly present themselves. It is scarcely arguable that an independent authority was not necessary for the construction of a drainage system for a district which, at the time the necessary legislation was passed, contained eight distinct boroughs, and the continued existence of that authority until, at least, such timo as the drainage works shall have been completed will, we think, be generally felt to be desirable. There will certainly be little, if any, opposition to the view expressed by the Works Committee of the Board that it is inopportune just now to discuss seriously any suggestion for the transference of the Board's functions to the Citv Council.