RECLAMATION DRAINAGE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19759, 9 April 1926, Page 2

RECLAMATION DRAINAGE.

arbitration proceedings. The eight hays’ sitting ot the arbitru tors to allocate the cost between the Dun edin Drainage Board and the Otago Hat hour Board of the laying ol drams in the reclamation urea at tho real of the rail way station was held yesterday, the de limtion of a '‘main sewer has to be de cided also by the arbitrators—Messrs G C. Godfrey (C rider-secretary for Marine), C. R. cimitn (Drainage Board), and J. Ulan Mason Harbour Board). Messrs S. Solo mon, K.u., and 11. E. Barrowclough up peared for the Drainage Board and Mi ,J. C. Stephens for the Harbour Board. Mr J. MG. Wilkie engmeei to the Har hour Board, said in reply to tho court thai under the present system of dischargmt; dredged spoil into the reclamation area the cost per cubic yard of the spoil removed from the channel was approximately jd If all spoil were transported to sea it was estimated that the cost would be Jd. Dur ing the last five years the expenditure pn pumping and reclamation had been £5300 annually on the average therefore he considered that the suggestion that the re clamation should cost the board nothing was hardly fair. The board had to ex pend £5300 annually on an average to ob tain the advantages of i educed dredging cost; The reclamation area under con sideration by the court cost £I2OO per acre, or £55,000, it was estimated. That estimate included streets In reply to the court, Mr Wilkie said that the whole of the dredging had not been a necessity but the Harbour Board had made requirements foi the future of the port in the way of channel depth by the additional expenditure. The actual position wa that the board was dredging at a faster rate, and therefore incurring additional expenditure in pumping the spoil ashore than if the spoil were being dumped at sea. The reclamation work had been carried out for the benefit of Otego and the Harbour Board; the only exception was the reclaiming of Lake Logan. He had surveyed the area under consideration in 1912, when he had joined the board, and it was practically ready for settlement then. Edward Fletcher Roberts, a consulting engineer, gave the following definition of a sewer: “A sewer is a public drain, usually underground and conveying either foul sewage or storm water. It is under the control ot some local authority which is supposed to maintain it in proper order. Asked for a definition of the conduit from a house to a public sewer in a street, he replied; “T would describe it as a house connection.” His definition of a main sewer was: "A main sewer is the principal sewer among a system of sewers leading to the one outfall.” • The proceedings of the court will be concluded to-day.